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Meet America's talkers
2008-01-17 21:43
Meet America's talkers
 Oprah Winfrey's show is syndicated throughout the US. AMERICANS love to talk, so it follows that they would love talk TV. These shows, in their various forms, inspire, inform and entertain – sometimes all at once. Because many of the shows appear daily, the hosts become as familiar as next-door neighbors. Perhaps the most influential of these "neighbors" is Oprah Winfrey. She has been named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" for four years running. Nearly every day, she stands before the camera, interviewing guests about everything from weight-loss and cooking to reading and married life. Her core audience is grown women with families. Just how influential is Oprah? When she endorses a book on her show, it almost always makes the New York Times bestsellers list. When she asked America to donate spare change to a national "piggy bank", she raised $1 million and matched it with her own money. When, most recently, she endorsed Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama, she helped fuel a surge in support for the young senator. But perhaps Oprah's most important role is that of "America's mother". On her show, she often offers up a kind of moral wisdom that is meant to guide ordinary people through difficult times. On a recent show, she interviewed married women who, for years, had been hiding their true selves from their husbands: These women were gay. After the show, Oprah's website was flooded with e-mails from women who said they were in similar situations. Oprah's advice to these women was typical of TV "neighbors": "I just would say to anybody, whatever secret you're holding, live your own truth. Life is really short." Conversation to suit your needs Meet America's leading talkers and learn about the approaches that have made them successful: Inspiration At the beginning of Oprah's 19th season in 2004, she gave every audience member a brand new car. The audience members had been selected to attend the show because they were in need of a new car. Such promotions are actually quite common on inspirational talk TV. They create feel-good moments for people in the audience, and for viewers at home. The host plays the role of mediator and tries to offer up nuggets of wisdom and encouragement, like this one: "Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right," Oprah has said. Information All talk shows offer information, but those in this category base their reputations upon offering something fresh and revealing. Some focus on politics and policy. Other shows focus on creating personality portraits of famous figures. The most popular of these are the shows hosted by CNN's Larry King and PBS's Charlie Rose. They thrive on one-to-one conversation. As Rose explains on his website, "I believe that there is a place in the spectrum of television for really good conversation, if it is informed, spirited and soulful." Entertainment Comedy talk shows manage to relay information and make people laugh at the same time. The most popular are the news satire talk shows, which make fun of the day's news. On The Colbert Report, Steven Colbert (on Comedy Central) pretends to love US President George W. Bush. That role allows him to say some outrageous things – and make his live audience laugh. On a recent show, Colbert scolded his audience for not listening to him and instead voting for Hillary Clinton in the recent New Hampshire primary election. "I'm mad!" he said, tongue-in-cheek. "If you keep voting the way you want, rather than the way we tell you we want, pundits are just going to stop telling you how to think." 21ST
-------------------------------------- donate 捐赠 endorse 公开支持、认可 piggy bank 扑满，存钱罐 surge 高涨，猛冲 mediator 中间人，调解人 spectrum 范围，领域 outrageous 过分的，放肆的 pundit 权威人士，专家 Bonus points nuggets of wisdom: 至理名言，名言集。 The cook book is full of nuggets of wisdom, like how to quickly bring a pot of water to boiling. 这本烹饪书里有很多的至理名言，比如如何快速烧开水。 tongue-in-cheek: adj. 半开玩笑的，不当真的 Don't be fooled by his complimentary words. They were all tongue-in-cheek. 别让他的恭维话给糊弄住，那些话可当不得真。 one-to-one: adj. 一对一的，面对面的。one-on-one翻译为中文也是"一对一的"，但强调竞争意味。 Let's go one-on-one. The loser must buy the winner a drink. 我跟你单挑，输的人请喝酒。 |
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