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Broadway dancers, crime victims, unfaithful spouses and soul-food chefs are coming to OWN:The Oprah Winfrey Network, the network announced during its upfront presentation on Thursday.
Six new unscripted series were added to OWN, though there was no news of the most anticipated OWN series: an Oprah Winfrey show, which is expected to launch in September after her daytime talk show ends. Get the full story>>
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CBS Corp.’s syndication arm is asking $1 million for 30 seconds of national commercial time for the final week of Oprah Winfrey’s TV show in May, ad buyers say.
The stratospheric rate comes close to rivaling events like the Academy Awards, for which ad buyers said they paid between $1.7 million and $1.8 million for a 30-second spot earlier this year. Get the full story »
Winfrey’s Chicago-based Harpo Productions confirmed Friday that the final original episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will air May 25. Winfrey announced live on the show in November 2009 that she would end its run after 25 years. She since has launched cable’s Oprah Winfrey Network.
Oprah Winfrey talks to reporters about OWN in January. (Reuters)
From the New York Times | Oprah Winfrey’s 2-month-old cable channel, OWN, is attracting fewer viewers than the obscure channel it replaced, Discovery Health. At any given time this month, there have been about 135,000 people watching OWN, according to Nielsen, and only about 45,000 of those people are women ages 25 to 54, the demographic that the channel is focusing on.
Winfrey and her partner, Discovery Communications, have preached patience, especially because she will have a minimal presence on the channel until after “The Oprah Winfrey Show” ends its remarkable run in September. Get the full story >>
Nate Berkus shows off his Chicago condo in a video on People.com. (People)
ELITE STREET | By Bob Goldsborough | Chicago interior designer Nate Berkus, who rose to national fame through his frequent appearances on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and who now hosts his own eponymous and Winfrey-backed, New York-based talk show, on Tuesday placed his seven-room, full-floor Gold Coast condo on the market for $2.65 million.
Berkus, 39, has owned the 3,980-square-foot condo unit since 2003, when he bought it for $500,000. The condo is located in a small, 12-unit building that was constructed in 1928 and that “feels like a co-op building, with some of the vintage features,” said Berkus’ listing agent, Katherine Chez of Coldwell Banker. Get the full story »
Oprah Winfrey’s new network has announced the 10 contestants competing on “Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star.”
The would-be hosts include a travel guide who’s in a wheelchair, a comedian who thinks the U.S. needs a gay best friend, and a businesswoman aiming to make a show about money both informative and fun.
American talk show host Oprah Winfrey, third from right, is joined by Australian stars, from left, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Hugh Jackman, Olivia Newton John and Russell Crowe in Sydney Tuesday. (AP/ Jeremy Piper)
The long-awaited OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network is gearing up for its premiere on New Year’s Day. And the bold ambition of this venture would spark doubts if there were anybody else’s name attached. Consider: a cable network repurposed from Discovery Health and all-dependent on just one person’s identity, vision and marquee power.
But that person is Winfrey, a cultural force. Now, as she moves through the final months of her daytime syndicated talk show, which will end next September after 25 years, OWN is poised to become Winfrey’s new TV home base.
Instead of a daily hour boasting Winfrey’s on-air presence as host, OWN will be a round-the-clock environment in which — her network vows — she will often be seen but, what is more important, always be felt. She will be the network’s spiritual curator, maintaining a constant presence, even from off-camera, as she offers a slate of programs all guaranteed to meet her “Live Your Best Life” mandate. Get the full story »
Oprah Winfrey’s visit to Sydney — or “Operation Oprah,” as they’re calling it — sounds a bit like a bio-hazard, rather than a visiting TV show from Chicago. But maybe that’s because of the way Australia’s Ten News correspondent reports it.
There is to be a maritime exclusion zone, a no-fly zone, road closures and re-routed public transport in the “operational footprint.”
The Oprah Winfrey cable network, set to launch in a few weeks, is still trying to line-up subscriber fees from cable and satellite operators, David Zaslav, chief executive of the network’s part-owner Discovery Communications Inc., said Monday.
The new network — which is a 50-50 joint venture between Discovery and Winfrey, is set to replace Discovery Health network in about 80 million homes on Jan 1. Discovery Health, which is not widely watched, receives no per-household subscription fee in the “majority of cases,” said Zaslav during remarks at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference in Manhattan. Get the full story »
(Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Oprah Winfrey plans another pick for her popular book club.
Harpo Productions said Tuesday that current Oprah’s Book Club author Jonathan Franzen will appear on Monday’s episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Winfrey chose Franzen’s latest book “Freedom” in September as the first selection for the 25th and final season of her talk show.
On that same episode, Winfrey will announce her next book club pick. The new selection comes about 11 weeks after Winfrey chose “Freedom.” Since 2008, she has averaged one or two selections a year. Winfrey’s book club choices have vaulted to the best-seller list and given authors instant fame. Get the full story »
Chicago-based daily deals company Groupon said its Web site is back to normal after the combination of an Oprah Winfrey mention and a popular deal with retailer Nordstrom Rack caused traffic problems.
The site had been experiencing intermittent slowness in the morning for users depending on their location, said Groupon spokeswoman Julie Mossler. Get the full story »
United Airline's plane painted for Oprah Winfrey's final season. (United Airlines)
Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Oprah. Actually, it’s a plane sporting Oprah Winfrey’s logo with the familiar big looping “O.”
On Thursday, United Airlines unveiled a newly painted plane at O’Hare International Airport commemorating the 25th and final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” The Boeing 757’s tail is blue with Winfrey’s signature, with the words “The Farewell Season” painted on the fuselage. Get the full story »
The 25th and final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” starts airing Monday. And Winfrey has already hinted she’s going out in style. In recently released video of the season’s first episode, the TV talk show host and actor John Travolta dance hand-in-hand through her stage doors to “Love Train” by the O’Jays. Get the full story »
The first week of the final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” will include a selection for Oprah’s Book Club.
A Harpo spokeswoman said Thursday that Winfrey will announce her 64th and latest pick during a live episode airing on Sept. 17. That would be 14 years to the day that Winfrey announced her first book club selection — Jacquelyn Mitchard’s “The Deep End of the Ocean” — on Sept. 17, 1996.
