A couple of weeks ago I came home from a hectic day as usual and decided to relieve my tension by sitting on the couch for some "quality" television. As I turned on the tube and began channel surfing, I unconsciously stopped at a commercial for a daytime talk show. Clips of many different women fighting over men were being shown sporadically. Then the narrator of the commercial announced the title and I about fell on the floor laughing. "Black women who want their white friends to stop dating black men because they are taking up all the good ones!" I couldn't believe that a whole one-hour show was going to be dedicated to this subject. I was instantly consumed by the thought of what kind of people would actually want to watch such an outrageous show. It was at that moment that I realized that this show related to a certain type of audience that didn't include me. In fact, every television show relates to many different people. It's not necessarily the topic of the show that gets people addicted; it is most often the language within the show that draws them in. I thoroughly enjoy shows in which I can affiliate with the language. If my schedule allowed me, I would come home every night and watch Judge Judy. I love every aspect of the law and can watch court television programs without giving any of the language said a second thought. This situation isn't the same for all people. There are many people who would feel as if they were being tortured by being made to watch five minutes of Judge Judy.
             Over the next few weeks I decided to pick a couple of daytime talk shows to watch. Through watching these shows I discovered just how much of a role language played in different television shows. I chose to watch Ricki Lake and The Rosie O'Donnel Show, two shows that I had never seen a full episode of. Both of these shows appear during the daytime, one right after the other. The...