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Chicagoist headed to the taping of Oprah's Olympic-themed season premiere this morning, along with thousands of other Oprahphiles. The big O welcomed 153 Olympians from Team USA, which was quite a spectacle, but she only interviewed the usual suspects: Michael Phelps (who was then joined briefly by Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale), Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin (who talked about reading The Secret, ugh), the men's basketball team (only Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd said anything—and I don't think Lebron James was there), the men's volleyball team, Dara Torres, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and three members of the women's 4x400 relay (Sanya Richards did most of the talking). And then American Idol winner David Cook sang, which...was weird.
Tapings of TV shows are never as fun as they look, and this was no exception—the television and Oprah aspects of the show were largely unspectacular. What was exciting, though, was the athletes rushing in through the crowd, high-fiving everyone and grinning from ear to ear. We had a bad case of Olympic fever this year, but even the least invested among us would have gotten a kick out of just how thrilled everyone seemed, athletes and fans alike.
Today's one big surprise? It's the first time Mayor Daley has attended a taping. Crazy! The show airs Monday, September 8. —ML
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Oh god, vertically stacked text.
AHHHMAKE IT STOP!
oprah. obama. olympics.
hmmm.
michael phelps needs to get his iron-ons right.
is this city really so broke that we started making 2016 polos at the t-shirt deli?
celerysalt - I noticed that, too! Your comment made me laugh.
"weird"????
David Cook’s “Time of My Life” was used as a montage at the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Glad to see some coverage of the lesser known medalists. My brother is one of the rowers who won the bronze medal and he worked just as hard as some of the better known athletes to get to the Olmpics. Thanks for including him in the photos.
Moonpaddlr - Wow! Which one is your brother? I may have some more photos of him. Shoot me an e-mail if you'd like me to send them to you?
lstolpman@gmail.com
-L