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The Money Shot: Trash, Class, and the Making of TV Talk Shows
He leaped from his chair, ripped off his microphone, and lunged at his ex-wife. Security guards rushed to intercept him. The audience screamed, then cheered. Were producers concerned? Not at all. They were getting what they the money shot.
From "classy" shows like Oprah to "trashy" shows like Jerry Springer, the key to a talk show's success is what Laura Grindstaff calls the money shot—moments when guests lose control and express joy, sorrow, rage, or remorse on camera. In this new work, Grindstaff takes us behind the scenes of daytime television talk shows, a genre focused on "real" stories told by "ordinary" people. Drawing on extensive interviews with producers and guests, her own attendance of dozens of live tapings around the country, and more than a year's experience working on two nationally televised shows, Grindstaff shows us how producers elicit dramatic performances from guests, why guests agree to participate, and the supporting roles played by studio audiences and experts.
Grindstaff traces the career of the money shot, examining how producers make stars and experts out of ordinary people, in the process reproducing old forms of cultural hierarchy and class inequality even while seeming to challenge them. She argues that the daytime talk show does give voice to people normally excluded from the media spotlight, but it lets them speak only in certain ways and under certain rules and conditions. Working to understand the genre from the inside rather than pass judgment on it from the outside, Grindstaff asks not just what talk shows can tell us about mass media, but also what they reveal about American culture more generally.
From "classy" shows like Oprah to "trashy" shows like Jerry Springer, the key to a talk show's success is what Laura Grindstaff calls the money shot—moments when guests lose control and express joy, sorrow, rage, or remorse on camera. In this new work, Grindstaff takes us behind the scenes of daytime television talk shows, a genre focused on "real" stories told by "ordinary" people. Drawing on extensive interviews with producers and guests, her own attendance of dozens of live tapings around the country, and more than a year's experience working on two nationally televised shows, Grindstaff shows us how producers elicit dramatic performances from guests, why guests agree to participate, and the supporting roles played by studio audiences and experts.
Grindstaff traces the career of the money shot, examining how producers make stars and experts out of ordinary people, in the process reproducing old forms of cultural hierarchy and class inequality even while seeming to challenge them. She argues that the daytime talk show does give voice to people normally excluded from the media spotlight, but it lets them speak only in certain ways and under certain rules and conditions. Working to understand the genre from the inside rather than pass judgment on it from the outside, Grindstaff asks not just what talk shows can tell us about mass media, but also what they reveal about American culture more generally.
330 pages, Paperback
First published July 12, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 16, 2015
Interesting, especially in terms of what Grindstaff concludes about talk shows and social class, which I think applies to a lot of reality TV. Poor and working class people don't get on TV unless they act in exaggerated ways, and this contributes to our ideas about poor and working class people as somehow different, laughable, "trashy."
January 16, 2020
Disclaimer: I started reading this book in September but had to give it back in October and only finished the rest of it this week.
This book was really thorough, but more importantly, still understandable. It might have been because of the topic's familiarity or just the subject matter, but yeah, each chapter was easily understandable, and distinguishable. Looking back at the chapter titles now, I was able to remember what each chapter was without thinking about it.
This book was really thorough, but more importantly, still understandable. It might have been because of the topic's familiarity or just the subject matter, but yeah, each chapter was easily understandable, and distinguishable. Looking back at the chapter titles now, I was able to remember what each chapter was without thinking about it.
September 3, 2019
3.5
This was a good look into the environment of talk shows. Grindstaff wrote this after working at 2 different ones, a "good" one and a "bad" one (I'm curious for which shows they were and if she ever announced them). It had a good mix of quotes from the guests and her coworkers but it was written a little too academic for me. It was a little formal (which is fair because this was written for a university press) and her reflections were more about whether or not she crossed the ethical boundaries of research by using the trust of her guests rather than talk shows. I liked the bits about how some people use them because it'll get more attention to their cause (a 2018 documentary I watched on trash talk shows from the A&E network also mentioned how these were the earliest bits of representation for the LGBT community so I guess it wasn't a completely forced "woke" bit on their half) and how she said that the moral guardians who are against trash talk shows are the ones who support anti poor policies.
This was a good look into the environment of talk shows. Grindstaff wrote this after working at 2 different ones, a "good" one and a "bad" one (I'm curious for which shows they were and if she ever announced them). It had a good mix of quotes from the guests and her coworkers but it was written a little too academic for me. It was a little formal (which is fair because this was written for a university press) and her reflections were more about whether or not she crossed the ethical boundaries of research by using the trust of her guests rather than talk shows. I liked the bits about how some people use them because it'll get more attention to their cause (a 2018 documentary I watched on trash talk shows from the A&E network also mentioned how these were the earliest bits of representation for the LGBT community so I guess it wasn't a completely forced "woke" bit on their half) and how she said that the moral guardians who are against trash talk shows are the ones who support anti poor policies.
September 3, 2019
normally academic pondering of pop culture can be obnoxiously dense. you get the sense that a lot of the jargon employed by theorists just masks what terrible writers they are. this isn't the case for "money shot," which is an extremely lucid ethnography depicting laura grindstaff's stints as an associate producer at two day time talk shows. she uses pseudonyms, but one of them is a 'classy' show (like oprah) and one is trashy (like jerry springer).
grindstaff delves into the class distinctions perpetuated by these shows as well as the motives for both producers, audience and guests. she manages to convey theoretical ideas in a pretty clear way. i wish all pop academic books were this well written!
grindstaff delves into the class distinctions perpetuated by these shows as well as the motives for both producers, audience and guests. she manages to convey theoretical ideas in a pretty clear way. i wish all pop academic books were this well written!
May 13, 2007
more of an easy, entertaining read (with some grounding in sociological theory) than an academic book, but it did win an award in cultural sociology. recommended if you're interested in some of the "behind-the-scenes" of tv talk shows and their selection of participants.
June 9, 2018
Quite an interesting book. Written in the early aughts, it now actually describes our trashy anarchic world. In an interview in the late 90s, Brian Eno predicted politics would become like the Jerry Springer show. That was spot-on.
May 13, 2024
another book for work but tbh i liked this one
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews