TV Culture: The Oprah Winfrey Show Essay (Review)

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The Oprah Winfrey Show is a non-narrative program with a perfect emotional appeal to the audience. Winfrey’s dialogues with guests are personal and can easily create a family-like atmosphere. The theme chosen for the discussion is intriguing and important to the American viewers of the program. In addition, the multi-camera style allows the audience to capture the host and guests as well as the spectators in the studio. As a result, the viewer feels as if they are part of the show as opposed to an outsider. The episode titled “The best pizza in America” (January 10, 2008) is chosen for the analysis.

Symbolism and Polysemy

First, the topic is interesting and relevant. Pizza is one of the favorite foods in America, and all viewers, irrespective of age or social status, will find the discussion appealing. The star guest is Gayle King – a friend of Oprah Winfrey. Gayle traveled across the United States with the purpose of finding the best burgers and cakes. The show focuses on Gayle’s quest for the best burgers, pizza, and cakes. The show is presented as an investigative report. Moreover, Gayle King outlines seven secrets to find easy to cook, fast, and reasonably priced pizzas. The show is not only interesting, but it is also very informative and practical.

Even though talk shows are categorized as non-narrative programs, there is an assigned topic in every episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. In our chosen episode, the main idea is to inform the public where to find and how to make a tasty pizza. Despite its Italian origin, pizza is perhaps one of the most highly consumed types of food in the United States and is a symbol of America’s national culture. This every day, easily accessible food makes the topic seems relevant to anyone in the country. Because of that, a discussion on pizza is a guarantee for a high audience rating.

From the perspective of polysemy, the pizza talk can apply to the country as a whole as it is a symbol of national identity but also regional. The first pizza store was opened in New York at the beginning of the 20th century. Deep-dish pizza was created in Chicago. As pizza became vastly popular after World War II, Los Angles was the origin of many pizza chain stores. People in New York, Chicago, or Los Angles have a sense of pride and belonging with this food. All Americans consider pizza a national food (Stradley).

Horace Newcomb argued that television is not always “warmly and naively welcomed into society and home. Many aspects of the medium were and are troublesome, threatening, oppressive, repressive, and obnoxious” (Newcomb 1). However, The Oprah Winfrey Show is different. The show has an informative, educating, and entertaining purpose without any troublesome aspects of television.

Program Structure

The structure of The Oprah Winfrey Show is thematic: information is presented from general overviews to specific topics. The easy-to-follow flow is maintained from the first minute of the show to the end. At the beginning of the show, Oprah presents the topic and states the purpose of the discussion. Next, the star guest (the main guest of the show; usually a famous person) is welcomed and introduced. This segment is interrupted three times for commercials but the interruptions do not affect the flow of discussion. The main points of the discussion are repeated right after the breaks.

The fact of flow is central to the television experience. Williams argued that “it is not only that many particular items – given our ordinary organization of response, memory, and persistence of attitude and mood – are affected by those preceding and those following them” (Williams 95). Therefore, the Oprah Winfrey Show on pizza is successful because of its effective thematic structure and frequent repetitions of the previous discussion. Even though the topic on pizza is seemingly simple, the structure of the show plays an important role in gaining and keeping the attention of the audience. Apart from the conversation between Oprah Winfrey and her guest Gayle King, the show is enriched by several videos on Gayle’s trips as the viewer is given an opportunity to see and live his journey.

Fiske noted that “television should be continuous and should not end” (Fiske 101). The Oprah Winfrey Show is continuous as the viewer is never lost in the flow of presented information. In summary, the episode on pizza is well accepted and understood by the audience because of its thematic flow of information.

Genre Analysis

The non-narrative genre of the talk show suits the needs of the majority of the audience. The lack of plot and the hierarchy of the presented events allow an average viewer to easily and quickly understand the topic whenever they tune in to the program. Frequent interruptions and short summaries of the previous mini-segments help the viewers stay on track and can get involved with the discussion.

The audience group in the studio plays an important role in the show as frequent interaction with them is started by Oprah. The show has many years of popularity because of Oprah’s personal speaking style: Oprah talks with her guests like she is talking about old friends. So personal and intimate, she easily creates a warm atmosphere, even for the viewers in front of the TV set. The frequent shots of the audience group in the studio help contribute to the positive acceptance of the show in general. Moreover, the studio’s audience, the guests, and Oprah Winfrey are smiling almost all the time. Their positive attitude is transferred to the television audience.

The body movements and even the tone of the voice create a positive atmosphere. In addition, Oprah continuously relates the topic to her own life and the lives of her audience members. It contributes to the emotional appeal of the show.

The essence of the talk show rests on three fundamental aspects: general but interesting topic, emotional appeal to the audience, and an optimistic atmosphere. An average talk show viewer wants to escape from their problems and relax for a while. Oprah Winfrey’s show gives them such an opportunity for half an hour. The appealing topic of pizza is understood and accepted by all Americans. The positive atmosphere in the studio contributes to relaxation. Finally, the emotional appeal creates a sense of belonging to US residents.

In conclusion, The Oprah Winfrey Show is a perfect example of a successful non-narrative television show. It has a positive appeal to a national audience. The topic of pizza which is part of the American culture is interesting and allows the viewer to feel like part of the community.

The personal communication style and star guests are an effective and harmless approach in gaining the interest of viewers. In addition, the frequent shots of the audience and several repetitions on the previous mini-segments prolong the audience’s concentration span for the length of the show. Overall, “The Best Pizza in America” led by Oprah Winfrey has fulfilled two main objectives: it entertains and educates the viewers.

Works Cited

Fiske, John. Television Culture. London: Methuen & Co Ltd., 1987.

Newcomb, Horace. Television: The Critical View. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Stradley, Linda. “” What’s Cooking America. 2004. Web.

Williams, Raymond. Television: Technology and Cultural Form. New York: Schocken Books, 1975.

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