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    The Week

    Oprah's Next Chapter: Will Winfrey's bid to save OWN work?

    The former Queen of Daytime is back in front of the camera in a new reality series on her struggling cable network

    The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) turned a year old on Sunday, but there wasn't a whole lot to celebrate. Ratings for the fledgling network "have been a major disappointment," says Elizabeth Blair at NPR, and the media has seized on OWN's failure to fulfill its Oprah-sized expectations. Hoping to reverse the negative trend, the former talk show host is getting back in front of the camera. Oprah's Next Chapter, a reality series that follows Winfrey as she tours the world interviewing celebrities and trying out new experiences, debuted Sunday night. In the premiere, she visited Aerosmith star and American Idol judge Steven Tyler at his New Hampshire home for a conversation that ranged from his history as a drug abuser to his love life. Could Oprah's Next Chapter turn OWN around?

    This is the Oprah we know and love: It "takes some adjusting" to process the sight of a dressed-down Oprah in the real world, outside her Chicago studio, says Sara Vilkomerson at Entertainment Weekly. But once the Tyler interview got under way, Next Chapter became very familiar. "We saw Oprah... doing what she does best." This "master interviewer" still has the knack of getting important people to open up in surprising ways. She broached remarkably sensitive topics with Tyler, and he responded revealingly.
    "Oprah’s Next Chapter: New network, new series, same Oprah"

    Despite problems, it's a strong show: Time off has served Oprah well, says TV Smack Talk. In her talk show's final years, Winfrey "was very robotic when interviewing celebrities, shaking her head and 'Um-hmming' on auto pilot." Next Chapter offers a more natural, dramatically more focused Oprah. It helps that Tyler was a captivating subject, but Winfrey should be credited with her ability to "peel the onion." Admittedly, the two-hour show was much too long and, when Winfrey and Tyler held hands and detailed their mutual admiration, intolerably sappy. "But I'm sure people were eating it up."
    "Review: Oprah's Next Chapter — Could the show boost OWN's ratings?"

    This "interesting" series could actually save OWN: It's no secret that OWN's first year "has been marked with strife and original programming missteps," says Jessica Grabert at Cinema Blend. Winfrey herself admitted disappointment to the Associated Press last week. Spotlighting Winfrey "may be just what the network needs to send its ratings chugging in a new direction." The network's secret weapon has stayed hidden for too long.
    "Oprah Winfrey looking to begin a new chapter for herself and OWN"

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    64 comments

    • CRA  •  Washington, District of Columbia  •  4 mths ago
      With all the other regular networks we are used to watching,,,like NBC ABC CBS and FOX
      who can remember to tune in OWN... I tuned in once when that idiot Rosie had her show.
      How silly that was...I could only take about 10 minutes of that broad..
    • Gargantuone  •  4 mths ago
      poor Oprah, no one wants to watch anymore...
      • revgay 4 mths ago
        Ahhh poor rich Oprah---i've never liked her or watched her!
      • Jobs for Americans 4 mths ago
        Oprah was humble when she started out...i began to dislike her when she had the sorriest examples of whites on her show as put downs...as she became more successful she forgot HER roots....and became arrogant...forgot GOD..said GOD was jealous of her what a freakin #$%$...and all these idiot white middle aged women watching her and swooning after her..and all the white employees Oprah loved to have kiss her big #$%$...stedman whom everyone knew would never marry her b/c he was ta da! GAY!The last of it was her pushing barack hussein obama onto the USA...and her sending her $ to african b/c blacks in the USA just were not appreciative enough for her big #$%$..what a traitor to her own country and her own people...no wonder OWN is a flop just like her. Her #$%$ stinks just like the rest of everyone's.
    • michael  •  4 mths ago
      No it won't work.
      She's so full of herself that she even had to name her network after herself.
      She is a person who thinks she became someone important.
      She has a show called life lessons?
      Give me a break.
    • TEXAS GIRL  •  Richardson, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      I don't think Oprah gets it; too much of a good thing. I quit watching her show years ago for the same reason. She is every where.... it is called burn-out.
      • Tom 4 mths ago
        When Oprah started she actually had a good show and actually put out good information and helped people then she got too big and too full of herself. After she went national her show became about her and her Hollywood freinds the worst thing that happened to Oprah was she went national.
    • C H  •  4 mths ago
      The real problem is her ego. She has been over exposed. For years on a daily basis, on TV and print. The public needed some time to take a rest from her. She never considered that fact. This is her problem. She deserves great credit for making an empire with her own two hands. She should have waited a few years to start this project.
      • really 4 mths ago
        Or not at all. It's not like she is going to become homeless and not be able to eat. Sometimes it is good to cut your losses and just go away.
    • greg  •  Wharton, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      Lets see, she decided to put Rosey O on the air, then decided Mr or Ms Bono had star potential, and maybe people remember how she shoved Obama down our throat, maybe this just isn't her time anymore.
    • Puppies?!  •  4 mths ago
      The only one that Oprah helps is Oprah. And now that I realized it's Janet Jackson singing in the fat suit and NOT Oprah... she ain't gonna make no more money, OWN will be shut down, and a Partridge inna Pear Tree.
    • Jobs for Americans  •  4 mths ago
      She's so over
    • Bibliophilist  •  4 mths ago
      Robin Leach. Been there. Done that.
    • Mark  •  4 mths ago
      She runs too much of the same thing in a row tonight’s line up extreme clutter, extreme clutter, extreme clutter, give me a break, stop surrounding yourself with yes people and choose people with guts enough to say are you crazy Oprah.
    • cc  •  Raleigh, North Carolina  •  4 mths ago
      One hour of Steven Tyler was more than enough. You could tell he had rehearsed what he wanted to tell Oprah and even Oprah seemed at a loss for things to ask him that were interesting enough to hold my attention. Come on, Oprah, raise the bar.
    • Joseph  •  4 mths ago
      A great programming idea... Oprah and Whoopi mud wrestling with Barbara WaWa as the ref... The winner takes on Rosie in a heavy weight title match.
    • overwhelmed  •  Middletown, New York  •  4 mths ago
      She is nothing but a big fat racist she needs to go hide in a hole
      • Puppies?! 4 mths ago
        But how can she get in her OWN "hole?"
    • L  •  Palm Desert, California  •  4 mths ago
      Yesterdays news.
    • goldcoins101  •  Los Angeles, California  •  4 mths ago
      It's really simple. You have to pay at least in my town to see the OWN network. It used to be on at 3 pm on regular stations no pay just regular tv. Now most of the old veiwer base can't pay the cable upgrade to see OWN it's that simple. We still like O middle America is scaling back the spending not the opposite.
    • Billman  •  4 mths ago
      She got off free tv, which was her niche.
    • TheBride  •  4 mths ago
      Oprah is so 2007. I think people would like a break (permanent break) from her tooting her own horn. Oprah should just go home and "be" ... like she preaches to everyone else.
    • ctlvr  •  4 mths ago
      I don't think it will help because the programming sucks, who wants to see Rosie? She just needs to realize not everything Midas touches turns to gold. You have to have better subject matter to have good shows.
    • The Choom Gang  •  New Freedom, Pennsylvania  •  4 mths ago
      So her network is a flop and she has to resurrect her TV show in the hopes of saving it. Somehow, I don't think her TV show will make it, either. Her time has come and gone. Her support and backing of O'Bama has turned Americans against her.....and rightfully so.
    • Joseph  •  4 mths ago
      She should produce the female version of FATSO starring Rosie....