The Comparative Analysis Of The Choice Of Topics Of The Oprah Winfrey Show And Mr. Zhou Live Show

With the dramatic development of television programs all over the world, the so-called TV"Talk Show" has been in a significant position. A lot of good "Talk Show" programs are favoredby a wide range of domestic and foreign audiences, such as "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and"David Letterman show" in the United States, and "A Date with Luyu" and "Mr. Zhou LiveShow" in China. Since its emergence, the "Talk Show" program has gone through differentstages of development, starting with the simple studio conversation, then joining the audienceand off-site audience participation, and increasingly improved by diverse forms of editing andprogramming tools. After several decades of development,"Talk Show" has become a veryimportant type of television programs.As a significant mass media,"Talk Show" has become a great concern in the academicfield nowadays. In recent years, China’s cultural and media scholars also begin to show theirinterests in "Talk Show" and study its development history, the existing problems, theproduction modes and the comparison between Chinese and Western “Talk Show”. However,few scholars consider what influence the “Talk Show” topic selection brings to their positioningand development.This paper selects The Oprah Winfrey Show and Mr. Zhou Talk Show as the study objects,analyzes their similarities and differences existing in the choice of topics, and then continues toexplore their cultural factors for success from the aspect of topic choosing. It is believed thatthis research can link the specific topic level and the macro-level consideration of culturalfactors and make a meaningful exploration on the constraints affecting the development ofChinese TV talk shows.