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Oprah Winfrey successfully returned to the type of exclusive celebrity interviews that were the bread and butter of her syndicated daytime talk show. Last night’s special 90-minute edition of Winfrey’s new OWN primetime series Oprah’s Next Chapter, which featured her exclusive interview with Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina and her family, drew 3.5 million viewers, the largest audience ever in OWN’s 14-month history. In women 25-54, the special posted a 3.1 rating and was up triple digits vs. Oprah’s Next Chapter‘s season average.
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You gotta give it to Oprah for her strategising some times.
well said.
Well said
I agree. This was a big “get” — very impressive. If she can continue with these kinds of exclusives, she will gradually build an audience for OWN.
No one wants another BET. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt…Next!
Wow, the 90′s called, it want’s it saying back. Seriously “got the t-shirt”?, wow
Donate to charity.
Ain’t No valley low enough. She couldn’t give two craps about that girl. Everything she does is a cloying way to stay relevant and sell her “brand”
Singmanoo, I believe you have Oprah mixed up with Barbara Walters.
They are one in the same
Exactly. She’s just like 0. She’d sell her mother for a rating. I have avoided her since she pushed 0 on us. Same for Springsteen. These types demand all kinds of money for their so called ‘talents’. Then they start telling everybody else how to live their lives and who to vote for. If they are pushing somebody, it’s somebody to vote against. And, we should all quit buying whatever they are selling.
Bad taste speaks for itself.
Well said and so true.
I call it “ambulance chasing”. Her new network was going down the tubes until Whitney’s family opened some doors for her.
Amen to that, “O” these days stands for greed
Are you kidding me!?????
She gets her ratings off the tragic death of a star, and America respects her for reviving her OWN network.
The sick left……
STFU! What station/newspaper doesn’t do it? Give me a break. Now that Oprah did it…OMG NO SHE DIDN”T! Get over it.
If Diane Sawyer had the interview… IT WOULD HAVE BEEN OK THEN… HUH!!!… they need to stop… hatin… “good for ‘HARPO”…
This is not going to effect the failing OWN network. A few intereviews with important “gets” is what Walters, Sawyer, Couric, all do. And if there was enough of those “events” they would have TV shows with them, instead they are 10 or so times a year.
There are plenty of people using HDTV with perfect digital signals who are not buying cable. Oprah abandoned them, the OWN network simply does not have programming that anyone finds very interesting, and that is why OWN ratings are terrible.
There is a lot of denial going on. Maybe people should just understand that Oprah made a mistake, and so far has little ability to correct it.
Yeah, won’t that be great?? All she needs is more pitiful movie stars or singers to die tragically and she’s back in the money!
It’s so soon though.
It feels kind of opportunistic.
I guess some people would be interested though…
Still feels a bit dirty.
I still don’t understand why she stopped doing her show if she was just going to continue doing a show elsewhere. All it did was lose her viewership. It’s like when someone gives a long drawn out goodbye and then you continue to see them in the days that follow. Leave already.
Retire and do some philanthropy.
Why would it be so soon or opportunistic — i’m interested in hearing how she’s doing NOW.
She left the daily grind of a tv show which is 5 days a week. And why exactly does she need to retire. Many tv stars leave shows and then show up on another show — see Tim Allen or Roseanne or Regis. She was not retiring, she was leaving the oprah show.
Pleeeze!!! Don’t put those two freaks Rosie O’Donnel and Regis Philbin in the same categary as Tim Allen. Especially that egomaniac Regis.
Face it. It’s all about the money. Big gobs and gobs of money.
“Kind of” opportunistic? Quite a marvelous understatement. Queen of commodified therapy and self-serving sentimentality, Oprah was true to her being, here.
Doing a daily show is hard work, despite the supposed glamour. She can now do what she’s good at whenever she feels like it, rather than kowtowing to contracts and commitments. The interview did seem too soon, though, and didn’t really reveal much we didn’t know. I’d like to know who was the brainiac that thought it was a good idea to bury a dead person with all that bling.
She conquered daytime. She wanted to do something even bigger… create a network. If this thing had worked, she’d be regarded as an even bigger broadcasting success. (As it is, is has not worked, so far.)
I think Oprah regrets giving up her show now that OWN is proving to be a struggle.
Oprah is DESPARATE for ratings and USED this as an opportunity for ratings. Is disgusting and exploitive. That young girl has lost her mother, she is allegedly dealing with drug problems of her own. She sounded confused and sadly trusted Oprah. Oprah looked like the nosy neighbor who couldn’t wait to get in there and find out the scoop. I was trying to watch OWN and had an open mind about it. This did me in. I find the big O to be a hypocrite of the grandest kind.
You’re right the big O used her for the ratings now she can go back to sinking again.
I think Oprah wanted to clear up some things for the public, but that really didn’t happen. I think things are still just as cloudy. Leave them alone and let them grieve. I lost 2 brothers and a sister close together and each was sudden. You have to be able to come to grips with things before you can grieve and it takes time. The mother Cissy had the right idea. Not NOW Oprah, Not NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t help but feel that Oprah is an ambulance chaser.
I don’t blame her doing her show once again, because this time it’s on her OWN network, but this is bad taste.
Wasn’t she Whitney’s friend? Shouldn’t sensitivity come first, rather than making a huge dollar off Whitney’s death.
If this one episode turns her whole network viewership around (which it probably won’t), how much does she stand to profit?
And how much of that profit will go to Bobbi Kristina?
Oh- did I break your concentration? ©Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction
Now if only Oprah can arrange for a popular celebrity to die everyday she would have a network.
Stop being fools. Oprah got a call from her family because the didnt like what media has said about them. This no jackson family.
Owen,
The media is doing what the media has been doing for years. Opinionating and not reporting. What was so special about Whitney Houston that Oprah had to rescue that family from the media? I didn’t see her do anything like that when a white celebrity dies?
Oprah did it for ratings. She initiated the interview. They didn’t call her. She called them.
You need to do a reality check and notice what most of us on this website are saying. You don’t get it. Oprah does what’s good for Oprah and the rest of the world be damned.
I am embarrassed for Oprah for exploiting anything for ratings !!
She pretends to care sooooooooooooo much, yet is just a different version of Jerry Springer.
This woman would interview and fawn over the devil himself, if it improved the ratings of her “no one watches” network. She did great but is now a “Has Been” and won’t go away quietly.
Barbara Walters, need I say more!
@Mary…..TOCHE’
Kind of sleazy feeling
Oprah needs another dead celebrity real soon so she can make payroll next month too.
Thought it was the family’s desire to have Oprah present a sympathetic opportunity to inform the public of a very private situation. She was respectful and they were more than comfortable with her asking the personal questions about Whitney Houston’s last hours. The daughter, Kristina seemed willing to explain her state and did so very much in the vernacular of a teenager, so Oprah got the impossible get and did it with cautious tenacity. Good show, Ms. O.
@Nobozo…That would be correct. Oprah DIDN’T seek this interview. The family asked to speak on her show…
Seriously, it appears that Oprah will do anything to boost her ratings. I mean, here she was salivating and chomping at the bit just like the pig that she is to get the first interview from any of WH’s family. Why couldn’t they just leave Bobbi Kristina alone to grive for her mother. It’s been what – all of a month since Whitney’s death?
I tuned Oprah out long, long ago.
And she’s donating the profits made on Whitney’s death to….?
I’m looking forward to the fat racist pigs network to fold. Can’t wait.
Its cool seeing her pray on dead black celebs to keep her fat arse above water, makes me giggle lol
Wow “Slam” You have issues and your comments make absolutely no sense.
So many people “hate” Oprah but would kiss her left butt cheek if they saw her in person. And at the end of the day she is going to still go home and count her millions or should I say billions!!!
Someone was going to get the interview, in this day and age it’s nearly impossible to keep anyone out of the media spotlight. So please tell me who should have talk to her first? Barbara Walters? Katie Couric? Pa-lease this was the best place for that little girl to make her peace.
Instead of putting so much energy into hate and someone “failing”. Get some therapy and a good hug!
Why did the damn interview take place in the kitchen?
There’s a woman joke here somewhere.
I think Lady O did a great job I could tell she cares a great deal for the family and really wanted to help them with their grieving process. I really believe they needed to share their thoughts . Thanks Lady O!
I did not watch, but feel that Oprah did take advantage of a young woman who has very serious problems with drugs, and her own identity
Did the estate get $$$$ for this interview, this invasion of privacy, I hope so,
PS
How much longer will Oprah continue to support Rosie ?
Yeah but she ignores Davey Jones’ death.
Davey Jones was no Whitney Houston.
Bobbi served Oprah well. Now under the bus, Bobbi. Don’t ever talk to her Queenship Oprah again.
Go away Oprah; nobody is watching or listening, time for you to retire. You are irrelevant.
Better headline: Oprah Uses Pop Star’s Grieving Daughter to Prop Up Floundering Career
Adopt the child, Oprah, and take your mind off yourself for awhile.
Making billions perpetuating racial stereotypes.
Priceless.
Who says whoring doesn’t pay?