Television Talk

Flip through the channels at any hour of the day or night, and a television talk show is almost certainly on. Whether it offers late-night entertainment with David Letterman, share-your-pain empathy with Oprah Winfrey, trash talk with Jerry Springer, or intellectual give-and-take with Bill Moyers, the talk show is one of television's most popular and enduring formats, with a history as old as the medium itself. Bernard Timberg here offers a comprehensive history of the first fifty years of television talk, replete with memorable moments from a wide range of classic talk shows, as well as many of today's most popular programs. Dividing the history into five eras, he shows how the evolution of the television talk show is connected to both broad patterns in American culture and the economic, regulatory, technological, and social history of the broadcasting industry. Robert Erler's "A Guide to Television Talk" complements the text with an extensive "who's who" listing of important people and programs in the history of television talk.

Introduction
History of Television Talk: Defining a Genre
Introduction
Unspoken Rules
History
Three Major Subgenres
Cycles
Star Hosts
Talk Worlds
The First Cycle (1948-1962): Experimentation, Consolidation, and Network Control-CBS
Introduction to the First Cycle
Founders at CBS: Murrow and Godfrey
Close-up: "The Case of Milo Radulovich," See It Now, October 20, 1953
The First Cycle: Experimentation, Consolidation, and Network Control
NBC and DuMont-- Sylvester "Pat" Weaver: NBC's Executive Visionary of Television Talk (1949-1955)
Dave Garroway (1952-1961)
Arlene Francis and Home (1954-1957)
Close-up: Arlene Francis' Last Home Show, August 9, 1957, NBC
Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Tonight! Founding Traditions of Late
Night Entertainment Talk (1954-1962)
Close-up: Jack Paar's Walk Off the Set of The Tonight Show, February 1960
Mike Wallace: The Grand Inquisitor of Television Talk (1956-1958)
Conclusion
The Second Cycle (1962-1974): Network Consolidation and New Challenges
Introduction
Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show (1962-1967)
Mike Wallace: "The Grand Inquisitor" Returns (1962-1967)
Barbara Walters: The "Tender Trap" (1962-1967)
Challenges to Network Domination (1969-1974)
(1967-1974)
Competitive Ferment in the Late Second Cycle: The Late-Night Talk-Show Wars (1967-1974)
Introduction
The Challengers: Bishop, Frost, Griffin, and Cavett
Close-up: Norman Mailer vs. Gore Vidal on The Dick Cavett Show, ABC, December 1, 1971
(1967-1974)
Conclusion
The Third Cycle (1974-1980): Transitions-- 1974: A Year of Change
Watergate as National Talk Event
New Voices in Syndication: Phil Donahue and Mike Douglas
An Independent Voice: Bill Moyers
The Voices of Women: Barbara Walters and Dinah Shore
Battling from Within: Johnny Carson and NBC (1974-1980)
Close-up: Johnny Carson's Tonight
"The Execution Game," A Censored Monologue Routine, January 18, 1977, NBC
Conclusion: The End of the Network Era
The Fourth Cycle (1980-1990): The Post-Network Era
Introduction
David Letterman and the Reinvention of the Late
Night Talk Show
Close-up: Late Night with David Letterman
"America Held Hostage": The Genesis of ABC's Nightline with Ted Koppel
Close-up: News Talk, Entertainment Talk, and the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Disaster of 1986
New Hosts, New Audiences
Joan Rivers and the Late
Night Talk
Show Wars of 1986-1987
Oprah Winfrey
Geraldo Rivera
Arsenio Hall
New Consciousness of the Power of TV Talk
The Fifth Cycle (1990-1995): News as Entertainment
Introduction
Leno, Letterman, and the Late
Night Talk
Show Wars (1990-1995)
News Talk as Entertainment and Politics: McLaughlin and King (1992-1995)
The O. J. Simpson Verdict as a National Talk Event (1995)
The Fifth Cycle (1996-2000): Trash Talk, Nice Talk, and Blended Talk
Ricki Lake and the National "Trash Talk" Debate
When Words Break Down: Jerry Springer (1991-)
Rosie O'Donnell's "Nice Talk" (1996-)
New Blends- Bill Maher and Politically Incorrect
Garry Shandling and The Larry Sanders Show (1992-1998)
Conclusion
Conclusion
Appendix
A Taxonomy of Television Talk
A Guide to Television Talk
Notes
Sources
Index
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