Why rant about the sky being blue?
I am not condemning every single bit of content that gets on the shows, nor am I condemning entertainment in general. I like entertainment too.
What I am criticizing is the fundamentally dishonest and fake nature of talk shows.
I wasn’t alive for his show, but I enjoy watching reruns on youtube of Dick Cavett. He’s clever and funny without being in your face–more of a dry, witty tone. It’s less “Here’s someone promoting a new movie/show” and more a genuine conversation among guests with something to say. (Or Norman Mailer just dominating…)
I agree, he was very good.
IMHO, there is a difference between:
- a show that entertains, with the expectation that you’ll watch commercials along the way
and
- a show that sells you a product, with the possibility of entertaining you along the way
I’m often willing to sit through the first. I actively turn off the second.
I would, too. But I haven’t seen a talk show like that in really long time. No host actually just talks to the guest about what they are trying to promote. And late night shows have at least half a show before those interviews.
What you say is why I don’t watch any commercials except those at the Super Bowl, since those are the only ones where the goal of selling you something and being entertaining align. Your goal has to be to be entertaining, or else you can’t sell me anything.
One of the things I’ve liked about Craig Ferguson’s show is how he just talks to the guests. He tries to only book guests he wants to talk to, and doesn’t really let them plug their stuff. He tears up the notecards at the beginning of interviews. Too bad he’s quitting the show, although he seems to have gotten bored with the format.
There are a lot of things dishonest about talk shows, but the OP’s complaint is not one of them. They openly acknowledge their purpose to advertise stuff. The fact that the word “plug” is freely used makes it obvious.
There are no internet rants about it because everyone knows this. Plugging is why late night talk show exist.
And Jimmy Fallon is a great host, infectiously enthusiastic, genial, and a great mimic.
Given all that, I never watch them. All the advertising birds me. I do enjoy the occasional clip though.
Seinfeld will always be one of the best sitcoms ever made. I don’t know what that has to with late night talk shows, but there you go.
I think this is a specious argument. Precisely because something is obvious it should come under fire frequently. For example, people call out cheesy product placement in movies all the time, even though what’s going on is no mystery. “Everybody knows it already” is a very good reason for people saying they know it, but I’ve never heard it said.
In the whole Leno/Coco kerfuffle, I never heard it just thrown out, “Oh but we all know that talk shows are bullshit sales pitches.”
I’m asking why this isn’t the case.
Mainly I thing it’s because other than you, nobody thinks talk shows are important enough to talk about. They shouldn’t come under fire because they’re largely a waste of ammo.
Nah, I just like keeping up on all this stuff. Though keeping track of popular movies and music is part of my librarian job in a slight way.
What does Seinfeld have to do in a rant about talk shows? Seinfeld isn’t a talk show host and never was. So saying you don’t like him is hijacking your own OP.
[QUOTE=Aeschines]
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.
[/QUOTE]
Consumption is already normal, it comes with disposable income and keeps people employed. No idea what you mean by “world order”, it sounds like mumbling from behind that “V for Vendetta” mask.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually said that TV commercials are designed by advertisers to make a memorable sales pitch – built to persuade and inform potential customers, often while entertaining – and, as per the old saying, long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting. I kinda thought everyone knew that.
I genuinely hope I haven’t just now ruined TV commercials for you by pointing it out.
Seinfeld and Fallon both have shit-eating grins.
You left out the best part:
I thought all tv shows existed to spread the commercials apart.
Television is an advertising medium that occasionally shows less overtly-promotional material.
Well, that’s being far too kindly towards the methods and motives, kind of like saying part of a prison guard’s job is to helpfully direct lost prisoners to the mess hall.
The “entertainment” value and most of the “informing” is purely self-serving window-dressing that the marketers would omit if they could.
No, actually, the plugs are brief and the stories are mostly entertaining. Graham Norton seems to have the ability to bring the best/funniest out of a lot of different types of entertainers.
Unfortunately I have no luck with this show, BBC America seems riddled with digital artifacts and malfunctions that makes it nearly unwatchable much of the time.