Coming After Oprah
Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV Talk Show

Vicki Abt and Leonard Mustazza Bowling Green University Popular Press 1997 204 pp., index

Coming After Oprah is the first book-length study assessing a decade of talk that makes the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s look innocuous by comparison. More than just a commentary on the aesthetics of the genre, this book looks at the evolution and cultural significance of these programs, disputing claims that they are nothing more than harmless entertainment. In the book's revealing first half, Vicki Abt and Leonard Mustazza uncover the mechanics of the talk-show game. The book's second half examines the behind-the-scenes economic games and their implications, revealing a web of complex commercial and political interests that influence their production. (A detailed description of the corporate players and the revenues they are generating is also provided.) The study concludes with suggestions for what we as a culture might do to protect ourselves from its inherent deceptions and misinformation.

The transformation of TV talk shows over time is the quintessential illustration of how material culture (technology, the media) affects our cultural narratives and symbols and, through them, changes the "social construction of reality."

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Vicki Abt is professor of Sociology and American Studies, and Dr. Leonard Mustazza is professor of English and American Studies, both at the Pennsylvania State University's Abington College in suburban Philadelphia. Dr. Abt is the author of numerous scholarly articles on controversial social issues and co-author with James F. Smith and Eugene Christiansen of a landmark study of gambling, The Business of Risk. Dr. Mustazza is the author of many articles on literature and popular culture and of eight books, including two on popular writer Kurt Vonnegut, and four on singer Frank Sinatra.