Where do the advantages lie watching such a show, what motivates the viewers? The explanation is probably to be found in psychology. Perhaps it has a relieving or simply an entertaining effect; maybe both. Nevertheless one should be critical about the degree of reality and the relevance of a show of that format.  (C.E.  4.Sem., Feb 2011)

The

The   The song “The Barry Williams Show“ by Peter Gabriel is about a famous and successful talk show.

The first stanza is written from the view of people who watch the Barry Williams Show. It shows that a lot of people watch it and recognize Barry Williams, which is pointed out by the parallelism (l.1+2) and the anaphora (l.5+6). Barry Williams is criticized making “the people crazy“(l.7) and then “let them go“ (l.8).

The second stanza is written from the view of the people who make the show. It spells out how the show works. Again a parallelism (l.10) and an anaphora (l.13+15) are used to show the cycle of this action. Moreover there is an alliteration (“leather lover“, l.13).

The third stanza shows the view of Barry Williams. It is like a chorus, because parts of it are repeated later. The repetition “show“ (l.17+18) points out the topic of the song: The Barry Williams Show. Barry Williams demonstrates his means for the success: “Dysfunctional excess“ (l.19) and “pain that they endure“ (l.21). That shows what the TV stations are accepting to get high ratings.

In the fourth Stanza the producers of the show points out what their “trick“ (l.32) is: they “let people be themselves“ (l.31). They mention the review of some people, who compare their job with the job of a doctor who makes “money from the sick“ (l.30). In contrast the producers underline how difficult their job is (“art“, l.28).

In the fifth stanza there are examples from the view of the people who take part in the show. It shows what kind of problems they have, e.g. “My lover stole my girlfriend“ (l.33), and that the producers rely on human interest stories with shock value.

The next paragraph also contains the chorus. Furthermore it underlines how violence in the show causes high ratings.

The last stanza is again written from the view of Barry Williams. He promotes his show by showing his fame and by naming the essentials of a talk show: it is a show, “where people say the things that they really mean“ (l.63f.). This fact is highlighted by the use of the alliteration.

It is interesting that there are so many people who take part in a talk show and so many people who watch it! Of course, there are people who just want to be on TV where they have their few minutes of fame. They think they are important and they need the attention of other people. That is one fact why Barry Williams “lets people be themselves“ (l.31) for his success.

Some people like to observe other people and like judging their ways of acting and reacting, because then they do not have to think about their own lives. Other people can identify themselves with the problems the people in the show discuss. The people in the show arouse emotions in the participants and the audience, so the viewer might sympathize with them. The people in the talk show can also teach the viewers that failure is subjective and as such does not mean anything. So there are some points why a talk show can be good for people. There are also people who watch this kind of show because they are glad that they do not have such problems.

I reckon this kind of talk show to be a waste of time. I think that it is basically a spectacle to get high ratings in spreading rumours and in promoting sensationalist news, while the producers expose people’s private lives and exploit the problems of people. The show typecasts these people as heroes or social failures, while the people do not even notice that they make fools of themselves.

Personally, I am not interested in such talk shows because I often cannot empathize with those people, because I think that their situation often is their own fault, e.g. if a girl does not know which boy is the father of her child.

All in all I consider this kind of talk show to be a programme for people who have similar problems and who can learn from the situations and problems of other people. I do not see another reasonable motive for such a programme, except for the high ratings such shows get because of the success of talk show voyeurism.   (C.S.  4.Sem., Feb 2011)

“The BarryWilliams Show” is a song written by the well-known British musician Peter Gabriel. It’s a comment on sensational television entertainment and deals with the phenomenon of tabloid talk shows such as “The Jerry Springer Show” and “Ricki Lake”.

The song’s narrator is the obvious very successful fictional talk show host Barry Williams. He gives an insight into his work in talk show business presenting contentious subjects and guests with shock value. Exposing people’s most personal problems in front of millions of viewers he features not only discussions or fighting between guests, when “the red light says on air” (l. 12) there is no limit set. The audience clamors and screams his name as soon he enters the stage.
It’s show time!

“I keep beating up my ex/ I want to kill my neighbor/ My daughter’s selling sex” (l. 34-36). “Did you see our leather lovers/ All tied up to the chair/ Did you catch those child molesters” (l. 13-15) Barry Williams doesn’t flinch from showcasing such guests’ topics like violence and sex including sadomasochistic stuff, rape and pedophilia. In fact it’s all in order to improve ratings – basically the more bizarre the show the higher the ratings (l. 45-46).

Although he pretends there is “no other trick” (l. 32) but letting “the people be themselves” (l. 31) it is not clear whether the actions are unscripted and real or the guests are instructed and casted. However, it seems that the show is at least arranged by cutting (l. 26) and film techniques as well as the discussions are led in one specific direction. So Barry Williams emphasizes his work is not as simple as it looks (l.27). In the last stanza of this song Barry Williams declares his show being “(t)he best TV you’ve ever seen/ Where people say the things that/they really mean” (l. 62-64).

In my opinion this statement is fundamentally wrong. TV formats like “The Barry Williams Show” are usually not about finding solutions for problems. They only target for the sensation seeking and malicious joy of the audience. So they provide a large assortment of weird persons that attract attention of their deviant behavior. Some of them might do it due to real problems but most of them due to the payment or the illusion of becoming famous.
Again – the more bizarre the better.

Those people can be freely humiliated and ridiculed to entertain the audience, but not only the persons, also the topics are treated this way.

In the end it’s a totally wrong way of handling serious problems that maybe not affect the talk show guests but highly likely some of their viewers. The persons concerned could either get a wrong impression how to deal with that kind of problem or they could be humiliated as well. It seems quite ironic to me that this song triggered controversial reactions at some radio stations when it was published. It was considered to be inappropriate for children because of the bad lyrics, despite the fact that children are being exposed to sex and violence on television every day.  (S.G.  4.Sem., Feb 2011)

Peter Gabriel deals with the topic of talk shows in his song "The Barry Williams Show". He describes the persons and situations that are shown from the perspective of Barry Williams, a TV host who claims that his success is built on the dysfunctional excess and letting the people be themselves.

I know this type of television from the German channels. During the day you can see a lot of talk show where the people are shouting, crying and fighting. Often I am not sure, if these people are paid for being so upset and aggressive. But at all such concepts become boring faster than you believe.

Another aspect of the human nature that leads to Williams' success is voyeurism. We know it from the times of ancient Rome (and maybe earlier) when people watched the fightings of gladiators. The Roman Emperors knew that bread and circuses were enough to control the people. Some modern scientists claim that TV and especially talk shows are consciously aired by politicians and economic leaders of our society to keep the people content, stupid and quiet. You could regard this thesis as idiotic. but I think there is a bit of truth in it. Especially if you think of the protests in the last weeks in Egypt, Libya and other North-African states you will recognize that TV channels play a big role in these revolutions; the presidents try to control the people while independent and foreign channels are often helpful for the demonstrators.

But of course – and that is the other side of TV programs – you can also make people aggressive with watching TV. Not only what is going on now in Africa but also normal life TV sometimes seems to be made for people that get easily upset. You can provoke and motivate people. And some of those methods are even used in talk shows, as can be seen in the "Barry Williams Show": "And the hostile folk we keep apart/ Till the red light says on air." That is – beside of the other points I mentioned in the beginning – one of the main points of the success of talk shows. Another one is the "dysfunctional excess" stated in every refrain of the song, which again leads to the question why a lot of people have fun in being voyeurists.

I cannot answer this question but I think it is in the human nature. What is also part of it is the need of some people to become "celebrities" with sensationalist stories. These two factors that make the spectator feel like an actor are the driving forces of reality TV. I think if you keep this in mind you can watch talk shows – just for relaxing and having fun. There is nothing that speaks against this. In my personal opinion talk shows and other kinds of reality TV are not as bad as you can often read. But I also do not prefer them, they are just one kind of modern TV. If you watch reality TV just for entertainment it will not damage you.  (B.F. 4.Sem., Feb 2011)