The Phenomenon of the Tabloid Talk Show on Russian TV: the History of Development, the Audience, the Specifics of Production

In this paper the peculiarities of the tabloid talk show on Russian television based on the example of the talk show «Pust’ Govoryat» will be considered. Today, on Russian television talk shows are gaining the increasing level of popularity. On many TV channels they take the prime time, which means that their audience is a daily maximum. Within the topic, as well-known and popular tabloid talk shows as «Pust’ Govoryat» («Let them speak»), «Pryamoi Afir» («Live Broadcast» with Boris Korchevnikov, «Govorim I Pokazyvayem» (Talk and Show), Trash TV were analyzed. These tabloid talk shows can demonstrate a perfect example of the level of Russian talk shows that has been achieved by now. The main aim of this paper is to study the format of tabloid talk show and identify the features of popular tabloid talk shows on Russian television. The paper will examine the phenomenon of tabloid as a format television, as well as the analysis of popular Russian talk shows and their specifics. Such popular talk shows as «Pust’ Govoryat» («Let them speak»), «Pryamoi Afir» («Live Broadcast») with Boris Korchevnikov, «Govorim I Pokazyvayem», as well as in-depth interviews in this context can be considered as the empirical basis for the research. These TV programs have been chosen as the object of the study, as they are considered to be the main talk shows of the most rated TV channels in 2017 according to the results of the study of the company «Mediascope» (used to be called «TNS Russia»), which belongs to the Russian public opinion research centre. The results of the research will help to identify the features of the contemporary tabloid talk shows on Russian television and can be used as a theoretical base for further research. Keywords: tabloid, talk-shows, format TV, rating.