Oprah is ready to leave the 'dearest love of my life'
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Can six take the place of one? The women of 'The Talk' on CBS will try. From left, co-hosts Leah Remini, Sara Gilbert, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Holly Robinson Peete, Sharon Osbourne, and Julie Chen.
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PASADENA, Calif. -- There may be tears on the final episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (4 p.m. May 25, WTAE), but make no mistake, Ms. Winfrey is ready to move on.
"If you ask her, she can tell you exactly how many shows she has left," said her friend, Gayle King, at a party for OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network in January. "She's ready."
A few minutes later after Ms. Winfrey arrived at the party celebrating the launch of her cable channel, she said there were "63 more shows from this day. I've been counting down since 130.
"Every day I go, '89!' " she bellowed in trademark Oprah exclamatory style.
"It is the dearest love of my life," Ms. Winfrey said of her syndicated talk show. "It's like this love affair I've had with it and the audience has responded in kind. I don't feel sad, I feel like it's time."
She started her talk show as a morning program on WLS-TV in Chicago in 1984 and took it to national syndication in September 1986.
Ms. King said her heart is heavy to see "The Oprah Winfrey Show" end after 25 years.
"I know the difference she's made and I don't think people realize the hole that will be left in afternoon TV with Oprah leaving," she said. "Nobody can do what she's done. Nobody."
But TV stations will have to try to get by. WTAE will slot "Dr. Oz" at 4 p.m. weekdays this fall as the lead-in to its 5 p.m. newscast.
Although Ms. Winfrey's OWN cable channel has gotten off to a shaky ratings start -- see today's Tuned In column in TV Week for details -- her talk show will go out on a high note as far as the cost of an ad is concerned.
Brad Adgate, an executive at Horizon Media, said last month that a 30-second spot on the May 25 "Oprah" finale will cost advertisers $1 million. That compares favorably to prime-time series finale ad rates: "Lost" drew $900,000 for a similar spot while "Friends" was able to charge $2 million for a 30-second spot ("Seinfeld" got $1.4 million).
Even after "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is history on broadcast television -- reruns will continue airing until September -- the show will live on. OWN will air 60 repackaged episodes of Ms. Winfrey's daytime talk show later this year. Titled "Oprah's Encores," these shows will use material from the original talk show episodes and new footage of Ms. Winfrey, her staff and some guests reflecting on the shows and what happened backstage.
First Published May 8, 2011 12:00 am
