For my beginners students who watch a lot of tv (if they don't they probably play video games so they never leave the house to approach anyway lol) the quick fix is to follow a format of asking:
"so what's your favorite tv show?"
If they say one you don't watch just say "I haven't seen that, it good?" "what else do you watch?"
Once you hit on a common ground one, duh, talk about it. This will keep conversation flowing and build rapport, being you both know the same characters, places, events and shit.
Highly on the fly observational conversation skills don't come from knowledge, they come from relaxation. This is why so many use routines that stink until they can relax, then some use them forever anyway even once relaxed and never get good.
Anything to keep conversation flowing until you get relaxed in the game is all that matters. Eye contact is 5 times more important by itself. "Slowing down" and relaxation and KINO are also bigger. You do need to have the two of you speaking though of course, and that's all you need is a common tv show or movie you've both seen to accomplish that.
For more intermediate guys who can actually talk beyond an opener and relax, and I also use this myself, field tested over 100 times, I make fun of people in the place with her.
I start up like "hey look at that guys pants, oh my god they have something on them, I bet his name is Marcus D.......................Fudgepants" type stuff.
A. Great fun.
B. It sets an "us against them" frame in the backdrop you can use later.
C. Is 100% perfect rapport assumption, it is exactly what you and a friend from your past, her and a family member etc have done while in natural flowing rapport.
For intermediate levels the golden rule is
anything to assume rapport.
Both of these are about 50% of my verbals even at an advanced level. The key isn't the base conversation tactics, it is what you transition them in to that makes the advanced game conversationally.
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