08:07 PM EDT 11/20/2009
Oprah Winfrey
 |
POLL: Who Could Possibly Succeed Oprah?
Originally posted 11/20/2009 01:55PM
She may not have been the first, but without a doubt Oprah Winfrey is the most influential talk-show host in TV history. Even her announcement that she's bringing her 25-year tenure to a close is causing talk – and lots of it.
Yet as tough an act as she will be to follow, the show must go on, which begs the question: Okay, now who?
If the decision were up to you, from this pool of potential new hosts – ranging from neophytes to those who are shopping around shows to those who already have established their places chatting before live audiences – who might best fill Oprah's shoes?
Permalink | Filed Under: TV NewsOprah Winfrey
 |
Oprah Winfrey: 'It's Time to Say Goodbye'
Originally posted 11/20/2009 12:35PM
Oprah Winfrey has made it official: In a tearful announcement at the end of her show in Chicago on Friday, she confirmed that The Oprah Winfrey Show will end in September 2011.
"After much prayer and careful thought, I decided that next season, season 25 will be the last season," Winfrey told audience members. "I love this show. … This show has been my life and I love it enough to know when it's time to say goodbye."
Winfrey, 55, thanked her viewers for their support over the years. "These years with you, our viewers, have enriched my life beyond all measure," she said. "We've grown together. You've raised your families, had your children. And left a spot for me in the mornings or the afternoons. … I want you all to know my relationship with you is one that I hold very dear."
Permalink | Filed Under: TV NewsOprah Winfrey
 |
Friends React to Oprah Winfrey's Decision to End Show
Originally posted 11/20/2009 08:00AM
As the realization sinks in that, after a quarter of a century, Oprah Winfrey will be ending her syndicated talk show Sept. 9, 2011 – a decision she intends to explain on her program Friday – rivals, admirers and industry analysts are chiming in with their reactions.
As with most things Oprah, there's admiration mixed with a sense of awe.
Martha Stewart, attending Diddy's 40th birthday bash at New York's Plaza Hotel Thursday night (the news about Winfrey had broken late that afternoon), pointed out that Oprah was not retiring.
"She'll do another show," said the domestic diva, 68. "She's evolving. She's fabulous."
Permalink | Filed Under: TV News, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Ellen DeGeneres, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey
|
Oprah Winfrey Ending Talk Show in 2011
Originally posted 11/19/2009 07:00PM
The queen of daytime talk shows, Oprah Winfrey, plans to end her highly rated The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011 after 25 years, her spokesperson said Thursday.
"The last day will be Sept. 9, 2011," the spokesperson says. "She will speak about it on (Friday's) live show."
Winfrey, 55, whose current program reaches about 7 million viewers a day, is preparing to start her own cable channel, and it has been widely rumored that she would bring her program to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture with Discovery Communications.
Permalink | Filed Under: TV NewsOprah Winfrey
 |
Sarah Palin's First Campaign Fear: Exposure of D Grade in College
Originally posted 11/16/2009 01:30PM
When Sarah Palin was first selected to be John McCain's vice presidential candidate, she thought the biggest secret that would be discovered was the fact that she once got a D in a college course.
"I thought that was going to be the extent of the controversy," she said Monday on The Oprah Winfrey Show, in the first of a series of interviews centered around the publication of the former Alaska governor's autobiography, Going Rogue.
But when an even more pressing issue was revealed – the pregnancy of her teenage daughter Bristol – the McCain campaign didn't allow Palin to address the situation as she would have liked. "This is not to be glamorized," she said. "This is not to be emulated … I didn't want that message getting out there that we were giddy happy to become grandparents."
Permalink | Filed Under: Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin Says Levi Johnston Is Welcome at Thanksgiving
Originally posted 11/12/2009 02:00PM
"It's lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing," the former Alaska governor, 45, tells Oprah Winfrey in an interview to air Nov. 16, the day before the publication of Palin's memoir, Going Rogue.
"Because," she said, "he is a part of the family and you want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing. And he needs that, too, Oprah. I think he needs to know that he is loved and he has the most beautiful child and this can all work out for good."
Permalink | Filed Under: Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Palin
Chimp Attack Victim Reveals Disfigured Face
Originally posted 11/12/2009 08:30AM
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Charla Nash, the Stamford, Conn., woman mauled by a 200-pound chimpanzee on Feb. 16, spoke out for the first time to show the world how she's doing after that brutal attack.
Saying she's not in any pain, Nash told Oprah Winfrey for a show that aired Wednesday, "I don't remember [The attack]. I don't want to … I want to get healthy. I don't want to wake up with nightmares."
In the course of the TV interview, which was filmed at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic where Nash is being treated, Nash willingly allowed Winfrey to lift the veiled hat that normally covers her face and reveal her badly disfigured face to the public for the first time. Nash said she wears the veil to avoid scaring people.
Permalink | Filed Under: Oprah Winfrey
 |
Twilight Author to Sit Down with Oprah Winfrey
Originally posted 11/10/2009 10:45AM
Oprah Winfrey will indulge in all things vampire and werewolf on Friday, when Twilight author Stephenie Meyer is to sit down for a rare interview.
Permalink | Filed Under: TV News, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Twilight Saga, Oprah Winfrey
 |
FIRST LOOK: Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres Share the Spotlight
Originally posted 11/09/2009 02:40PM
When does the queen of all media share the cover of her own magazine with anyone?
When that someone is fellow talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
That's right: For the second time in its history, O, the Oprah Magazine is letting someone share the cover with Oprah Winfrey, in its December issue, out Nov. 12.
Permalink | Filed Under: Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey
 |
Patrick Swayze's Wife: I Feel Like He Hasn't Left
Originally posted 10/30/2009 12:30PM
Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi, whose marriage began in their 20s and lasted for 34 years, led one of Hollywood's storied love affairs – but the Dirty Dancing actor's widow reveals that there were times when their union teetered to the brink of breakup.
Six years ago, Niemi tells Oprah Winfrey in her first interview since Swayze's death, her husband descended into a period of heavy drinking and "very dark thoughts. "He was imploding pretty badly," she said during Friday's show, so much so that in 2003, Niemi left Swayze for a year. "I didn't think he was going to live through it and I didn't want to watch that."
But the couple reconciled and regained their happiness – only to be tested again when Swayze was diagnosed 22 months ago with pancreatic cancer and was told he had three months to live.
"It was mind numbing," Niemi says. When faced with the devastating information, "You think you're going to get these terrific illuminations," she says, but that didn't happen. "I looked around and I said, 'This is awful.' "
Niemi says she cried in front of her husband only once, and saved the rest of her tears for her close girlfriends. "I wanted him to know he was going to be okay," she tells Winfrey.
Permalink | Filed Under: Lisa Niemi, Oprah Winfrey, Patrick Swayze
People Top 5
Top 10 News Categories
The most buzzed about stars this minute!
Treat Yourself! 4 Preview Issues
More On People.com
Got a News Tip?
Send it to our People.com editors!
News Archive
