Critical Analysis Of Chinese TV Talk Shows From Cross-Cultural Perspective

Since the emergence of talk shows as a TV genre, it has gone through several different phases: from the simplest studio guest interview to the participation of studio viewers and TV viewers accompanied by multiple editing techniques. It is through several decades of evolvement that it has become one of the most important and favored TV genres among viewers in China and in other parts of the world alike. It not only provides the ordinary people with a platform to speak, but facilitates social progress by injecting new ideas into public life. As a result, talk shows have been receiving more academic consideration than ever.I have noticed some of the characteristics of most previous studies. Western research have been focusing on the impact of media on viewers, the relationship between media contents and viewer behavior and analyzing talk shows as avatars of democracy, which were interactive and public. For example, most of the research has been devoted to the effects of violent television content on children. Published studies on television and the adult population focus primarily on politics and on the fear of being victimized due to the amount of crime seen on television. In terms of comparing the differences between Chinese talk shows and American talk shows, one important factor is neglected, that is, due to cultural differences, American style talk shows in real sense do not exist in China. So it will be problematic to make simple comparisons and borrow from American models without taking cultural differences into consideration.Besides, due to the lack of sensitivity and familiarity to the format of TV talk shows and cultural differences, the Chinese side can not just apply the Western model into Chinese programs. Hence, a systematic study of TV talk shows between China and America should be done with the purpose of laying bare the problems existing covertly under the surface, which is also the key of this present paper.This study will focus on the status of Chinese talk show programs, combining both previous studies and personal experiences. Since the understanding of the talk show genre is limited, this paper is exploratory in nature. The practical nature of this paper exists in attempting to contribute to the academic research in the field of mass media and the practice of talk show production.Due to the fact that research in this area of mass communication is incomplete, mostly focusing on the problems of Chinese TV talk shows, not digging into their social roots which cause or underlies the problems. Consequently, the greatest justification of this paper lies in the heuristic value it provides as a basis for future expeditions into this TV genre by using quantitative study methods.