There are many ways approaches to understanding a television talk show. It may be viewed as a literary narrative, for instance, or as a social text. As literary texts, talk shows contain characters, settings, and even a loosely defined plot structure which re-enacts itself each evening in the talk rituals that take place in front of the camera. These narratives center on the host as the central recurring character who frames and organizes the talk. Literary analysis of talk shows is relatively rare, but Michael Arlen's essay on the talk show in The Camera Age, or Kenneth Tynan's profile of Johnny Carson in The New Yorker, are superb examples of this approach. Talk shows can also be seen as social texts.

有许多可以理解电视谈话节目的方法。例如，它可以以文学故事或社会论题的形式被观看。文学主题的谈话节目包括人物，背景，甚至每晚在电视摄像机前进行的谈话形式下，有零散的结构细节情景再现。这些故事的中心主持人安排构建和组织谈话的中心人物的循环。谈话节目的文学性分析是相对很少的，但是迈克尔斯佩克特散文在相机年龄的谈话节目，或翰尼卡森在新纽约人的原型肯尼斯泰南，都是这种方法的极好事例。谈话节目也可以作成社会主题节目观看。