After I went off to college in 1989, I pretty much stopped watching TV. (Oh, I’ve caught some seasons of this and that. Remember when Gretchen won Project Runway? I’m still fuming.)
So I never really thought about this until recently. Or maybe I’m just dumb per the Nirvana tune. Or you know what it is, it is seeing the cheap facade come off our economic system. Seeing everyfuckin’thing is a goddamn sales pitch.
These shows are infomercials for all the shit that’s on them: the movies, the TV shows, the music. Basically a huge BJ for Big Media. Letterman sells Lawrence (and her latest movie); Lawrence sells Letterman.
The insidious problems in all this are almost too numerous to mention, but ultimately it’s a happy, digestible world constructed for the masses to make it easy to buy buy buy. It normalizes consumption and reassures the consumers. It’s propaganda for the world order, basically.
And I will just add that Jimmy Fallon has the shit-eating grin factor that never allowed me to enjoy Seinfeld (I’m like the only person on earth that has never seen a whole episode).
I’ve never been able to explain what it is about Fallon I don’t like. Your words are perfect. Thank you.
(Also, not a Seinfeld fan. I’m not sure if I’ve seen a full episode, but I’ve seen lots of part episodes. Never worked for me. As the saying goes, You Are Not Alone.)
Talk shows have existed to sell us shit for 60 years. This is about the furthest from insightful that you can be. And the public doesn’t care because talk show hosts are often funny on their own and/or they like hearing what celebrities have to say on them.
And throwing in a completely unrelated Seinfeld rant at the end of your OP just makes you sound like someone who’s being contrarian just for the sake of being contrarian.
That was the point of the opening sentence: I had not thought about talk shows for a long time. I think I’ve thought about it more in the last couple of years because late night shyte has been more in the news with all the shifts in hosts, and one sees clips shared more and more.
That said, I’ve never heard it clearly stated, “We all know that talk shows are just big commercials.” I agree it’s fucking obvious–but I’ve never heard someone say it, and I’ve never read an article ranting against it online, etc.
Talk shows are cheap to produce. The reason they’re cheap to produce is that guests agree to appear in exchange for plugging their TV show/movie/album/book/whatever. That’s how Broadway Open House got Lenny Bruce and Charlie Parker in 1950 and that’s how Letterman gets Jennifer Lawrence now.
Justin, are you in the entertainment business in some way? You seem extremely knowledgable and I didn’t know if you’d ever said that it was just a hobby for you or if you worked in the field. Either way, I’m very impressed with how up on all this stuff that you are.
As to the OP, they pretty much come across to me that way too, but not having grown up watching them, I just think I’m not used to how they work.
As Peter Griffin said while beating the crap out of Jimmy Fallon;
“And this is for laughing and looking at the camera during every comedy sketch you’ve ever been in! Who do you think you are, Carol Burnett? You think she did it so it’s all right for you? You haven’t earned what she’s earned!”
The sell-some-kinda-shit factor has always been there, but it’s kind of inherent in letting people who have something to sell - including themselves - be the guests and the focus.
Never forget, though, that the primary purpose of a talk show is to make the host look good. At any cost, including riding roughshod over people who might actually have something interesting and informative to say.
True. The incentive to kiss ass probably can’t be overcome. The exception is when a host has a clear political agenda, as with Bill O’Reilly. Who also totally sucks and kisses right wing bunghole, but at least his agenda is explicit.
The aforementioned O’Reilly being the worst possible offender.
Very seldom do I watch Letterman after the first 20 minutes. In the last couple of years, I’ve pretty much stopped watching him at all. It now seems like he’s just coasting until he hits retirement.
Along with Steve Allen, Johnny Carson was one of the very few talk show hosts I have ever been able to enjoy. Even then, Joan Rivers had a rant once over what drivel some guests dwelled on (she was a guest that night herself). The other hosts were mostly nasty, like Joe Pine.
In other words, brown-nosing and BSing on talk shows is nothing new. The hosts who rise above it are few and deserve recognition.
But see, I don’t mind the stars and what they’re doing - after all, a person’s got to make a living. Besides, sometimes the movies are good.
We all know that the entertainment industry is a huge, soulless machine. And most of us are cool with that, because it entertains us on occasion. I’m sure you have a rich, fulfilling life without it, and hey, good for you. Myself, sometimes I feel like buying what they’re selling. You going to judge me for it?