Talk shows and game shows : a crazy world!

Par roseline mahé (erea jean monnet, Garches,(92)) le 15 mars 2018, 13:57 - CAP 2018 - Lien permanent

People will do anything to get on television. Especially if they're American...

TALK SHOWS AND GAME SHOWS : A CRAZY WORLD!

People will do anything to get on television. Especially if they’re American…

One evening last February, 23 million Americans watched a woman called Darva Conger marry  a man called Rick Ruckwell, live on TV. Darva wore a white wedding dress, but it wasn’t a very romantic moment : the couple had only met some minutes before.

Darva Conger was simply the winner (out of 50 contestants) of the game show Who wants to marry a millionaire ? Rick Ruckwell was the millionaire. A few days later, he was denounced as a fraud (and certainly no millionaire). It was a real scandal.

Another example is Survivor – 16 contestants are left on an inhospitable tropical island, and must find their food to survive. Several weeks later, the one who survives in this environment will receive $ 1 million (1 million euros).

 

Americans reveal intimate details of their private lives.

 

The attraction of talk shows is that they are simple games : real people’s lives are manipulated for entertainment.

Talk shows exist in all countries, of course, but they are extreme in the USA. The present king of talk-show hosts is Jerry Springer. His show has pushed back the limits of what acceptable on TV American shows encourage their contestants to get violent. The audience likes shocking confrontations. For Richard Dominick, producer of the Jerry Springer show, there is no limit : « If I could execute a criminal on TV, I would do it. I’d kill him on our show ».

 

 

 

Vocabulary  :                                                                              

a contestant = un participant     
entertainment = le spectacle
a host (ici) = un animateur
the audience = le public

 

Conseil : bien lire le texte j’ai enlevé certains passages.

Quelques idées :

This document comes from a magazine for people who learn English.

It was written in May 2000.

The text is about  pets in the USA.

If you live in the USA your pets can live like human beings.

They can have frogs and pigs as pets !

They can be dressed

They can get married

They can go to school

They can go to beauty salon

They can eat special food

You can organize parties for them.

If your pets is not well, your dog can see a psychiatrist , an astrologer and a psychic

It sounds incredible because the American people spend a lot of money for these animals.

Donnez votre point de vue :

  • I have got some pets :….
  • I haven’t got any pets…
  • I think  these people are crazy because you can love your pets but they are not human beings. The animals don’t appreciate going to a hotel.
  • I think it is a good think because animals have feelings