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Weinstein Company Moves Lee Daniels-Directed ‘The Butler’ To August 16 Slot

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday May 10, 2013 @ 7:58pm PDTTags: Forest Whitaker, Lee Butler, Oprah Winfrey, The Butler, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Looking to stir up a bit of early Oscar buzz, The Weinstein Company has slotted the Lee Daniels-directed The Butler to an August 16 release date. It had been skedded for October 18. That slot has done well for films that include The Help, Julie and Julia and Eat Pray Love, and TWC will hope to follow suit. The film looks at the life of Eugene Allen, who served eight presidents from 1952 to 1986 and had a birds eye view of the Civil Rights movement. He was long retired when Barack Obama became the first African American president, but was invited back for the inauguration. The cast includes Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey and Robin Williams. Here’s the trailer:

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Hot Trailer: Lee Daniels’ ‘The Butler’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 7, 2013 @ 4:54pm PDTTags: Jane Fonda, Lee Daniels, Oprah Winfrey, The Butler, The Weinstein Company

A first look at The Butler and the staff that Lee Daniels assembled including Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey in her first film since 1998′s Beloved, and Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan which raised plenty of eyebrows and rankles last year. The film tells the story of Eugene Allen (Whitaker), who served … Read More »

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Mark Burnett, Roma Downey Talk ‘The Bible’ Controversy With Oprah

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday April 13, 2013 @ 4:57pm PDTTags: History Channel, Oprah Winfrey, Roma Downey, The Bible

Oprah Winfrey hosts the Emmy-winning husband and wife team behind the History Channel hit The Bible Sunday night on her primetime show Oprah’s Next Chapter. One topic the pair will address is the controversy-sparking resemblance … Read More »

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Oprah Winfrey And Tyler Perry Dress The Part For OWN Promo: Video

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday April 4, 2013 @ 5:01pm PDTTags: Oprah Winfrey, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Tyler Perry

For those that ever wondered what would happen if Tyler Perry‘s Madea came upon Oprah Winfrey‘s Color Purple character Sofia while driving down a country road — well, this is your lucky day. OWN unveiled this promo for Perry’s two new series during today’s upfront in NY. … Read More »

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OWN Picks Up Tyler Perry’s Sitcom ‘For Better Or Worse’, Orders Third Season

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday February 20, 2013 @ 1:06pm PSTTags: Oprah Winfrey, OWN, Tyler Perry
Nellie Andreeva

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network is quickly becoming the Oprah Winfrey & Tyler Perry Network. OWN has picked up Perry’s sitcom For Better Or Worse, ordering a third season of originals and acquiring the show’s existing … Read More »

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OWN Is “Moving In The Right Direction”, Discovery Chief Says

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday February 14, 2013 @ 6:45am PSTTags: Discovery Communications, Oprah Winfrey, OWN, Tyler Perry

Ratings at the channel, a joint venture with Oprah Winfrey, are “ahead of where we thought we’d be,” Discovery CEO David Zaslav told analysts this morning. The audience was up in all 12 months of 2012, and was … Read More »

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Harpo Films Prez Kate Forte Out As Harpo Shifts Attention From Films To Scripted TV

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday February 11, 2013 @ 7:26pm PSTTags: Harpo, Oprah Winfrey
Nellie Andreeva

Another long-time executive from Oprah Winfrey‘s inner circle is out. After a 18-year stint as president of Harpo Films, Kate Forte was let go today. While the company continues to have a couple of projects in development at HBO, where it has been under a deal since 2008, Harpo Films has little to show for its efforts in the past five years — its last projects to reach fruition were the 2007 movie The Great Debaters, one of only two features produced by the unit, and 2007 ABC telefilm Mitch Albom’s For One More Day. Harpo Films is a vestige of old times — it was active in the broadcast movie business, doing six films for ABC between 1997-2007. But the demand for long-form projects, especially on the broadcast side, has dried out. And now the Los Angeles-based Harpo Films will de facto fold. As part of a restructuring, its larger sibling production company, Chicago-based Harpo Studios, overseen by OWN presidents Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, is launching a scripted division, which is expected to absorb some of the staff of Harpo Films. Likely based in Los Angeles, its focus will be scripted series, an area that has been growing in recent years as more and more cable networks enter the field. That includes Harpo Studios’ main client, Winfrey’s OWN, which is venturing into scripted series with a comedy and drama from Tyler Perry set to debut later this year. Read More »

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Oprah’s OWN Sued For Sex Discrimination By Former Executive

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 6:44pm PSTTags: Lawsuit, Oprah Winfrey, OWN

OWN’s former senior director of Scheduling and Acquisitions today sued the Oprah Winfrey founded network for sex and disability discrimination. In her complaint (read it here) for unspecified but wide ranging damages, Carolyn Hommel is also … Read More »

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EXCLUSIVE: Oprah Signs With WME

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday January 24, 2013 @ 12:55pm PSTTags: CAA, Oprah Winfrey, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, WME

Oprah Winfrey WME Hollywood AgencyEXCLUSIVE: CAA lost the longtime top client in late December. And now I’ve learned that Oprah Winfrey has signed with WME‘s Ari Emanuel and Rick Rosen and a team of agents. The … Read More »

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Oprah’s Lance Armstrong Interview Draws 3.2 Million In Night One Debut

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday January 18, 2013 @ 12:11pm PSTTags: Lance Armstrong, Oprah Winfrey
Nellie Andreeva

Given the wave of publicity, Oprah Winfrey‘s sit-down with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong was expected to be a ratings monster and a game-changer for Winfrey’s OWN network. The first part of Winfrey’s interview, in which Armstrong admitted to doping, was big but not a record breaker. It averaged 3.2 million total viewers in its premiere telecast at 9 PM and another 1.1 million at 10:30 PM for a total of 4.3 million. The original telecast couldn’t top Winfrey’s newsmaking Oprah’s Next Chapter interview with Whitney Houston’s family, which garnered 3.5 million on March 11. The special’s premiere still ranked as the highest rated weekday telecast in OWN history across all key demos. Here are the stats:

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OWN Expands Lance Armstrong Interview To Two Nights

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday January 15, 2013 @ 6:36am PSTTags: Lance Armstrong, Oprah Winfrey, OWN

Related: AP: Lance Armstrong Admits To Doping In Interview With Oprah Winfrey

Los Angeles – Oprah Winfrey’s exclusive no-holds-barred interview with Lance Armstrong, “Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive,” has expanded to air as a two-night event on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. The special episode of “Oprah’s Next Chapter” will air Thursday, January 17 from 9-10:30 p.m. ET/PT (as previously announced) and Friday, January 18 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The interview will be simultaneously streamed LIVE worldwide both nights on Oprah.com.

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AP: Lance Armstrong Admits To Doping In Interview With Oprah Winfrey

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday January 14, 2013 @ 4:55pm PSTTags: Lance Armstrong, Oprah Winfrey, OWN

Lance Armstrong confessed to Oprah Winfrey today in an interview that he used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France, The Associated Press reports, citing a person familiar with the situation. The interview is scheduled … Read More »

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Coming Clean? Lance Armstrong Going On Oprah Next Week

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 4:40pm PSTTags: Lance Armstrong, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah's Next Chapter, OWN

Is Lance Armstrong pedaling a confession? The disgraced former seven-time Tour de France cycling champion will appear on OWN’s Oprah’s Next Chapter on January 17, the network announced today. This interview with Oprah Winfrey will be Armstrong’s first since the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency charged him with using illegal performance-enhancing drugs during a career that has made him one of America’s and the world’s most well-known athletes. The big question is whether Oprah will rip the skin off Armstrong the way she did author James Frey after he promoted his recovery memoir A Million Little Pieces, and then came back to be flayed when it was revealed he’d embellished big parts of the book. Read More »

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SHOCKER: Oprah Winfrey Exits CAA

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday December 20, 2012 @ 9:12pm PSTTags: CAA, Oprah Winfrey
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: CAA has lost one of its top clients. I’ve learned that Oprah Winfrey today discharged the agency she’d called home for a long time where she was represented by a team led by Kevin Huvane. It is … Read More »

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OWN Orders Drama & Comedy Series From Tyler Perry

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday December 13, 2012 @ 10:50am PSTTags: Oprah Winfrey, OWN, Tyler Perry
Nellie Andreeva

That didn’t take long — two months after Oprah Winfrey‘s OWN announced a multi-year exclusive deal with Tyler Perry for scripted shows, the network has greenlighted two series written, directed and produced by Perry from his production company Tyler Perry Studios. Perry’s agreement with OWN called for him to write, direct and exec produce two series for a mid-2013 launch. Now the shows have been identified, drama The Haves And The Have Nots and comedy Love Thy Neighbor, the network confirmed. This marks the first drama series for the prolific Perry, who stayed strictly on the sitcom side with his TBS series, all done with Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury: House Of Payne, Meet The Browns and For Better Or Worse. The Tyler Perry shows mark OWN’s first scripted offerings.

Related: Tyler Perry Is Great For OWN: Analyst Read More »

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Discovery CEO Claims OWN Will Break Even In 2013 Even If Misses Distribution Goal: UBS

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday December 4, 2012 @ 7:26am PSTTags: David Zaslav, Discovery Communications, Oprah Winfrey, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

Although the goals were set independently, David Zaslav says that his joint venture with Oprah Winfrey is growing fast enough that it doesn’t have to expand to 85M homes — from 80M now — to fulfill his prediction that it will break even in the second half of 2013. “The ratings growth has been fantastic,” he told investors and analysts on Day 2 of the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference. The “cherry on top,” he says, is that “we’re the home for Tyler Perry on television.” On Saturdays, OWN ranks first or second with black women, attracting more of the demo than ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC combined.

Related: Oprah’s OWN And Tyler Perry In Deal For Scripted Series

Zaslav’s comment about OWN reflects his overall optimism about the state of his company and the programming business. He acknowledged that ad sales were slow in October. Discovery was “hurt more by the Olympics than we expected” — in part due to his decision not to schedule strong shows against the games. But since the election both volume and pricing have been “quite good.” He warns that the outlook “could change a week or two from now” if there’s no compromise in Washington to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, although “it’s getting pretty late for [the negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff] to have an impact” in Q4. Read More »

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Oprah Winfrey Comes Full Circle For OWN ‘Lincoln’ Special: Video

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday November 29, 2012 @ 1:01pm PSTTags: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln, Oprah Winfrey, Sally Field, Steven Spielberg

It’s a reunion for Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg when she returns to the studio where she first auditioned for the director for a role in The Color Purple. Now 27 years later, she’s here to talk with Spielberg about his latest film Lincoln. The clip below … Read More »

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Discovery CEO Says OWN Will Become Less “Teachy And Preachy” With Tyler Perry

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday November 6, 2012 @ 7:23am PSTTags: David Zaslav, Oprah Winfrey, OWN, Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry’s exclusive TV production deal with OWN shouldn’t turn the self-improvement channel into just another general entertainment network, Discovery CEO David Zaslav told analysts this morning. “This is something Oprah really wants,” he says. “We were … Read More »

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Oprah’ OWN And Tyler Perry In Deal For Scripted Series: Exclusive & Multi-Year

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday October 1, 2012 @ 9:03am PDTTags: Oprah Winfrey, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Tyler Perry
Nellie Andreeva

Tyler Perry and Oprah WinfreyLong-time friends (and the two richest African Americans in showbiz) Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are now forging a business partnership. OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network has inked an exclusive multi-year deal with Perry. Under the pact, he will executive produce, write and direct two new scripted series for a mid-2013 premiere on OWN, marking the network’s first foray into scripted programming. “I have been looking forward to the day when we would be in the position to enter the world of scripted television. That day has come,” said Oprah Winfrey, OWN’s CEO. “We are all energized by the opportunity to collaborate with Tyler who has a proven track record for producing highly successful cable series.” Read More »

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