Another "bad" tv show is "The Jeremy Kyle Show", it's a talk show which many people are familiar with, basically people humiliate themselves on a stage for about fifteen minutes, then are sent away to get "help", get a lie detector test or more popularly a DNA test.
It's not that I don't enjoy watching the show, I mean to be honest I've watched a lot more of the episodes than anyone I know, there's something strangely addicting about watching pregnant teenagers not knowing who the father of their child is whilst yelled at by a middle class, middle aged man to "get a job" or "stop having unprotected sex" or whatever, but the whole premise of the show is...seedy? I don't know, it was described as a judge as "human bear baiting" and I agree to an extent. Of course getting people who are drug addicts and alcoholics to come on to a stage and confront people they hate will result in violence, everybody knows it, but that's the appeal of the show. Although in the end it exploits the poorest members of society, teenagers who can't afford a DNA test are paraded in front of an audience and ridiculed as entertainment. Is this the kind of television that we should encourage? It's bad but I would miss it if it were gone.
References
The Jeremy Kyle Show
Trisha Goddard
Judge condemning Jeremy Kyle
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/sep/24/television
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