Oprah Evolves

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Oprah Evolves

Talk Show or Therapy Session?

Leaving the Sleaze to Others

Personally Important Topics

Goose-Bump Shows

Heavy Topics

Talking with Celebrities

Interviews That Bombed

Private Life

A Secret Revealed

Spirituality, Boyfriend, Dogs

The Oprah Winfrey Show-Oprah for short-has grown in popularity and scope since those first years. It also evolved. The biggest change concerned a basic shift in style and content.

In the early years, the show leaned heavily on sensationalist, "hot button" topics. For example, Winfrey once interviewed women who had children with their fathers. Other topics from this era included parents whose children had been injured by babysitters and women who gave up heterosexual relationships to become lesbians.

Critics condemned such shows as mindless and sleazy. But they were wildly popular with viewers, so Winfrey kept airing them. In 1987 a writer for McCall's magazine commented, "What The Oprah Winfrey Show does best is 'get-'em-in-the-gut' show topics. . . . Nothing is taboo."29

Talk Show or Therapy Session?

Winfrey was not the only television host, or even the first, to go into territory that is commonly called "trash television" or "tabloid television." Before Winfrey began her run, Phil Donahue was the genre's best-known practitioner. He was a tough interviewer who liked controversial subjects, and he encouraged confrontations among his guests.

In later years this style would be widely copied. Television hosts such as Jenny Jones and Jerry Springer would take trash television to new extremes. In the late 1980s, however, as Oprah ascended in the ratings, Winfrey outpaced the pioneering Donahue. Her enthusiasm and intimate, empathetic style hit a nerve with the audience. Time magazine writer Richard Zoglin noted in 1988:

As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue. . . . [But] what she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all, empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye. . . . They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session.30

Spirits and Sass

Winfrey developed her lively, self-assured public personality early in her career. This excerpt is from an article by Richard Zoglin that appeared in Time magazine in the summer of 1988, some four years into her Chicago-based program:

Her growing celebrity, not to mention the high-style hairdos and drop-dead outfits, often seems gratingly at odds with her down-to-earth TV image. And, there are Chicagoans who say that Oprah has forgotten her roots, that success has gone to her head.

But she seems pleasantly unaffected by fame. Her conversation is a mix of calm self-assurance (one rarely hears an "uh" in Oprah's speech), erupting high spirits and down-home sass. She talks amiably to the fans who constantly recognize her on the street, and personally says goodbye to each member of the studio audience filing out of her daily tapings.

Quoted in Richard Zoglin, "Lady with a Calling," Time, August 8, 1988. www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,968069,00.html.

Leaving the Sleaze to Others

Over time, however, Winfrey changed direction. She grew tired of trash television and began moving away from lurid, shocking topics. Winfrey says that she wanted instead to discuss social and spiritual issues that would positively affect the lives of her viewers.

The turning point, she says, came in 1989. She had as her guests a trio of people-a husband, his wife, and his girlfriend. Unexpectedly, the husband made a surprise announcement: His girlfriend was pregnant.

Winfrey commented later that she was shocked by the pained expression on the wife's face. The television host told the woman how sorry she was that she (the wife) had to hear that news for the first time in front of a television audience. It was at that point, Winfrey says, that she knew she needed to change.

It was gradual. Winfrey still relied sometimes on shocking subjects. By the mid-1990s, however, the show was dramatically different. By 1998 it was focusing almost completely on what Winfrey calls "Change Your Life TV."

Winfrey was especially focused on topics that were of particular interest to women since they were her core audience (as they still are). For example, among the topics the show covered were heart disease, abuse by spouses, and ways to meditate.

The change in direction was meant to educate as well as entertain viewers. Winfrey personally set the tone, demonstrating that she herself was trying to be a better, happier person-and that others could too. Writer Cecilia Konchar Farr comments, "Leaving sleaze to Jerry Springer, Winfrey moved on and began using her daytime talk show overtly [openly] to educate American women."31

Personally Important Topics

It was natural that Winfrey would choose topics that would attract viewers. But it also made sense that she would choose topics of particular concern to herself. These topics reflected-and still reflect-her own characteristics.

For example, Winfrey is socially and politically liberal. She is black. She is a woman. She is a devoted reader. She spends much of her time in great urban centers. She loves to eat. In her past, she has experienced poverty, abuse, and destructive relationships. These aspects of her personal life are often reflected in the topics she presents.

One example is child molestation. Winfrey started "Oprah's Child Predator Watch List," which operates through her show and Web site. It is designed to help track down accused child molesters by offering rewards for them. The watch list was immediately successful. Within the first forty-eight hours of its existence, two of the men named on it were captured.

Another example of a recurring topic of personal importance has been the issue of tolerance. Her shows have regularly stressed the importance of tolerance of sexual and racial minorities. She frequently urges her fans to understand and accept unusual or different people and cultures.

Goose-Bump Shows

To this end, Winfrey has devoted many episodes to the problems of gay men and women. On one show, for example, Winfrey traveled to a West Virginia town where a gay resident who was HIV-positive had become a social outcast. This man had deeply divided the town.

Winfrey interviewed him and others, including the town's mayor (who had fearfully ordered the draining of a public swimming pool the man had used). Unlike a reporter, Winfrey made no attempt to remain objective. On air, she scolded the town's hostile residents for their lack of empathy and understanding.

Such shows have allowed Winfrey to provide extensive media coverage for minorities. Many observers say that minorities are more socially acceptable in this country because of her. They point out that when a minority is spotlighted in millions of living rooms via television daily, the chances for understanding rise dramatically.

Winfrey is thrilled to spotlight issues that are close to her heart. Asked by a reporter about her favorite topics, Winfrey replied, "The ones that have mattered the most have been when I've been able to change the way people think for the better. . . . [The episode] 'How to Protect Your Kids from Strangers' was a goose-bump show for me 'cause I knew we were saving kids."32

Heavy Topics

Although she has for years stressed serious topics, Winfrey also remains committed to simple entertainment. These two concerns do not necessarily mix well. One way she can combine them is to ask celebrities on her show to talk about their own experiences.

In that way, viewers have the pleasure of seeing famous celebrities and, at the same time, learn something important. For example, actress Brooke Shields spoke about her struggle with postpartum depression after giving birth. On another occasion, athlete Lance Armstrong discussed his fight against cancer.

Winfrey balances appearances by famous people with visits from experts in particular fields. For example, a psychotherapist, Jill Murray, is a frequent guest and offers such advice as the warning signs of dating abuse among teenagers.

And the show often showcases ordinary people. One was Sandra Moss, who was featured in an episode about depression. Moss described her years of mental agony, even considering suicide, before she found the correct medication. She urged Winfrey's viewers to seek help if needed and said, "People don't have to get as ill as I got before I got help."33

Another "ordinary" guest was a viewer who had been inspired by one of Winfrey's programs. After seeing an episode on youth at risk, this person made a commitment to care for a troubled child. Winfrey commented that examples like that one summarized her hopes for the show: "I love TV! I love that television can do that. I love television that can make a connection like that."34

Talking with Celebrities

Of course, not all of the topics on Oprah are so serious. Winfrey likes to have fun, and she enjoys luxury, and many times her shows are devoted to fun and the good life. So she regularly presents segments on such topics as gift giving, cooking, and home decorating.

Often her shows highlight nothing more earthshaking than a gossipy chat with a famous person. One notable talk was an interview with singer Michael Jackson. Jackson is notoriously shy about interviews, but in 1993 he granted Winfrey a rare opportunity to visit his Neverland Ranch. The show was the fourth most-watched event in American television history, and the most-watched interview ever. It is estimated that 90 million people saw at least part of it.

Finally Meeting Paul

The thousands of interviews that Winfrey has conducted over the years have required skillful use of many qualities, including empathy, knowledge, and a playful sense of humor.

An example of the latter could be seen when she interviewed the legendary musician Paul McCartney. Her first question to him was, "Paul, when I was a kid growing up I had all the Beatles' posters on my wall. Every morning I'd go to the posters and I'd say, 'Dear God, please let me meet Paul one day.' I wanted to know: All that time, were you thinking about me too?"

Quoted in Bill Adler, The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey. Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane, 1997, p. 120.

In another celebrity interview in 2005, actor Tom Cruise unexpectedly went wild in the studio. He jumped up and down on a couch like a kid, fell to one knee, and shouted-all to express excitement about his new girlfriend (now wife), actress Katie Holmes. The interview became instantly notorious and was widely parodied. Three years later, Winfrey visited Cruise's Colorado home for a quieter interview, during which she exclaimed, "This is so normal!"35

Interviews That Bombed

Winfrey has a gift for bringing out the best in interview subjects, even the biggest celebrities. Usually her shows work well, but things do not always go smoothly. Winfrey says that her worst interviewing experience was with movie icon Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor had asked Winfrey, before the interview began, not to ask about any of her marriages.

However, as Winfrey pointed out later, that was a difficult thing for someone like Taylor, a celebrity who has been married seven times, to request. Winfrey asked anyway, and Taylor's curt, uncomfortable replies created an awkward air. Winfrey tried to draw the movie star out, teasing her that she talked too much, but Taylor was not amused. The movie star later apologized and returned to the show in a better mood.

Sometimes a celebrity interview does not happen at all. In 2008 another film legend, Doris Day, turned down an opportunity to meet Winfrey. Even after Winfrey drove to the gate of Day's California house, the actress declined to meet with her.

And sometimes unsuccessful shows have not involved celebrities at all. In fact, there have been so many bombs that Winfrey and her producers once created a segment called "Our Most Forgettable Shows." It revisited some less-than-classic moments from the past, including a heated debate about the best way to unroll toilet paper. Winfrey jokes, "We weren't thinking about Change Your Life back then, just change your toilet paper."36

Private Life

Many fans and critics feel that the most successful episodes on Oprah are those that concern topics of personal interest to Winfrey. And, as a celebrity, her own life is of enduring interest to her fans. So it is perhaps only natural that elements of her private life have often become subjects on her show.

Her ongoing weight problem is perhaps the most famous and most discussed of these elements. Winfrey has for many years been candid about her struggles to keep her weight down and about the various diets and exercise techniques she has tried. In fact, the show's highest-rated single episode was one involving weight loss. On this episode, Winfrey wheeled out a red wagon. It held 67 pounds (30kg) of animal fat, representing the weight she had lost on a recent diet.

Sometimes what viewers learn about Winfrey's personal life is heartbreaking. In 2004, for example, Winfrey revealed on air the existence of her half brother, Jeffrey. This had not been common knowledge before. She told her audience that he had been gay, and that he had died of AIDS. On another episode, she also revealed that she had used drugs when she was younger.

A Secret Revealed

Such admissions have been deliberate. Winfrey considered them carefully before making them public. At other times, however, Winfrey's personal on-air confessions have been impulsive and unexpected. Probably the most dramatic of these came while speaking with a woman who had serious mental health problems.

The woman reported that she had been sexually abused, beginning at the age of two. Winfrey recalled that, as the woman spoke, "The phones lit up with calls from women all over the country saying the same thing had happened to them as girls. The guest I was interviewing started crying, and I started crying and told for the first time that it had happened to me too."37

As Winfrey sobbed, she spontaneously talked about her own childhood molestation. She told her audience that she had never discussed it before with anyone because she was too afraid and ashamed. The television host's shocking, spontaneous confession made international news-and her bravery in making it public further endeared her to her fans.

Spirituality, Boyfriend, Dogs

Winfrey prevailed over abuse and other problems, in part, because of her own strong faith. Her show has often spotlighted this personal, deeply felt interest in spirituality and personal growth.

Many aspects of religion and spirituality have helped Winfrey shape her set of beliefs, and she is open to a variety of viewpoints. Nonetheless, Winfrey retains, at her core, the Baptist faith with which she was raised. Writer Marcia Z. Nelson notes, "If Oprah's spirituality is a . . . picking-and-choosing [of] what works from the world's religions, its roots are deep in African American Christianity."38

Oprah Trivia, Part Two

More fun facts:

  • The title of the first syndicated show was "How to Marry the Man or Woman of Your Choice."
  • The single most-often-talked-about subject has been "Parenting and Family Relationships."
  • More than 856 celebrities have been guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
  • Julia Roberts is currently the most frequent female celebrity guest on the show. The late Luther Vandross was on eleven times, making him the most frequent male celebrity guest so far.
  • Winfrey says that Adam Sandler was one of her most surprising guests. She thought he would be just a jokester, but he was charming, shy, and thoughtful.

Adapted from Oprah.com, "The Oprah Winfrey Show Trivia: 20 Years in the Making!" www.oprah.com/presents/2005/20anniv/tows/tows_trivia.jhtml.

Spirituality and serious issues such as abuse are regular topics for her show. But they are not the only parts of Winfrey's life that provide fodder for it. Often, the subject at hand is less dramatic or serious.

One enduring topic of discussion has been her partnership with Stedman Graham. (They were engaged in 1992 but have not yet married.) And several shows have been devoted to Winfrey's beloved dogs.

The need to come up with these and other topics for a daily show is powerful. Producing an hour-long program-every day, year after year, and decade after decade-is immensely difficult. Keeping things interesting and fresh has been especially crucial as Winfrey's media empire continues to grow.