Title: The Oprah Winfrey Show
Host: Oprah Winfrey
Personalities: Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. (Dr. Oz), Gayle King (Oprah's best friend and Fridays Live panelist), Mark Consuelos (panelist on Fridays Live), Ali Wentworth (panelist on Fridays Live).
Format: One-hour, intimate interview (host in open space on comfortable furniture talking with guest)
Network: Previously syndicated, daytime (show ended May 25, 2011)
Premiere Date: Sept. 8, 1986 (making it the longest running daytime television talk show in history)
Final Broadcast: May 25, 2011
Originated From: Chicago
Overview:
Describing The Oprah Winfrey Show is fairly simple. Describing its global impact and the world-wide appeal of its host is not.
When the show was on the air, host Oprah Winfrey welcomed guests onto an airy set consisting of a few pieces of comfortable, modern furniture. The audience enveloped Oprah and her guest in a semi-circle.
Shows featured a theme, usually a social issue or topical event. Guests complemented the theme or were celebrities or newsmakers. Occasionally the show would devote the hour to one guest or one subject. As the years passed, the show's fluidity grew, it practically reinvented itself daily.
Tickets to the show were hard to come by, and scalpers were known to sell the free tickets for hundreds of dollars. Many potential audience members hoped to get a ticket to Oprah's annual "Favorite Things" show, during which Oprah gives away dozens of her favorite things, from books to mp3 players to brand new cars.
The show grew so popular and the host's influence so great, that Oprah's stamp of approval elevated a celebrity, product or cause to phenomenal success. She's also responsible for finding, promoting and producing two of the more popular daily talk shows on television today: The Rachael Ray Show and The Dr. Phil Show.
In 2007, Oprah told Larry King that she won't renew her contract in 2011, effectively naming an end-date for The Oprah Winfrey Show. Indeed, the show broadcast its final episode on May 25, 2011.
But Oprah fans won't lose Oprah, only the syndicated talk show that carried her name. Now Oprah turns her attention to her new network: The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). And in late 2011 or early 2012, Oprah will return in a new program titled Oprah's Next Chapter.
Popular Segments:
Tuesdays with Dr. Oz: Dr. Mehmet C. Oz answers medical questions from the audience. This popular segment has led to the development of a talk show centered around Dr. Oz, which may premiere as early as next year.
Fridays Live: Oprah is joined by a panel of guests, usually best friend Gayle King, actor Mark Consuelos, and comedian Ali Wentworth to discuss topics of the day. Other shows - most notably The View and its weekly "Hot Topics" - have employed similar ideas.
Oprah's Book Club: Once a monthly segment, but now a somewhat irregular feature, Oprah's Book Club announces a work of literature and then, sometime after announcing the new selection, takes an hour to discuss the work, typically with the author. Sometimes, in the case of non-fiction, Oprah will visit locations prominent in the book.
