Talk show and News codes and conventions

This unit gives us the option to create either a short talk show or a news segment. My group chose to do a talk show because we wanted to have more creative freedom with what we could film and the ideas we can generate. Talk shows are more casual and laid back whereas news is structured and follows more codes and conventions.

A talk show is a television programme genre that is structured around a spontaneous conversation. A common feature of a a talk show is to have 'fresh talk' which is a conversation that is spontaneous or has the appearance of spontaneity. Talk shows have their distinctive attributes and differ from other television shows. One person or a group of guests will discuss various topics brought up by the shows host, they can range from social, political and current events. There will typically be celebrity guests who talk about their lives or current events, followed by games or comedy segments as part of the show. The shows hosts personality shapes the tone of the show.

Talk show attributes:

• Talk shows usually have an in house band. The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon has an in house band called The Roots, they help set the tone through music and in comedy segments. They play the theme tune and all of the songs before the musical guest.

• Talk show hosts are responsible for entertaining their guests and viewers by furthering conversation, instigating and directing conversation with their guests.

• Typically hosts will play games with their guests. James Cordon is known for playing 'Fill your guts or spill your guts' with various celebrities. A game that is aimed to get a celebrity to reveal secrets, answer personal questions or eat something really disgusting. It gets millions of views online for its purely comedic and entertaining value. Jimmy Fallon has a game he plays with musical guests called 'Wheel of musical impressions' where the guest will push a button too and a random generator will give them a song to sing in a different singers voice.

• Talk shows focus on the viewers and can either be aired from a studio with a live audience, have viewers calling in or the show can be watched at home on the television or online.
  

Sub-genres and talk show formats

• Early morning or breakfast news show. For example 'This morning' in the UK and 'Good morning America' and 'The today show' in America. Typically have political coverage or celebrity news and gossip.

• Daytime talk show that feature celebrities like The Ellen Degeneres show that is aimed at families because it's aired during the daytime, or shows like Dr. Phil and Oprah that focus on helping dysfunctional people. Loose women is a uk talk show that has a panel of professional opinionated women that discuss various topics.

• Late night talk show. They go over current events and feature celebrities, an in house band is a common attribute and it is typical for hosts to play games with guests and have comedy segments. The tonight show, The late late show and Conan are examples.

• Sports talk shows, similar to news talk shows bu they focus on sport.

• Pundit show. Typically has one host that can address politics, sports, science and conspiracy theories or just give m on a subjects that they are knowledgable about. A British example is The Jeremy Vine show, a lunchtime debate and music show on BBC Radio two.
  

Attributes of a good show host

• Being Interested in other people- People love to talk about themselves, so being genuinely interested in other people and asking lots of questions is important. Learning about what the other person is saying and then incorporating that into the conversation is engaging and makes the other person feel comfortable and better about themselves. Having a genuine curiosity about your guests is key.

• Confidence and an outgoing personality- A show hosts personality and charisma carries the show. Being comfortable in your own skin and being able to engage with an audience is part of being a host and a good entertainer. Hosts don't make it about themselves, they put their audiences experience first, by always engaging and making them feel comfortable. For example Jimmy Fallon usually starts of his show by reading out some thank-you notes to make his guests laugh.

• Great improv skills - As mentioned above talk show hosts have structured and scripted questions however they have to make a conversation spontaneous to appear casual. Some of the best jokes and moments come from show hosts having laughs with guests when playing games and being quick witted. You have to have a good response to unexpected situations.

Some popular talk shows that inspired me and my group listed below:

Talk show game research & ideas

My group are creating a talk show for this project as mentioned earlier. Part of our three section show structure is for the host to play a game with their guest. Not only would this fit within our covid contingency plan if we cannot film in college and have to film on zoom, playing a game works filming remotely and in person.

Hosts play games with their guests to make audiences feel like they are in on the action. Nearly every talk show nowadays uses games to interact with guests and to generate millions of views online because we get to see our favourite celebrities having fun and showing their personality, almost making them more human than public figure.

Here are some popular games that i have gathered from contemporary talk shows that would be suitable for our talk show, whether it be filmed on zoom as part of our contingency backup plan, or if we are able to film it in studio the games can be more interactive.

Box of lies, The tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon has eight boxes set up, each box containing a random and strange item, the premise of the game is for a guest and Jimmy to pick one of the boxes, look at its contents and then throw off the other player as to what is inside their box. Both players usually make up lies as too what is in their box. This game would be easy to set up and play if our group had the opportunity to film in a studio and this game can also be played on a zoom call as part of our contingency plan.

Heads up

Ellen plays this game with her guests sometimes and its a virtual version of charades. You put up a phone or ipad up to your forehead and you have to guess what or who you are when the other person acts out or describes what's written on the ipad or phone. This game can also be played remotely on a phone call so it is another consideration for our groups talk show.

Word Sneak

A funny game where the premise is to incorperate five random words that each player is given, into a casual conversation.

Three word stories

You're going to have a stack of random words, then you take it in turns to say start stories with three words and lead your competitor to say the secret word that is in the stack.