US talk show queen Oprah is pulling the plug

Alison McMeans

• Last Updated: November 20. 2009 9:35PM UAE / November 20. 2009 5:35PM GMT

For television talk show fans, it will be the end of an era. After two decades at the top of the ratings list, The Oprah Winfrey Show is drawing to a close.

The programme, which has turned its host into one of the world’s most influential people, has been screened in 145 countries and is watched by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the US alone.

But there is no need to reach for the handkerchiefs just yet – the final show is scheduled for September 9, 2011. That year, Winfrey will launch a cable channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Although there is speculation that Winfrey will host a programme on the channel, she told her staff that The Oprah Winfrey Show would not cross over to the new network.

Winfrey, 55, who has hosted the show since it began broadcasting nationally in 1986, was close to tears as she told her audience in a live broadcast yesterday: “I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it’s time to say goodbye. Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and it feels right in my spirit. It’s the perfect number, the exact right time.”

On Thursday, a letter was sent from Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, to the 214 local stations that carry the show, informing them of the decision.

In America, CBS, which owns the syndication rights to the show, and ABC, which regularly broadcasts it, could both lose millions of dollars with the show’s ending.
“We have the greatest respect for Oprah and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavours,” CBS said.

The business magazine Forbes ranked Chicago-born Winfrey at 45 on its list of the world’s most powerful people.

This week, the programme became a platform for last year’s Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, to launch her memoir.

The show has included several pop cultural landmarks. There was Winfrey’s dramatic weight loss in 1988 and the Hollywood star Tom Cruise declaring his love for Katie Holmes, the actress, in 2005.

Winfrey’s interview with Michael Jackson in 1993 attracted 62 million viewers in the US and more than 100 million worldwide.

Winfrey has expanded her brand into several other ventures, including O: The Oprah Magazine. Her book club has propelled unknown authors onto the best-sellers list.
Some of her regular guests, including Dr Phil, Dr Oz and Rachel Ray, have parlayed their appearances into Harpo-produced shows.

Winfrey has also ventured into films, with her latest endeavour, Precious, of which she was an executive producer, tipped for an Oscar.

Last month, The Oprah Winfrey Show stirred up controversy in the UAE when an Emirati woman told Winfrey incorrectly that Dubai residents did not pay utility bills. Then, when interviewed by Winfrey, Dr Lamees Hamdan referred to the abaya as a cultural, not religious, choice.

amcmeans@thenational.ae