On January 1, 2011, Oprah Winfrey launched the “Oprah Winfrey Network” (OWN). Now, the former talk show Queen turned network owner says she has “regrets.”
After 25 years in front of the scenes, Oprah admits she thought making the transformation to network ownership would be easier than it has been. But since the launch of OWN, Oprah has seen one huge mistake after another.
Most of OWN’s programming has not caught on with the majority of television viewers. Like the movies she’s produced, many believe Oprah’s choice of programming for OWN is “preachy” and not very entertaining. The programs also air in inconsistent time slots, preventing a normal following.
But OWN’s biggest blunder seems to be the failed “Rosie O’Donnell Show,” which recently ended with a firing of Rosie by Oprah herself and hard feelings to follow. The revival of Rosie as a talk show presence may have seemed like a bright idea on paper, but once again, it was not at all what viewers wanted.
On the CBS “The Early Show” Oprah admitted to co-hosts Charlie Rose and her best friend Gayle King “Had I known it [owning a network] would be this difficult, I might have done something else.” She added “If I were writing a book about it, I could call the book ‘101 mistakes.’“
<span>The thing I've never quite understood about this move by Orpah is why she felt the need to *own* her own network in the first place? (no pun intended). It's not like she was lacking for exposure OR control. Heck. She was practically running things on the "Oxygen* channel wasn't she? It certainly seemed that way to me. But even more mind-boggling is the fact that she seems to have completely FAILED at being prepared in ANY way to give her network the optimal chance for success. She ASSUMED that millions of vieweres, meaning WHITE women, would automatically flock to her network and demonstrate the same, OR greater, loyalty to her 24/7 programming (REGARDLESS of the quality of that programming) as they had done for her ONE hour talk-show, 5 days a week for at least 2 decades. And she 'completely FAILED to have a viable *Plan B* in the event that *Plan A* was a bust. This sad story reminds me of *The Peter Principle* …only in Oprah's case she's a hierarchy of One:</span><span>Wikipedia: "formulated by… Read more »