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Chuck Ross

Memo to Oprah: Your OWNerous Assessment of TV Today Is Just Plain Wrong. But Here’s What You’re Getting Right, as Well

Jan 3, 2011

Here’s a truism about TV that bears repeating: At every moment in its commercial history, TV has been accused of being a vast wasteland.

Yes, the exact phrase referring to TV as a “vast wasteland” wasn’t coined until FCC Chairman Newton Minow used it in a speech given at the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters in May 1961, but please, the sentiment has always been there: that what’s on TV is junk, mindless, crapola.

The latest person singing this refrain is Oprah Winfrey.

In the cover story of the January issue of her “O” magazine, Winfrey talks about why she wanted to start the Oprah Winfrey Network, which launched Jan. 1, 2011:

Interviewer (“O” editor-in-chief Susan Casey): Well, we need [the Oprah Winfrey Network] now more than ever. So much on television these days is unwatchable.”

Oprah: It’s just created to blur the senses. It feels like Halloween candy. Gobble it down and at the end you don’t feel better—you’re like, Why did I do that to myself? In recent years I started to feel that, Gee, television has lost its mind. There’s no mindfulness there anymore. You used to be able to watch shows and come away with something—like with my favorite program growing up, ‘The Andy Griffith Show.’

Susan Casey: Or ‘Wild Kingdom!’ I loved that.

Oprah: Or ‘Wild Kingdom.’ You would watch it, and even if you didn’t learn something, there would be a thoughtfulness about it. An interesting aspect—something that sort of opened you up a little bit, that brought a little piece of light into whatever it is you were doing. ‘Bonanza,’ for goodness’ sake! Any number of shows for a long, long, long time—television actually did that. And in recent years I started to notice it doesn’t. Television doesn’t make me feel good. There’s nothing about it that makes me feel good. I literally do not have it on at any time in my personal space, be it in the office, be it in my makeup room. If I walk in and it’s on, I will say, "Turn it off," unless it’s something I need to know or need to hear. I just won’t have it. I will not allow the mindless chattering of Halloween candy. I just won’t allow it. If you wanted to drive me insane, that’s what you would do. You would put me in a room where the television was never turned off.

Of course in 1961, when it was Minow decrying that what was on TV was a mindless wasteland, it was smack in the middle of Winfrey’s childhood (she was 7 years old at the time) and those shows she mentioned, “Bonanza” and her favorite, “The Andy Griffith Show,” were on TV.

Minow’s version of the TV is crap speech ran as follows: First, he asked TV station executives to watch their own stations for a day.

Then he said, “Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland. You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And endlessly commercials — many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you’ll see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, I only ask you to try it.”

Winfrey is no less demeaning of and condescending about the medium that’s made her a billionaire.

With her remarks in O about how great TV was during her childhood, Oprah is on the record that Minow was wrong. No, it’s NOW that TV is a vast, mindless wasteland, Winfrey intones.

It’s only true if she’s tone deaf. From Larry David to David Shore & Katie Jacobs (“House”) to Jeffrey Jacob (J.J.) Abrams to Abramoff, Jack (documentary on HBO), ad infinitum, if Winfrey really believes TV today is the mindless chattering of Halloween candy, our reaction can only be non-plussed. We reply, “You Don’t Know Jack,” let alone not knowing other terrific characters–real and fictional–on TV recently, including Alicia Florrick, Sue Sylvester, Richard Whitman, Dexter Morgan, the late Capt. Phil Harris, Sheldon Cooper, Jax Teller, Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, Peter Lattimer, and Valentina Vilalba Rangel.

Despite Winfrey’s dissing of TV today, the idea of creating an Oprah Winfrey Network based upon the same theme as O magazine—living your best life—seems to me to be a good one. It’s a theme about which Winfrey is passionate, and that’s an important predictor for long-term success. Powerful people with passion—think Ted Turner and the creation of TBS, TNT and CNN, or Roger Ailes and the Fox News Network—are a huge plus in overcoming the inevitable pitfalls and obstacles most new networks face.

While Oprah says she long ago—in May 1992—thought of creating an Oprah Winfrey Network, kudos to her OWN partner, Discovery CEO David Zaslav, and his wife, who reportedly came up with the idea of a network based on the same theme O magazine is based upon.

As for the quality of the shows on OWN, it’s clearly too early to make a judgment about them. I watched a few over the weekend and mostly liked what I saw, despite how derivative of other programs they may be. “Oprah Presents Master Class”—OWN’s nod of sorts to Sundance’s “Iconoclasts” (though without its brilliant pairing of two creative people at once)—is fairly insightful.

One show I particularly liked was “Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes,” which chronicles this final season of Winfrey’s daily syndicated program. (Maddeningly, though, in the manner of cable shows that don’t really have enough footage to fill their hour or half-hour time slots, too much footage is repeated just before and right after commercial breaks.)

In the most telling moment of the two “Behind the Scenes” shows I saw, two producers of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” had a confrontation over the decision to revisit Williamson, W. Va., the site of a controversial Winfrey show back in 1987. The controversy was over a young man, Mike Sisco, who had AIDS, and who had used the city swimming pool. When he was outed, the city closed the pool. The original program showed that most of the townspeople supported the closing of the pool, and condemned the man for being gay. Sisco died in 1994.

In this segment of one of the “Behind the Scenes” shows, senior producer Jack Mori is telling co-producer Brian Piotrowicz that he is shocked and fascinated that now, 23 years later, they had not been able to find anyone in Williamson whose opinion had changed about the incident.

Brian: You find it fascinating and I find it hurtful. I don’t get why we’re giving these people a voice again. As a gay man I have a strong opinion about the Williamson show. There are millions of people watching, so we have to think about ‘Is this person worth interviewing?’ and ‘What do they really have to say?’ Because what I’m hearing from the [advance producing] team is that [the townspeople] haven’t changed—they still don’t like gay people, they still think it’s a sin.

We have 130 slots left to change the world, to make our mark, and I don’t understand why this would be one of them.

Jack: What can I say, Brian? Forty-three percent of America believes the same thing they do—

Brian: Eighty percent of Germany agreed with Hitler.

Jack: That’s a perfect example. If you’re a journalist do you ignore World War II just because you don’t want to spread hate?

Brian: But we don’t portray the reality on our show. We pick and choose what we want based upon criteria of how the show is produced
.

Jack: I’m sorry you’re offended by that, but—

Brian: What do you mean you’re sorry I’m offended by that? It’s offensive. Of course I’m offended.

Brian then said that the only way the show would work for him is if a bunch of the townspeople had had epiphanies over the past 23 years that what they said and how they thought about gays in 1987 was wrong.

As it turned out, on the show one person, a 74-year-old man, did admit to having such an epiphany, and apologized to the gay man’s family.

It would have been worthwhile then to hear Brian’s reaction to the finished show. However, we didn’t get that, perhaps because it would have put a damper on things and ended the episode on a sour note. And as any regular reader of O magazine knows, the philosophy of living your best life almost always calls for cheers, not jeers.#

90 Comments

  1. I’ve watched the OWN network for the last 2 days. It’s terrible, I want the old programs back!!!!

  2. hmm. her comments remind me of what the majority of people i’ve met say about her show. interesting indeed.

  3. A waste if space, talking about a waste of space, imagine.

  4. Yes, Oprah, the person who brought us “The Secret” and Dr. Oz who believes in “energy channels”, and a whole host other absurdities. Now Oprah wants to be serious? I have trouble this is anything more than attempting to get attention for her network.

  5. It’s “Newton Minow,” not “Minnow,” brainiac.

  6. OWN is Oprah’s tribute to… Oprah. This is the pinnacle of self-promotion. North Carolina just turned Oprah away from a prison interview with Susan ? who drowned her 3 kids in her car -turned her away because giving Susan a forum (again)was described by them as being in bad taste .. this is how Oprah is raising the bar in television? Like when she endorsed the author of an autobio book that turned out to have made up the whole thing? Like when she used her audience as a fundraising wing for a political candidate of her choice, for causes she deems important? Like giving cars away to her audience as if running a game show? 24-7 of Oprah on OWN… I’ll definitely pass.

  7. The Public deserves “Ala Carte Pricing” options for cable and satellite television instead of these “pre-packaged deals” that service the providers revenue stream not the consumers’ preferences.

  8. Your comment would’ve been helpful if you hadn’t included the insulting “brainiac.”

  9. Hi Shideler. Thanks for pointing out our typo on this. It’s now been fixed.

    Chuck Ross
  10. Please take your billions and just go away.
    http://911essentials.com

  11. It’s SOUTH Carolina-not North Carolina. Her name is Susan Smith and it was two children-not three

  12. I want my Discovery Health back!!!

  13. A network for brain dead women.

  14. Oprah is an idiot who as late as 2008 didn’t know the difference between “jealous” and “envious” and was ready to dump her Christian religion because of it.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB4J1JpG_PA

  15. Homosexuality is a sin just as much as the way it is possibly condemned is as well. Adultery,lust, fornication (sexual contact NOT between two people married to each other). All the above mentioned behavior is deplorable and self-demeaning as it is contrary to God’s Word. There is no black and white on this, only repentance and forgiveness from God, anything else is just wishful thinking and hoping. Know Jesus,Know Peace, No Jesus,No Peace!!

  16. She’s a hypocrite but she’s right about one thing, TV not making you feel good. I got rid of mine 3 months ago and my stress level is dramatically lower. I’m not saying everyone should give up their TV’s but it has been a positive experience for me.

  17. way to miss the point knucklehead

  18. Amen to that. So sick of getting a gazillion channels I will NEVER, EVER look at….like Orca oops, Dopra, ooops, Oprah’s new channel.

  19. I totally agree with this. I’m tired of money I pay for my “package” going to support a lot of the crapola channels out there. They’re only going away when WE stop funding them. I’m DEFINITELY in favor of a la carte programming and pricing.

  20. Me too. That was one of my favorite channels.

  21. As a gay man you’re offended because a large percentage of people think homosexuality is unacceptable? By what right do you purport to tell people how they MUST see things so YOU won’t be offended?

  22. Oprah is a narcissistic, dangerous cow who now has the audacity to own her very OWN network! If she had her way, she would OWN all the channels on T.V. so she could indoctrinate all of us to believing she is God…I loved the Discovery Health channel..It was one of my favorites….This is very sad…

  23. The Discovery Health Channel shows are now showing on Fit TV…thank god!

  24. As a gay man you’re offended because a large percentage of people think homosexuality is unacceptable? By what right do you purport to tell people how they MUST see things so YOU won’t be offended?

  25. The OWN Network is a joke and most cable outlets will drop it shortly. Oprah made a fortune off of middle class white America but now she pushes her black agenda at every chance. It’s time for Her to go away, Her act has been discovered and no one thinks she is the end all and be all anymore. She is simply another smart-ass black with an attitude…

  26. She not only stuffs herself with the Haloween candy but creates a factory to churn out more

  27. Having spent 30+ years in TV before starting my own company, I authoritatively agree with most of what Oprah says. I tried to make it better and I couldn’t because I didn’t have the money or the power. She has both. And we know TV can be better and more diverse without the manipulation of politicos and carnival barkers. It’s called the Internet. I wish her luck.

  28. Agenda pushing, thats all this and she is. If you havent read the bio Oprah book by Kitty Kelly, you really should–it provides a fascinating account of how Oprah developed at an early age a character that is based on lies and falsities. Fast forward this same approach into everything and one she touches or creates–and voila, you have a liar pushing an agenda on the rest of us. Even if the show bombs, she’ll keep it afloat with her vast fortune just to prove a point—she’s in that deep with the lie. Here’s a woman who doesnt even have a relationship with her own mother, yet she wants us to love one another unconditionally, as if we were one of her pet dogs. Seen enough with Shattered in a Million Pieces, The Secret, Free Cars provided by Dealers and the Tax burden passed on to the winners—she claims to give millions a year to charities—based on percentages of income its about equal and slightly less to what the average american gives. Pushing Obama and hiding the fact of the hateful Rev Wright, whose Church she eventually did leave—she pushed an Agenda. A Vast Wasteland Agenda.
    The show will fail because there are’nt enough Oprah lovers left—Judge Judy beat her regularly and soundly on her main show–imagine people going out of their way to try and find this nonsense on a high numbered cable channel—puh-leeze, there might be a one month ratings upward spike out of curiosity but after that, she’ll be funding this thing to keep it afloat.
    She came to save the Whales, but became one herself.

  29. Oprah, You make us “not feel good”. Why don’t take a break from world and disappear for a while..

  30. You people just wait, you haters! There will be a “double O” of Obama/Oprah in 2012 comin’ rite at ya! And in 2016 the BIG O – Oprah as President! You will ALL be tracked down HATERS!!!! And get a load of “Double O” in ya seat!!!! YeeeeHAWWWWW

  31. TV is a circus that puts people (you) in a hypnotic trance, add in the bread with the circus and you get the average American today. Totally and utterly brainwashed, incapable of any intellectual thought or discourse, over-weight, unhealthy physically and mentally, sadistic, sexually depraved and de-sensitized, and empty, devoid of spirit. TV and Oprah are only part of the problem but nevertheless a very influential part. TV and advertising have imbedded and programmed in most Americans (90%+) a worldview of black and white, a polarizing, bi-polar, un-sane perspective and outlook that is helping humanity devolve into darkness due to the complete lunacy. To your everyday fat, zombie American, it is either fox or cnn, christians or muslims, blacks or whites, rap (bet) or country (cmt), only liberal or conservative, young or old, burgerking or mcdonalds, coke-pepsi. You zombies think you make choices when in reality you are getting force-fed everything, the way to think, look, act, feel, behave, choose, live, in the real real world you are an empty shell, a shadow of another putrid person like Oprah, someone you idolize and spend your life enamoured with. If you watch tv you need to come to realize that you are not educated, your not smart, your not cool, your not a conservative, you don’t really know what is really going on, you don’t “just watch it cause it’s funny” you watch it because you are clueless.

  32. Being the same age as Oprah and also working in TV,(but on a community not national scale)I can honestly say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
    Back then there were just a few 1/2 hour programs that had uplifting themes and today, out of 500 channel we have 1 or 2 channels that are uplifting.
    Sad truth is ALL of us are lizard brains and can’t look away from other peoples disasters and also “enjoy” people other than ourselves being belittled.
    Good luck Oprah.

  33. Forgive me opra. Did I understand you to say ‘television just dosn’t seēm right to me. Ī am falling on the floor lmao.
    may I remınd you that is where.
    You. Have been for 25 ish
    years earning an excessivee living while. All of us think we want To be you. Í definately missed something here.
    I know what the word greed meanss and I know you found ìt now that tv does not feel right for you. My heart hurts for those of us who wasted 25 years making you wealtthy. Not one more day of her for me.

  34. The last year with Oprah has been hit and miss. I’ve never been able to resolve that one day she has a show about poverty then the next day a show about $500 jeans or bras. Considering that she now says television is Halloween candy (!?) I recall several shows where she gushed to her TV Star guests that she “never missed” their shows or pledged that she always set her TIVO to be able to watch them. Grey’s Anatomy (bleh) stands out to me. I watched OWN last weekend, it was part of my package. OK but nothing special. As a health professional, I’m am completely turned off by Dr. Oz. There is something kind of off about that guy and can hardly stand to watch him.

  35. Can I pay extra to have OWN removed from my cable channel lineup?

  36. Oprahshould stick to what she’s good at,helping unqualified Community Organizers get elected & entertaining mindless robots.

  37. Oprah, sorry to clue you in, but your tv show over all these years, and you yourself, are the sappiest, most self-absorbed trash-fests tv has been bothered with. You live in the new age ozone la-la land.

  38. I feel fortunate in knowing that I do not watch TV. Have not for over 10 years…I know who Oprah is and saw her on a commercial adviritsing her new nework and though only while at a restaurant haveing a meal “How sad it is for her to be in her shoes” still trying to find happiness through the empty illusion she calls her life.

  39. We got rid of cable tv about 5 or 6 years ago. Mostly because the cost kept going up, but also because almost everything on cable is trash. I’m glad I’m missing all this mess.

  40. Doesn’t make her ‘feel good’? She’s got more money than God, What in the world does she need?

  41. You seem to think we are all just plain stupid. That we cannot make rational decisions on our own. It looks to me like most of the posts here are people who do know how to decide what they like or support or will not support. You are not the only one in the world who knows what he is doing or reading or watching.

  42. Well, Oprah has a point. I stopped watching her program years ago. I found it shallow, empty, pandering to the worst in human nature. It was a complete waste of my time.

  43. At long last, Oprah and I agree;
    Watching her does make me feel bad.

  44. Love it!

  45. Just a little racist aren’t you?

  46. She says TV is no good then she says she doesn’t watch TV. So how does she know?

  47. Oprah only likes TV that pays. Ask her to donate all her proceeds to charity and the channel would disappear sometime after year 2.

  48. I’m amazed that she has as many followers that she has! Her perception of “living your best life” is more about her financial empire.She tells her viewing public what they want to hear and it has made her wealthy.Her mindfulness is not as it seems!

  49. This women is disgusting fat ugly and uneducated. The only thing I can think of as her success is that American White Middle Class women are complete idiots. She has take billions from them and they get nothing in return.

  50. Sandy, you said a mouthful. I too used to watch Oprah for years-she seemed very sincere & honest. Of late, the giveaways
    became too much & I think most people did
    go/watch “for the goodies”. It ceased to
    be informative-mostly became Oprah trying
    to be “a Hollywood-head Insider”, as she pandered to them-ala: “You like me, You really Like Me”. Oprah, they needed you
    to showcase them on Your Show-duh.
    I do blame Oprah for using her popularity
    to “foist the Fraud In Chief” onto America. She said she wouldn’t have ANY
    politicos on her show…that is, UNTIL she got Obama & Michelle on, introducing them to America & gushing all over him. I think she was disengenuous AFTER, she touted Obama, and “Sold him to America, even though he was NEVER VETTED, & STILL HIDES HIS PAST.
    Oprah can take some of the responsibility
    for the shape America is in now, Thanks to her Hero, Obama, the Socialist/Marxist
    with his corrupt regime.
    I believe THIS, is why she will NOT do well in her new endeavor, and why her show lost it’s audience. She thinks that
    tv is inane? Well, her endorsement was very, very inane. She should have stayed
    neutral, instead of her “awe & gushing over Obama”

  51. Being gay is a sin.

  52. I turned off the wasteland 7 years ago. After the withdrawal subsided a month later, I felt as though a fog had lifted from my brain–a decades old fog. All that wasted time in the wasteland taught me that TV is for the sheeple. It’s the best way to brainwash an entire populace. It destroys the culture. It destroys virtue and values. It is the most damaging to children who grow up saturated with sex, violence, and wretched storytelling for the most part. Some TV is good, however, but I’ll watch the occasional show on DVD. Cable in the home results in death to society. This is from a former TV addict.

  53. Please people. NOBODY is forcing you to watch TV. Shows stay on the air because of VIEWERS – if the ratings aren’t there, the shows go away. I just retired after 40 years in TV and I can’t count how many people would tell me “I only watch PBS or News” yeah – RIGHT. Chuck – you’re absolutely right!! There are LOTS of great shows on TV and some crummy ones – but people must be watching them, or they wouldn’t be on.

  54. Her comments remind me of the moment my doctor pulls his fingers during a rectal exam. Relief, but no sense of the better. Oprah believes too much that she is what she perceives in her own mind.

  55. At last an entire network designed to fit the demographic of America’s homemakers. An IQ of 70, sexually repressed and mentally depressed. Great fodder for Drs.Oz and Phil. Two overblown self appointed authorities on nothing. A perfect fit for the network of idiots, by and for idiots, sponsored and named for that fat butch Oprah Homefree.

  56. Oprah will go broke over this. She should take the money and run. Run to anywhere. The estrogen fueled prining press of cash is ending. I need a hug and some more Tom Cruise jumping on the couches… the problem with scam artists is they never know when to quit. Madoff, the Hunt brothers, Rockafeller etc… Oprah would be better off as a rich influential matriarch than a OWN versions of a national socailst

  57. of course tv doesn’t make her feel good – gayle’s tongue on her box does

  58. Forgive me opra. Did I understand you to say ‘television just dosn’t seēm right to me. Ī am falling on the floor lmao.
    may I remınd you that is where.
    You. Have been for 25 ish
    years earning an excessivee living while. All of us think we want To be you. Í definately missed something here.
    I know what the word greed meanss and I know you found ìt now that tv does not feel right for you. My heart hurts for those of us who wasted 25 years making you wealtthy. Not one more day of her for me.

  59. Shouldnt surprise anyone, all she wants to do is OWN white people the way her ancestors were OWNed. The best way to OWN you crackers is to get you addicted to her programs….guess what?…..go ahead and try to turn off your master:)

  60. I took about 2 minutes to watch a program on that channel called “kidnapped by kids” Which I concluded was about how having kids means you have to take care of them- and therefor they are kidnapping you from all the things people without kids do. What a horrible mentality for a parent to have.

  61. You really cannot blame her. Oprah is lost in the world of Oprah. That would qualify anybody for forgiveness for thinking obtusely.

  62. Finally!

  63. The only Network TV I watch is Football. I watch Cable News and Do it Yourself Projects.

  64. I very much resented the idea that everyone is evil who believes sincerely that homosexuality is wrong. That episode about the show being produced made me feel very negatively towards homosexuals and how they handle their agenda and how they treat the rest of the world. They are much more intolerant than other people.

  65. Just a little reflexively leftist aren’t you? We are tired, way, way way, tired of mindless reactionary accusations of racism just because we observe some Black person pandering to their Progressive operatives, their lying MSM operatives or leftist/corrupted Academia or corrupt big city government operatives or corrupt public employee unions or corrupt teachers union operatives or corrupt DC under-handed, behind-closed-doors plunderers, in order to get more adulation, more cash stolen by the government from the working people of America, and on, and on, and ON.
    Your empty whine falls on deaf ears!

  66. There are some things about Oprah that I like. Mostly that she is an unapologetic capitalist. She made it and big, she worked hard. I stopped watching her show 15+ years ago. Her show is a part of the “wasteland”. I find her arrogance in regard to television programming amusing and insightful. She has become quite elitist. Hypocritical too. Why stay on television when you disdain it so? Money, Money, Money. First she began to disdain her white viewers (who made her big) and and now she disdains it all. Yet, she now has her OWN channel. The topper for me came when I realized she only put herself on her O covers. (except for that other O person) LOL I have NEVER read that magazine and for that reason I never will. “How do I love ME…..let me count the ways….” I don’t disagree with her assessment of TV. Most of it is CRAP. Not all but most. Reality TV makes me vomit. I ditched my cable months age. I Netflix now.

  67. I totally agree about Dr. Oz. Can’t quite put my finger on it either!

  68. Miguel: EXCELLENT POST and TRUTHFUL-thanks

  69. Judge Judy OWN her now.

  70. OPRAH is so OVER!

  71. I LOVE IT!!! Now after Jeopardy, I don’t have to quickly change the channel to miss Oprah.
    HAPPY DAYS!!!!!

  72. I think it is a little bit hypocritical when people like Oprah, Phil Donohue, Sally Jessie and Montel Williams drug entertainment television to the land of Joy Behar, Rosie O’Donnell, and Keith Olberman and then they want to deny all connection with what they did. All of the above started with the same kind of programming about emotional wrecks, poor family situations, and titillating sexual issues before they got religion. Say what you will about Jerry Springer, at least he hasn’t become sanctimonious about his complicity.

  73. I have a general rule: If Oprah endorses it, I don’t. And that rule has not failed me yet.
    I cannot watch her show. From what exposure of her I’ve seen, she is about as over-rated as she is overpaid. The vast array of professional ass-kissers she’s assembled over the years is nauseating. There is only one “O” I’d like to see about her. And that is OBSCURITY.

  74. This reminds of comrades clinton hill and bill,THEY REFUSE TO GO AWAY!

  75. In my opinion, Oprah is one of the most offensive show hosts on television. Her diva attitude here in Chicago has become tiresome. She has no manners to speak of when she is off camera, unless of course it is with another star or her lib cronies. She is an aloof racist and hypocrite.

  76. The car give-away was a hoax. Most of the people who were in the audience that day didn’t get a car because they couldn’t afford the taxes and licensing. Btw: Oprah didn’t pay for those cars….they were donated by the car maker. It was all propaganda.

  77. What a waste – I long for a channel that will give us food for the MIND! When I think of all the wonderful short stories that could be made into half-hour or hour-long presentations, and here we are, with MORE junk….

  78. Oprah is a bottom feeder. She has made mindless TV and now she has her OWN network so that she can feed on the lost, non stop.

  79. If Oprah thinks today’s TV stinks, isn’t she saying that her partner in the OWN, Zaslav produces Halloween candy? And hasn’t Oprah interviewed the stars of such Halloween candy? How many times has she interviewed Tom Cruise or coountless other people who are part and parcel to the vast wasteland?
    Oprah is an entertainer, just like the rest. She just has mezmorized millions – much the same way a Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford blockbuster does. Just a different audience that could live full and meaningful lives sans OPRAH – who by the way I have no issue with – other than her painting her piously calling own kettle a different color than the rest.

  80. One more thing. Anyone in her audience who passed on a new car because they couldn’t afford the taxes is a bigger bull artist than Oprah. Pay the taxes, sell the car, make a nice big profit. Or pay the taxes, donate the car and take a huge tax deduction.
    I thought she professed to have intelligent audiences.
    And shame on her if she didn’t say on her show that the cars were donated by the manufacturers. That’s just deceitful.
    And if she is so opposed to Halloween candy and the vast wasteland, why does she interview such Halloween candy as Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford and others of her kind ENTERTAINERS, NOT GODS, whose only purpose is to let people who want to wander in the wasteland when they want to get away from their own sad lives. It’s just enternainment folks, serving up different dishes to different people with different tastes in candy.

  81. Yes, Oprah decades of your TV Industry has produced a D’oprahfried world where useful idiots manufacture an illusion that they are The Smart’s They Have Been Looking For.

  82. Oprah’s childhood cockroach friends were found alive in Mississippi! http://www.thedailyrash.com/?p=2904

  83. And what is different about the programming on OWN? A Sarah Ferguson reality show, a reality show to pick “the next talk show host. behind the scenes of a talk show? Are any different then what is already on TV? Same trash.

  84. Thanks for for being so up to date on the news, Diana.

  85. UNFORTUNATELY, YOU CAN’T MAKE A POINT WHEN YOU SHOW YOURSELF TO BE A COMPLETE IDIOT.
    GO BACK UNDER A ROCK OR TAKE THE HOTDOG OUT OF YOUR BUTTHO*LE

  86. I’ve been reading the number of comments regarding Oprah Winfrey’s New Cable Network,
    “OWN”, and many of you feel it’s all about
    her, and that may be true, i’ve never been
    a regular watcher of her talk show, and while
    some of her shows over 25 years have been
    interesting, there are some which turned me
    off, especially the day after the 2008 presidental election, it was no secret who
    she supported for the White House, but didn’t
    have to make a big deal about it, and while
    i understand Barack Obama has been friends
    with Oprah for many years, she could have
    kept it low key, and by the way, many of you
    may wonder who her final guest will be later
    this year?, don’t be surprised if the President is, it will be a “warm-up” for his
    re-election next year.

  87. I’ve been reading the number of comments regarding Oprah Winfrey’s New Cable Network,
    “OWN”, and many of you feel it’s all about
    her, and that may be true, i’ve never been
    a regular watcher of her talk show, and while
    some of her shows over 25 years have been
    interesting, there are some which turned me
    off, especially the day after the 2008 presidental election, it was no secret who
    she supported for the White House, but didn’t
    have to make a big deal about it, and while
    i understand Barack Obama has been friends
    with Oprah for many years, she could have
    kept it low key, and by the way, many of you
    may wonder who her final guest will be later
    this year?, don’t be surprised if the President is, it will be a “warm-up” for his
    re-election next year.

  88. I just have to say I love Opera, not for her show because it absolute rubbish ans I wouldn’t dream of wasting my time on it. But She is straight up hustler that know when to cash in. She came from nothing and is making bank like crazy kuudos to her..

  89. All respect to opera, her show and almost everything she does is crap in my eyes but damn, she is hustler kuudos to her.

  90. Hey dude, what kind of wordpress theme are you using i want it
    to utilize on my blog too ,

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