How Valuable are Talk Shows? What is the "Big Picture"?

Honestly, I don't really watch talk shows very often, especially when it comes to politics. Throughout television, there are so many options that you can choose from, but which is considered a "valuable source" to look into? In my opinion, when you have one person in charge of an entire show, it's most likely that this source of information is biased. The reason for this is because one person can really only provide so much information that they might not exactly have all the details on any given situation. If you have multiple people involved in the talk show, maybe you could get more information about something, but is it considered news or is it just people telling us something that we most likely already know? 

Lets take a look at two different anchors: Larry King and Bill O'Reilly.

 

I've never really watched too much of their respected shows, but both of these guys have different ways of gaining an audience to watch them on television. Bill O'Reilly has been known for looking at politics from his own perspective and has had guests debating about the various topics, but I can't really see how this is a "valuable source" when I'm trying to figure out a dilemma in the political world. On the other hand, Larry King talked about politics for decades, but not on his OWN political view. He even talks about on this video found here! He never felt his political opinion ever mattered, and that is a rather interesting way of looking at it. Does our political opinion really matter?

Yes, we are all entitled to our own opinions, there's nothing wrong with that! But if our opinions don't really matter, why are we so worried about getting information from people that are just going to express theirs? I think we need to focus more on the FACTS! Facts provide us with information while opinion is just the way we look at the facts and what we think about it. Whatever we way look at any situation, odds are opinions might not be a main solution.

Television: What's Going On with Society?

Let me just say this...
With all due respect, I'm not a fan of reality shows. As a matter of fact, looking at a lot of these reality shows that are airing today, I HATE it! Ok, maybe not particularly hate, just more in terms of not having any interest in them at all. In my opinion, I think that there is WAY too much unnecessary drama and the shows are rather dysfunctional. I get it if this is a way to get ratings for the show, to give people more reason to watch. However, I think it's a little too much for me! Just a tad....

Anyway, when you look at reality shows as it pertains to the world outside the cameras, does it actually affect the way we behave towards others? The way we talk? The way we react to what others say right to our faces? Or even the way we live life in general? There are so many questions that come into play in regards to what we see on our television screens!

Before I make my further observations, I just want to point something out that might find interesting (if you don't know about this). When I was taking a Sociology class last year, my teacher's church actually had someone from the Desperate Housewives (I don't remember which location or who it was) that came to speak to the public. She stated that some of the things they did in the show were actually "scripted". I can't remember anything else beyond that, but I'm willing to assume it was to just build their "character" for the show and was a creative way to have the audience love/hate them.

Even though what I just said is a little bit different in comparison to the real world, you can't help but wonder what people think of these reality shows. I think these television shows have affected our society in many different ways! Take shows such as Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Desperate House Wives, Total Divas, Girls Next Door, etc. People actually LOOK UP to different actors/actresses on each show. Putting all the pieces in this puzzle together, the way human beings react nowadays is based off of example from what is happening in front of the television screen and I think it's very concerning! With that being said, I don't think you can just put these shows off the air, but I think people need to show more respect towards others and gain better discipline. That's all I have to say about that...