The 24th season of Oprah Winfrey’s talk show begins today with a week of ratings-grabbers, and it’s none too soon, as the show comes off a year of fading ratings, reports the Associated Press.

While the show still tops the daytime ratings, its viewership was down 7% last season, falling below 7 million. Other shows slipped as much or more, but there’s still speculation that Winfrey’s endorsement of Barack Obama in the presidential race, a controversial book club choice and her upbeat message at a tough economic time may have alienated some of the audience.

Winfrey launches her new season today with the first half of a two-part interview with Whitney Houston, which the talk show host said last week was her best interview ever.

–Elizabeth Jensen