That's psychotainment

Reports that daytime talk shows may have social repercussions more costly than their entertainment value. Views of Penn State social psychologist Vicki Abt, who argues that the parade of social deviants who hop from talk show to talk show are corrupting our sense of normalcy; How these shows embrace deviance without sanction; Bad therapy as entertainment.

By PT Staff, published on March 01, 1995

DAYTIME TV

Daytime tall shows, where the pedophile, Nazi, and husband-batterer roam free, may have social repercussions more costly than their entertainment value.

The parade of deviants who hop from Oprah to Phil to Sally are corrupting our sense of normalcy, argues Vicki Abt, Ph.D., a Penn State social psychologist who scrutinized 60 episodes each of all three shows. She lived to describe it in the Journal of Popular Culture and on Oprah--live.

By showcasing abnormality, whether child abusers or mothers who sleep with their son's best friends, TV inures us to real tragedy. "If you keep speaking the unspeakable, it becomes speakable," Abt insists. In this twisted take on show-and-tall, the triple D-cup exhibitionist carries the same weight as the truly needy--the molested son, the battered wife. Take the episode where Sally Jessy Raphael thanks a serial rapist for confessing that he, too, is a victim of bad upbringing. Embracing deviance without sanction and lending pseudoempathy to victim and victimizer alike mocks the very moral backbone the rapist lacks.

It's bad therapy as entertainment. The hosts act as "cynical practitioners," creating "instimacy" before goading "patients" into self-incrimination and exposing their scars or evil to millions of viewers. Invoking such dubious concepts as codependency and inner child, the hosts imply expertise. But they lack training--and the risk of malpractice.

PHOTO: Oprah Winfrey

PHOTO: Sally Jessy Rapheal

PHOTO: Phil Donohue