Bye Bye Oprah! TV’s greatest talk show host retires…but where does that leave us?
Last week US television saw the departure of one of its greatest stars as the last ever Oprah Winfrey show aired. 25 years of groundbreaking interviews, personal confessions, superstars, politicians, prize giveaways, book clubs…the list goes on.
The legacy that Oprah leaves behind has changed the face of talk shows, television and culture all over the world. Producer, writer, Oscar nominated actress, philanthropist, Winfrey’s empire is vast but it is her TV persona that we love and ultimately, it’s what we’ll miss the most. Altruistic and innately maternal, her personality provided the backbone for her popularity but there’s much more to Oprah than that.
I sat down to write a list of my favourite Oprah moments and halfway through it, it occurred to me that it was probably from the Oprah show that I learned how to make lists in the first place. A large part of Oprah’s magic was her ability to make you feel like she was your friend, a personal confidante, not a distant television personality. Her demeanour was one of strength, even in the face of adversity. No-one remained dry-eyed after seeing Oprah confess the trauma of her own childhood abuse, and her yo-yoing weight problem struck a chord with women all over the world. In fact the landmark episode from 1988 where she appears in her ‘skinny’ jeans and wheeled 68lbs of fat onto the stage to represent the weight she’d lost, has been copied all over the world from cookery shows to makeover programs, but like many things, Oprah did it first.
Unlike other talk shows, no one has ever been ‘too famous’ to appear on Oprah. It was on the Oprah show that Michael Jackson told the world about his skin pigment disease in 1993, only Oprah could solve that particular mystery. Of course exposure like that has it’s downside too as Tom Cruise can attest to after his cringe-worthy sofa jumping escapades in 2005. But Oprah transcended mere talk show many years ago.
Wielding her influence and popularity like a weapon, she used it to cut through injustice, setting up charities like Oprah’s Angels. She also built a school for girls in South Africa as a favour to Nelson Mandela; and let’s not forget she got the whole world enrolled in her book club, a feat that not even the greatest author could ever single-handedly achieve. Of course there has been some scandal too, accusations and allegations that have tried to make a fraud out of Oprah won’t be regurgitated here, anyone as famous as Winfrey is subject to intense scrutiny and attempts at smear campaigns are a testament to her power and influence more than anything else.
So what does the future hold? Who will guide us through our lives now that Oprah is gone? Well I don’t think there’s anyone out there that could ever fill her shoes but are there are rumours that she’ll launch her own TV network. There have been some TV movies produced by Winfrey based on books from her book club, which could provide endless material for an Oprah TV network. Perhaps the joke from Futurama where ‘Oprah-ism’ becomes a mainstream religion in the future will ring true after all. Be honest, you’d give that a go wouldn’t you?