Evie Ireson

 Definition of chat show

A television or radio show in which various topics are discussed informally and
listeners, viewers, or the studio audience are invited to participate in the discussion.
 What is the main purpose of a chat show?
A chat show’s main purpose is to understand the troubling life of somebody and
work alongside a team of councillors to help resolve past problems in their life.
 There are several chat shows in the 21st century, mainly American, these include:

The Oprah Winfrey

Show

The Trisha
Goddard Show
The Jerry Springer Show
Jeremy Kyle offers his guests lie detector tests, DNA tests
and drug tests to resolve disputes.
He talks to guests and usually riles them to the point that
they either become enraged or break down in tears.
The Jeremy Kyle Show is popular in Britain and has a daily slot on morning
television on ITV1. I enjoy watching this show for numerous reasons:
 Seeing other people’s discomfort, particularly anger, is quite entertaining and
amusing.
 I’m quite naïve about problems and crisis’ people face in their lives and
watching The Jeremy Kyle Show illustrates many problems e.g. people with drink/
drug problems and how much of an effect it has on those around them.
 The show reassures me that my life is fine and healthier than some of guests
that appear on the show, making me feel grateful and aware of my own
advantages in life. Linking this to Carl Rogers’ theory of the self, I could say that it
reinforces my self-esteem.
 I am an inquisitive person and I get intrigued in other people’s life when they’re
airing our their troubles.
 It makes me feel more positive about the way I feel about myself because I see
the guests on the show are worse, and their standards are lower than mine.
Here is a short clip of a story from one episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HQtj2xlJj4&feature=related
As humans, we enjoy seeing the misfortune of others, whether that is their emotional or
physical strength. Secretly inside we are satisfied to see somebody else feeling or
looking worse than us and it makes us feel better about ourselves. During the 21 st
century there have been many reality television programmes created.
‘Big Brother’ is one of the biggest and most controversial reality programmes. In the
show, the housemates are pushed until breaking point. There are many occasions
where housemates argue with one another and times like these, attract more
viewers. People find their arguing entertaining and want housemates to argue all the
time.
‘Total Wipe-out’ is a programme where contestants physical strength is judged. Similar
to ‘Gladiators’, contestants are put through races with many obstacles in the way. It is
amusing to watch contestants being knocked over and plunged into water because
they are being humiliated.
‘You’ve Been Framed’ is a programme that focuses purely on humiliation at someone
else’s expense. The show plays a variety of clips sent in from the public showing
people mostly falling or injuring themselves. The programme is popular because
people enjoy seeing others misfortune.
 Most of the glossy magazines published today are filled with photographs and
scandalous stories of celebrities at their worst. There are many pages dedicated to
humiliating photographs of celebrities.

In ‘Now’ magazine Jessica

Biel was described as
‘stony-faced’ when she
stepped out without make-
up on.

Lindsay Lohan is pictured with her Jenifer Lopez is revealed with a sweat patch.
skirt tucked into her underwear, To create more embarrassment, the sweat
the caption stating, ‘Not getting patch has been zoomed in to catch the
dressed properly’. readers attention.
There are many past cultural practices that can be linked with the themes of The Jeremy
Kyle Show.
The theme of humiliation and sometimes even violence runs through The Jeremy Kyle
Show, which can be linked with cultural practices from the past:

 Public Hangings
 Boxing
 Gladiatorial Challenges

These guests appeared in court

because the one man head-butted
the other on the show.
Before being abolished in the 1960’s, public execution was for centuries, one of
the most popular forms of entertainment. People would gather to watch a
criminal being hung and enjoy it. The crowds were made up of both the rich
and poor and usually jostled with each other to get the best view-point.
Hanging is still part of capital punishment in the majority of the Middle-Eastern
countries. The newspapers are constantly reporting on stories of people being
hung for crimes, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.
There was one article in The Mirror, detailing a story of a 17 year old girl being
sentenced to death in Iran, according to news articles, the number of children
being executed in Iran is growing.
Another example of public hangings is the story of a 16 year old girl, with
learning difficulties, was hung for having sex with an older man. To show other
girls that it is a crime, her body was left hung in public.
The Jeremy Kyle Show is linked to this, not as extreme, but it’s purpose is to
show people how to behave, act and deal with problems.
 Although hanging has been eradicated in the UK, there are still many countries
in the world where hanging is still a punishment for crime.
All European countries have abolished the death penalty and any country that
wishes to join the Union must follow suit.

•Blue = Abolished for all crimes

•Lime Green = Abolished for all crimes
except those committed in exceptional
circumstances e.g. crimes committed in
time of war
•Orange = Abolished in practice
•Reddish/Brown = Legal form of
punishment for heinous offenses

Capital crimes vary in different countries, capital punishment is stern in the USA, in some
states the death penalty is restricted to multiple murders. Engaging in pre-marital sex, or
changing religion, can be capital offenses in other countries.
Boxing is one of the oldest contact sports known to human history. There is been
evidence to show that boxing was known in Egyptian and Greek civilization.
In boxing, two people, typically men, fight with each other to triumph as the winner.
They fight in a ring in front of an audience, which can be agued to be similar to The
Jeremy Kyle Show.
Boxing, today is seen as a controversial, brutal combat sport which could be the
reason why it is a multi-million-dollar sport. I think the sport captures the interest of
millions of people worldwide because people enjoy seeing others get hurt and see it
as entertainment.
Competitors are humiliated in boxing, if they are punched straight in the face and
when this happens the audience classically laugh or jeer. Another example would be
if one competitor is punched so hard they fall to the floor, they can feel shamed as
the audience snigger or shout abuse at them. Competitors are seen as weak if they
fall or miss a punch for example and when audiences laugh or mock them, it
becomes an embarrassment
 Gladiatorial challenges were popular in ancient Rome. In these challenges gladiators,
usually slaves, would often fight to death, in of large crowds for entertainment.
Gladiators would be trained and fight in large circular arenas.
The large audience would cheer, boo, laugh, mock and jeer at the gladiators, similar
to audiences of chat shows, most commonly known in The Jerry Springer Show.
There wasn’t many sources of entertainment in the Roman times that we have
nowadays, such as television programmes, but gladiatorial challenges were the
equivalent to watching a thrilling action film today.
There is now a programme called ‘Gladiators’ which is similar to ‘Total Wipe-out’ but
involves more violence and more contact with other contestants.

This picture details what gladiatorial

challenges in the Roman times would
have been like, violent and gruesome,
although the audience look amused.
After creating this power-point, my view points of The Jeremy Kyle
Show have altered.
Knowing that The Jeremy Kyle Show, along with other chat shows,
can be linked with violent activities that have possibilities of ending
in death, it has changed my perspective of the programme.
It never occurred to me that what I called amusing entertainment
can easily be connected to other public humiliated practices that
have dreadful outcomes.
Researching cultural practices for this presentation has opened my
eyes to the awful activities, that are described as fun to watch, that
happen in the world and this has affected the way I will see The
Jeremy Kyle Show in the future.
REFERENCE PAGE

http://www.information-britain.co.uk/famdates.php?id=269

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-408615/Audiences-bay-contestants-
blood-gladiator-style-TV.html
http://www.information-britain.co.uk/famdates.php?id=269

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sunday-mirror/tm_headline=the-young-girl-facing-a-
public-hanging&method=full&objectid=18906927&siteid=98487-
name_page.html
http://www.crystalinks.com/romegladiator.jpg