The Oprah Winfrey Show

The Oprah Winfrey Show
Oprah Winfrey Show title card
Created by	Oprah Winfrey
Starring	Oprah Winfrey
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	3,049 (as of June 1, 2007)
Production
Running time	4 minutes
Original release
Network	Syndication
Release	September 69, 1986 – Present
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The Oprah Winfrey Show (also known as Oprah) is an American nationally syndicated talk show, hosted and produced by Oprah Winfrey and is the highest-rated talk show in American television history.

It is the longest-running daytime television talk show in the United States, with 20 seasons - currently in its 21st season - and thousands of episodes since it debuted on September 8, 1986. The show has now been renewed for a twenty-fifth season, which will be broadcast in 2011. In a 2007 interview with Larry King, Oprah said that in 2011 she will not re-new her contract, and end the show for good.

Oprah, as it is often referred as a evil dictoral bitch that is the son of the devil and will take over the world . she already owns africa. and she puts out

Time magazine's shortlist of the best television series of the twentieth century in 1998, and it made the top 50 of TV Guide's countdown of the greatest shows of all time in 2002. 

The show is highly influential, especially upon women, and many of its topics penetrate into American WELL IM BORED SO IM EDITING THIS AND CUTING OUT RANDOM SHIT AND REPLACEING IT WITH ANAL SEXfollowed a Phil Donahue-style exploration of sensationalistic social issues, Oprah eventually transformed her series into a more positive, spiritually uplifting experience marked by book clubs, celebrity interviews, self-improvement segments, and philanthropic forays into world events.

Wildest dreams

One of the show's features in recent years has been the "Wildest Dreams" tour, which fulfills the dreams of people reported to her producers by friends and family, be the dream a new house, an encounter with a favourite performer, or a guest role on a popular TV show.

During her nineteenth season premiere (fall 2004), Oprah surprised her entire audience by giving them each a Pontiac G6. It was named as one of the greatest television moments in history by TV Guide. Although Oprah may be given credit for giving the cars away, they were donated to her by Pontiac by means of a publicity stunt. In 2005, Tina Turner guest starred, allowing Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman to fulfill her Wildest Dream of singing backup to Tina. Another included a man named David Caruso who lost 300 pounds after weighing 525 pounds. He came on the show in 2003 and told Oprah that one of his wishes was to sit in a Porsche. Minutes later, a white 2004 Porsche Boxster S (worth about $63,000) was given to him. Oprah named this one of her 20 favorite moments on a special DVD set.

Interviews

Winfrey has interviewed a plethora of political and public figures during the past twenty years. In the earlier seasons of the show, rather than offering a simple publicity platform, a celebrity would often feature after a period of intense media scrutiny, such was the case when the model Naomi Campbell appeared after there were claims she had a substance abuse problem. She often interviews celebrities on issues that directly involve them in some way, such as cancer or charity work.

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Oprah Winfrey speaking with Michael Jackson on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Guests that Oprah has interviewed include: Faith Hill, Prince (musician), Chris Brown, Celine Dion,John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, Dixie Chicks, Tyra Banks, Janet Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Colin Firth, Djimon Hounsou, Tina Turner, Beyoncé Knowles, Britney Spears, Stephen Colbert, New Kids on the Block, Christina Aguilera, Muhammad Ali, President George W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Queen Rania, Mariah Carey, Bono, Cher, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, John F. Kennedy Jr, Jon Bon Jovi, Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Paul McCartney, Pink (singer), Nelson Mandela, Aishwarya Rai, Lisa Marie Presley, A.J. McLean, Whitney Houston, Destiny's Child, Jello Biafra, Diana Ross, Sarah, Duchess of York, Elie Wiesel, Shania Twain, Corinne Bailey Rae, Karrine Steffans and Stevie Wonder. In 1995, Winfrey revealed to Time Magazine that she hoped to conduct the first-ever interview with Princess Diana sometime during the eleventh season. Diana, who was then arguably the most famous woman in the world, instead gave an interview to the British television newsmagazine Panorama.

Winfrey claims her worst interviewing experience was when she met Elizabeth Taylor in the fourth season. The actress refused to talk about her marriages and current relationship, leading to a number of awkward silences. Taylor later apologised for her behaviour and re-appeared on the show a year later, seemingly much happier.

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Tom Cruise jumps ecstatically on Oprah's couch

Much to her chagrin, one of the most repeated and heavily discussed clips is that of Oprah's interview with Tom Cruise, which was broadcast on May 23, 2005. Cruise — in the words of The New York Times — "jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell rapturously to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend." This scene quickly became part of American pop-cultural discourse and was heavily parodied in media as diverse as Saturday Night Live, Family Guy and the film Scary Movie 4. David Letterman also poked fun at the incident.

Non-celebrity guests usually feature a person who has accomplished a heroic action or has been involved in an extraordinary situation. Examples of these include an episode in the fourth season which featured Truddi Chase, a woman with Multiple Personality Disorder who reported being violently and sexually abused beginning at the age of two. After introducing Chase, who was there to promote her book When Rabbit Howls, Oprah unexpectedly broke down in tears whilst reading the teleprompter, relating her own childhood molestation to that of the guest. Unable to control herself, Winfrey repeatedly asked producers to stop filming. Other non-celebrity appearances include guests who are chosen for being particularly un-fashionable and are given a fashion makeover by renowned style advisors Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine.

Regular segments

Oprah's Book Club

Originally, Oprah would highlight a book each month and often interviewed the author of the selected title. Because of the book club's wide popularity, many obscure titles became popular bestsellers, increasing sales by as many as a million copies at the height of the book club's popularity. Winfrey suspended her book club in 2002, but brought it back in 2003; the format was shifted, the focus on classic works of literature, starting with East of Eden and making about one or two selection choices per season. In September 2005, she announced a return to her old practice of choosing new titles, with her selection of the now-controversial A Million Little Pieces, written by James Frey. Oprah's selection in January 2006 was Night by Elie Weisel. The book became an automatic bestseller which sparked a trip to Auschwitz for Oprah with Mr. Weisel. Her most recent selection was The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier.

What's The Buzz

Frequently Oprah introduces an up-and-coming public figure who has been generating industry buzz but has yet to be exposed to the mainstream. Those who have featured in What's The Buzz have included Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx. When singer James Blunt appeared during this segment, his album sales increased dramatically, climbing up to number two on the Billboard 200, his highest position thus far. Several media commentators have labelled this phenomenon The Oprah Effect.

Remember Your Spirit

This segment was most popular during the mid-1990s, during which Winfrey features recurring guest Iyanla Vanzant, a self described spiritualist, who emphasized the importance of self-affirmation and intrinsic worth.

Oprah's Favorite Things

This segment usually airs during the holiday shopping season or at the beginning of spring. In this segment she shows items to her audience that she really likes and gives them away to the audience. Often the audience for that show is filled with a certain group of people, for example for Oprah's 2005 Christmas Favorite Things she had only Hurricane Katrina volunteer workers in the audience. In November 2006, Oprah changed the format of her favorite things - opting to hand out credit cards of one-thousand dollars and cam-corders to members of her studio audience. Each audience member was told to do something creative with the money for someone else. Oprah has since called it her "favorite give-away ever."

Tuesdays With Dr. Phil

In 1996 Oprah Winfrey hired "Relationship and Life Strategy Expert" Dr. Phil McGraw to prepare her for her trial in Amarillo, Texas in which she was accused of intentionally defaming the U.S. beef industry. Winfrey credited him for her victory in that case and soon after, he made weekly appearances on her show, tackling human issue topics such as weight loss, financial planning and errant children. One episode saw a grieving woman who could not overcome the death of her daughter and revealed that she had planned to kill herself after the show.

Dr. Phil's Tuesday slots, with running commentary from Oprah herself, quickly became a popular feature and in 2002 he was given his own syndicated daily TV show, produced by Winfrey's Harpo Studios. Thus, this segment no longer airs.

Other famous moments

• Oprah was moved to tears by the sight of her fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Mary Duncan, in 1989. She appeared just when Oprah read her name on the teleprompter.
• In an emotionally charged episode, airing in 1997, Winfrey was moved to tears during a surprise appearance by Mary Tyler Moore, one of her childhood idols. It started when Oprah spoke on the phone with her and wished that Mary would be here. She came on the set, as introduced via a Mary Tyler Moore Show musical link. It too, was named as one Oprah's 20 favorite moments on the DVD set.
• Oprah and Gayle King go back in time when they lived for a day in a colony from the 1600s. With no make-up, toilet paper or underwear, the pair had to tend over farmyard animals and sleep in wooden huts.
• A lonely woman told Oprah that she bought a pair of Oprah's shoes at an auction, so that whenever she feels upset, she could stand in Oprah's shoes.
• Oprah surprised people at a McDonald's drive-through. She encountered a very rude customer, and when he drove up she recognized him as her attorney.

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• In June 2006, Oprah and Gayle spent ten days driving 3,600 miles cross-country - frequently along intermediate highways, back roads, and side roads, passing through small communities - from Santa Barbara to New York City (arriving just in time for her appearance on the Tony Awards broadcast), in a Chevrolet Impala, followed by a camera crew that recorded their every move. Their sometimes moving, often hilarious experiences, entitled Oprah and Gayle's Big Adventure, aired over the course of several Tuesdays in the early weeks of the Fall 2006 season. Oprah said she got the idea for the journey from a Chevrolet commercial, with its catchy "See the U.S.A. in a Chevrolet" jingle sung by Dinah Shore, from her childhood.
• On the third episode of the first week in 2006, rockstar Jon Bon Jovi gave Oprah $1 million to put towards Hurricane Relief. This is the highest amount ever donated on Oprah. There is now a street named after the band, named Bon Jovi Boulevard.
• In January 2007 Oprah's topic was "Self made women Millionaires", One of the guests (CEO and founder of company Spanx), who had inspired her to become a millionaire, donated $1 million to Oprah's School for Girls.

Criticism

While the show is generally revered for its commitment to highlighting international issues, Oprah's detractors accuse her show of having a liberal slant. A controversial episode, which aired in 2005 (though originally aired to little apparent notice in October 2003), saw guests discussing the sexual act "tossed salad", igniting criticism. The FCC received a proliferation of complaints from angry parents whose children watched the show in an early-evening slot in many television markets. However, most FCC correspondents were prodded to write by Howard Stern, a noteworthy target of the agency, as well as Jimmy Kimmel, in an attempt to expose an FCC double standard.

Trivia

• Patti LaBelle has made the most guest appearances on the show.
• The highest-rated episode is entitled "The Weight Wagon". Airing on November 5, 1988, Oprah wheeled out a wagon containing fat, representing the weight she had lost.
• Since the show aired nationwide in 1986, it has continued to air at 9:00 a.m. (Central time) on WLS-TV in Chicago. Television stations in other markets air the program in the late afternoon, usually at either 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. Winfrey stated during an interview with WLS-TV that she wants the show to remain at 9:00 am in Chicago because, as she believes, it was the Chicago audience that made the show such a success that got it launched in national syndication. WLS-TV airs a same-day rebroadcast of the show at 11:05 p.m. (Central), pushing back the ABC network broadcast of Jimmy Kimmel Live to 12:05 a.m.

International distribution

• In Australia, it is broadcast weekdays at 1:00 p.m. on Network Ten and reruns air on Foxtel's W channel.

• In Belgium, it is broadcast weekdays at 4:30 p.m. on VijfTV.

• In Belize, it airs on both local stations. Channel 5 previously aired it at 3:00 pm Central time, but beginning in 2005 moved it to primetime Mondays to Fridays at 8:00 pm. Channel 7 airs Oprah at 4:00 pm weekdays (previously 3:00 pm).

• In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is broadcast Saturdays at 12:35 p.m. and Sundays at 1:50 p.m. on RTVFBiH's FTV channel.

• In Brazil, the program is broadcast by Globo–owned cable TV channel GNT (Channel 41 on Net/SKY). The show became an instant hit after it premiered, with the host appearing in the country's most important magazines.

• In Canada, the CTV television network holds national broadcast rights for the program. CTV-owned stations air Oprah in the late afternoons except in Vancouver, where Global-owned CHAN-TV (a former CTV affiliate) owns the local rights. Other non-CTV affiliated stations also air Oprah, all in afternoon timeslots. CITY-TV in Toronto aired Oprah in the early 1990s.

• In Croatia, it is broadcast Saturdays at 2:45 p.m. on HRT's HTV1 channel.

• In Germany, it was broadcast Saturdays on former German TV-Channel tm3. Currently the show is not running in German television.

• In Greece it is broadcast weekdays at 2:30 p.m. on Skai TV. Reruns: Weekdays at 0.30 a.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

• In Finland the program was broadcast on Nelonen in summer 2006 and again in summer 2007 on the same channel.

• In India, it was broadcasted weekdays on Star World at 2:00 p.m. Broadcasts stopped on June 4, 2007.

• In Indonesia, it is broadcast five days a week on Metro TV at 10:05 a.m.

• In Ireland, it is broadcast weekdays on TV3 at 1:40 p.m.

• In Israel, it is broadcast weekdays (twice a day) on the Israel 10 Channel.

• In the Middle East, it is broadcast weekdays on the free-to-air channel MBC 4 at 9:00 p.m.

• In the Netherlands, it is broadcast weekdays at 3:30 p.m. on RTL 4 and rerun usually around midnight on the same channel.

• In New Zealand, it is broadcast weekdays on the free-to-air channel TV3 (New Zealand) at 2:00pm.

• In Norway, it airs weekdays at 2:10 p.m. and 7:00 p.m on the cable channel TV3.

• In Portugal, it airs weekdays at 10:00 p.m. on the cable channel SIC Mulher, and reruns at 0:15 a.m. on the same channel. It also reruns on the day after at 2:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

• In Romania the program is broadcasted four days a week by Euforia Lifestyle TV at 10:00 p.m. and reruns at 3:00 p.m.

• In Singapore, it is broadcasted weekdays on Mediacorp Channel 5 at 9:00 a.m. and at 6:00 p.m. In October 2006, Channel 5 stopped its broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey show, replacing it with the Tyra Banks Show.It still airs on Star World at 1:00 p.m.

• In Serbia, it is broadcasted Saturdays (2:45 p.m.) on the cable network HRT1 Channel.

• In South Africa, it is broadcasted weekdays on the SABC3 at 4:00 p.m. and repeated 10:15 p.m.

• In Sweden, it is broadcasted weekdays 1:40 p.m. on the TV3 Channel.

• In the United Kingdom, Oprah holds the distinction of being the program broadcast on the largest number of television outlets. It currently resides on the digital channel ITV2 at 10:50pm weekdays, but was previously aired, at one time or another, on BBC2, Channel 4, Five, Sky One and Living TV.

• In Korea, it airs weekdays at 11:00 am on the cable network OnStyle. The show has Korean subtitles rather than being dubbed.

• In the Philippines, it airs on the Cable Network Star World and at Studio 23.

• In Turkey, it airs on Mymax everyday.

See also

• Oprah After The Show

External links

• The Oprah Winfrey Show
• Oprah's Angel Network
• The Oprah Winfrey Show at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• The Oprah Winfrey Show - A Christian perspective