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News has broken that Oprah Winfrey will shut down her show, based right here in Chicago, in the fall of 2011, at the conclusion of the show's 25th season, Crain's reports. The final show will air September 9, 2011. Mark your calendars.
Update: The Trib's Phil Rosenthal confirms and says Oprah will address the decision on her live show tomorrow, the last live show until after the New Year (though new taped episodes will continue to air).
Update 2: Harpo, Inc President Tim Bennett sent a letter to stations airing Oprah about the decision.
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I feel sorry for any one standing in between her and that buffet she's running to
I always thought some yoga stretching was the best thing to do first thing in the morning,turns out it's laughing at a funny comment :)
Marcus-
Two things:
The Crain's report mentions nothing of the air date Sept. 9, 2011. (Perhaps the last "all new" show will be sometime in the spring of that year, excluding summer reruns??
Your Update 2 has the name Tom Bennett. The correct name is Tim Bennett.
It seems Crain's report has been updated since I first posted this. I've updated to include an additional link with the September 9, 2011 date.
Bennett's name has been corrected. Mea culpa.
From the Rosenthal piece
Oprah Winfrey plans to tell viewers on Friday's live edition of her top-rated daytime program that she will retire the Chicago-based syndicated talk show that made her rich, famous and, if not a kingmaker, a maker of a media empire, several bestselling authors and perhaps even a U.S. President.
Yeah, y'know, for whatever teasing and taunting might go on about her fashion, her appearance and her fads ("The Secret"? Really?) she's been arguably the most powerful force in modern media for as long as I've been alive. And it's something she accomplished through sheer forces of will as a black woman in a country that has not had the most welcoming of attitudes for persons of color or women or professional women.
She's pretty much God now. And we're all living in Oprahland.
She's pretty much God now. And we're all living in Oprahland.
Well, you're on your own on that one. I've not bought one book she recommend, one "favorite thing" she raved about, not seen one movie based on some guest on her show, seen the city landscape changes because of her (her Michigan Ave. Oprahpalooze notwithstanding). And I'm sure you haven't either. Her presence here has had nil effect on millions of lives in Chicago. So where is this Oprahland you speak of. I think it exists only on television. I have a "god" and I'm pretty sure it's not here. This defication of Oprah is why so many other people here are saying "good riddance". And the funny thing is, it's not really her fault. She didn't TELL suburban/smalltown house wives to go ga-ga over her, they just did for whatever reason (I have theories, but that's for another time).
Chicago will be fine. Or as fine as we are now which is not so good.
I guess Chicago will have to be satisfied with its national media representation coming solely in the form of Youtube videos of kids getting killed with two-by-fours.
World class city, indeed.
Don't forget about the bad SNL skits about Chicago! Plus with Oprah gone our tourism industry is just going to plummet!
My neighborhood on YouTube (NSFW):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLfN58E2Mjs
Yeah, but how many of those Oprah-related national moments mentioned the fact that the show was done in Chicago? If there was any newsmaking moment on her show (Tom Cruise going bonkers, Sarah Palin) it merely mentioned "Today on the Oprah Winfrey show, Madonna said...", not "Today on the Oprah Winfrey Show, which, by the way is taped in Chicago, Madonna said...". Our international profile is shaped by SO many other things than Oprah. For better or worse.
My point isn't so much that Oprah always talks about Chicago--though she does talk about the city quite a bit ... she very often highlights aspects of the city in front of a national audience with a beneficial slant that audience doesn't usually see. My point is more that her inland empire is the sole Chicago-based example of an extremely visible and prestigious industry that has much greater representation in places like New York, Los Angeles, and even Atlanta. Think about that ... thanks to Ted Turner, Atlanta has more in the way of media prodiction with a national audience than we do. And if you think that doesn't bring Atlanta some prestige on the national and international stage, then you vastly underestimate the power of media.
Second, I don't believe Oprah's departure will have much impact on tourism, though I do think it will have some impact. I think, though, that when you combine this with the vanishing trade show business and the perception created by the city's growing economic problems, its gang violence and its constant scandals, you have the image of a city that's dying. Outsiders will see this as just one more of many marks against a shriveling Chicago.
Understood now. But I still don't agree fully.
very often highlights aspects of the city in front of a national audience
This I don't really know about, not really having watched her show since the days I didn't start work until later in the day and/or I was sick or something. Other than the Michigan Ave. things and (I think?) a Navy Pier show, did she do a lot of around-Chicago stuff? The impression I get is that her shows stayed overwhelmings in the could-be-anywhere windowless studio.
And if you think that doesn't bring Atlanta some prestige on the national and international stage, then you vastly underestimate the power of media.
well, don't know how much "prestige" Atlanta has on the international stage. It's probably best known on the international stage as the place where they had the Olympics and a bomb went off. Again, like Oprah, the CNN studios could be anywhere and I doubt they're a drawing card for tourists or business. I think it's more self-promotion on Atlanta's part, along with great business incentives. I'm not sure I would see the advantage to me to move my business there just because CNN is there.
But again, I see your points, just don't agree with some of them.
As far as tourism goes, I'd agree that CNN doesn't draw the crowds. Oprah, in fact, does a better job of that, I'm sure. Attracting business, though, is another matter entirely. I wouldn't say that CNN does it alone, but it is a very strong piece of a vast puzzle that together have made Atlanta very attractive to business. Ted Turner's former empire were huge contributors to the resurgence Atlanta saw being in the '80s. It's part of what helped make what for a century had been seen as a simpleton backwater seem like a respectable and powerful international city, worthy in the eyes of Europeans of an Olympics.
Good point. The addition of CNN and Coke (they're HQed there too, right?) did sort of lift my image of Atlanta as a business center. Rather than some place where they sat around and swatted flies while looking for other streets to call "Peachtree".
So I am guessing this will be sort of like the Berghoff closing a few years back. Ending her show only to launch a new format shortly after, only L.A. based.
Tourism industry is going to plummet because Oprah leaves? Seriously?
Over the years, I have entertained guests who stayed in my home from Italy, Germany, Turkey, France, Morocco, Ireland, Poland, Serbia and who knows who I'm forgetting and I'm telling the truth, not one of them even mentioned Oprah.
When we went out for entertainment, it was to the museums, theatre, restaurants, lakefront or just hanging out around the kitchen table and eating.
I do remember the funniest thing about the women from Italy, they are totally into our soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful, which they just call "The Beautiful" over there, but they're a little more than a year behind the US's story line, so they kept trying to get info into the future about the storyline...there was no interest whatsoever in Oprah.
Geez...I'm starting to think I'm the only one left who has never watched her show. Have I really missed anything?
I guess the 2012 city budget will have to address this drop in tourism revenue. That and the fact that the only convention the city will be hosting will the the .... oh boy....is anyone going to hold their convention here in 2012?
Would she leave if we had the Olympics?