After nearly a quarter of a century on the air and thousands of Hollywood’s biggest stars stopping through her Harpo Studio’s in Chicago, Oprah Winfrey is calling it quits.
“After much prayer, and months of careful thought, I’ve decided that next season — Season 25 — will be the last season of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show,'” Winfrey said Friday. “I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it’s time to say goodbye. Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit. It’s the perfect number. The exact right time.”
The undisputed Queen of daytime T.V. has been a juggernaut for syndicated television. Aside from The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah has provided daytime talk with The Dr. Phil Show, The Dr. Oz Show, and The Rachel Ray Show, all under her watchful executive production. Although those shows will continue, the powers that be are already scrambling to find what could possibly fill the void Oprah will leave in 2011. But some are already saying due to generational and technological change, Oprah won’t necessarily be missed as many might think and perhaps should have left daytime television a few years ago.
Since her show began, the media landscape has exploded. Besides countless cable networks vying for viewers, online video and social media are now also taking viewers away from their former television viewing habits. And with 23 percent of US homes reportedly having a DVR, providing for programming anytime and anywhere, the daytime television market is further diminished and ever changing. Nowadays, networks nor advertisers can comfortably rely on viewers to show up in front of their T.V. sets at a certain hour each day. Oprah is also from what some call the “Johnny Carson” era, which has made it increasingly difficult for her to appeal to an audience younger than 35. Her experiments this season with “Live Fridays,” block parties, and a touring appearance in New York’s Central Park, as well as an odd interview with Entertainment Tonight’s Mario Lopez were all part of Oprah’s attempt to broaden her appeal. But, the times they are a changin’.
So, it seems like 2011 will be the end of an era. What do you think of Oprah’s decision to call it quits?
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do people still watch that show? shes a has been. who cares