Title: The Oprah Winfrey Show
Host: Oprah Winfrey
Personalities: Mehmet C. Oz, M.D. (Dr. Oz), Gayle King (Oprah’s best friend), Mark Consuelos (panelist on Friday’s Live), Ali Wentworth (panelist on Friday’s Live).
Format: One-hour, intimate interview (host in open space on comfortable furniture talking with guest)
Network: Syndicated, daytime (check local listings)
Broadcasts: Syndicated, daytime (check local listings)
Tapes: Tapings occur at 9 a.m. and noon, Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays. In the 2008 season, Oprah has included some “Live” broadcasts on Fridays.
Premiere Date: Sept. 8, 1986 (making it the longest running daytime television talk show in history)
Originating 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.
Host Oprah Winfrey welcomes guests onto an airy set consisting of a few pieces of comfortable, modern furniture. The audience envelopes Oprah and her guest in a semi-circle.
Shows may feature a theme, usually a social issue or topical event, and guests who complement the theme or they may feature celebrity guests. Occasionally the show will devote the hour to one guest or one subject. Sometimes the show is broken into various segments. As the years have passed, the show’s fluidity has grown, and it practically reinvents itself daily.
Tickets to the show are hard to come by, and scalpers have been known to sell the free tickets for hundreds of dollars. Many potential audience members hope 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 has grown so popular and the host’s influence so great, that Oprah’s stamp of approval can elevate 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. But comments in late 2008 suggest that the show will not end in 2011. Instead, it will move out of syndication and on to Oprah’s new venture with Discovery Inc.: The Oprah Winfrey Network or OWN.
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.
