Oprah ‘Oprah’s Next Chapter’ On Oprah Winfrey Network

Oprah ‘Oprah’s Next Chapter’ On Oprah Winfrey Network – Oprah Winfrey is trading in her day gig for the night shift. The media mogul is retiring from her daytime syndicated talk show, which broadcasts on ABC, and heading up her very own – Oprah Winfrey Network.
The queen of daytime will become queen of late night in “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” which will air an unspecified number of times a week at an unspecified time on the new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), reports the NY Daily News.
Having her own network “has been a dream I’ve been carrying around for years,” Oprah said at a presentation Thursday with the Discovery Channel, her partner in the new venture. “For the past 24 years, my life’s work has been to create television that changed the way people see themselves. There’s been no greater joy than to influence people in a really good way.”

Oprah will end her long-running daytime talk show in September 2011 and OWN will start January 2011. But it’s undetermined whether “Next Chapter” will launch before Oprah’s contract ends in September.
Other original programming will include a Shania Twain reality show, a Mark Burnett competition show that will seek a new daytime TV host, a talk show hosted by Oprah’s best friend, Gayle King, and a master class that will feature prominent people like Condoleezza Rice, Jay-Z and Will.I.Am.
It sounds like a pretty interesting lineup, despite media people having mixed views on the prospects for OWN.
“Oprah is the ultimate brand in media today,” said Adam Hanft, a media and marketing consultant. “But I don’t know if that will transfer to making a whole network successful. People don’t watch networks, they watch programs.”
But Michael Harrison, editor of the trade magazine Talkers, says Oprah is pointing the way for all celebrity-driven media in the 21st century.
“If you have the capital and the credibility,” says Harrison, “there’s no reason why Oprah, or Howard Stern or Conan O’Brien or even Adam Carolla, shouldn’t control every product they want to put out. That’s where media in the 21st century is going.”
OWN, which represents a nine-figure investment for Discovery and Oprah, will replace the low-rated Discovery Health network that is currently seen in about 70 million homes, according to the Daily News.

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Tags: Pop

Category: TV