ABSTRACT
We turn now to a television genre which lies on the boundaries between news and current affairs, and the realm of entertainment: the talk show. The advent of the talk show is a defining moment in television history. Though it exists in many different formats, one thing they all share is the (re)presentation of informal modes of talk which contrasted with the arch, stilted tones of the official realm. In the west, the genre emerged in the late 1950s and then gradually infiltrated the schedules, disseminating its influence over neighbouring genres.1
