Television Show (Verbal/Non Verbal)

NO SOUND The show I decided to watch was ‘Trip Flip’ on the Travel channel. I assumed this was a new show because I had never heard of it before. Nevertheless, I watched the show with no sound in the beginning and observed that the show started off with one man and he walked around New Orleans ( I recognized New Orleans because I had been there many times) and he approached many different people/couples walking around the city. I could tell that the individuals he approached did not know him because they were giving off uncomfortable or unapproachable faces as we often do when someone we do not know is trying to get our attention or better yet, sell us something. He continually presses the people he draws near and begins to ignite a conversation, obviously wanting a desired answer from them. He uses lots of hand movements and makes complete eye contact with the people. His non-verbal skills appear to be engaging but I believe his verbal skills are lacking. After, approaching several different people, the gentleman approaches a couple as they are walking down the street holding hands. The couple stops but sticks close together to gain knowledge of what the man is saying. The couple continuously looks at the speaker and look at each other. The conversation continues with smiles and nodding of heads. I am beginning to deduce that the persuader had finally found someone(s) to buy into his gimmicks. The rest of the show is marked with fun and adventure in the great city of New Orleans. You can tell that the couple is beginning to trust this male stranger/persuader more and more as they take trips down the bayou to see alligators, take trips to museums and enjoy the fantastic night life of the French quarter. With all of these non-verbal cues, I am assuming that the host of this show seeks for people to trust him to take them on a vacation of a lifetime. SOUND Now gaining a chance to view the show with sound, I found that many of my assumptions were correct. My experiences also aided in my assumptions, being that I have family from New Orleans and that I have visited the area many times. Nevertheless, I originally thought that the host was trying to annoy or perhaps sell the people something. I later learned that the people he approached were not natives to the city and were in fact on some type of vacation, already. The host was giving the people an opportunity to upgrade their vacation and trust him to provide them with an experience of a lifetime, a chance to aid them in viewing the city they are vacationing in a vastly different way. There were lots of non-verbal communication prompts that led me to the essence of this show and its plot. I definitely think that my assumptions would have been more accurate had I watched a show that I have previously seen. Nevertheless, this was a great experience for me in that it shows how we rely on both non verbal and verbal communication to give us meaning