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Style

‘Oprah Winfrey Show’ comes to an end Wednesday after 25 year run

May 25, 2011

View Photo Gallery - Oprah’s army: 12 careers boosted by TV talk icon: Oprah Winfrey has…

Oprah Winfrey will say goodbye to her popular daytime program, ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show. As Dan Zak reported:

The queen of daytime talk will relinquish her network television throne Wednesday to oversee the rest of her sprawling kingdom, which has extended its reach to film, Broadway, publishing, politics, cooking, fitness, the self-help industry, a fledgling cable channel and the throbbing crannies of America’s heart.

“The Oprah Winfrey Show,” one of the most durable and top-rated programs in TV history, is ending its quarter-century run with fanfare worthy of a president or pope — or of a woman born into poverty in Mississippi who built a media empire around her own nationally syndicated talk show.

“The adversity of her childhood somehow gave her a sense of confidence, a sense of empowerment and a desire to help, and that’s part of her basic persona,” says Barbara Walters, who has interviewed Winfrey, 57, on multiple occasions. “I think Oprah is a superb performer. . . . She has this amazing capacity to relate to an audience, which made her a star almost from the day she started to broadcast. It’s in her magazine and it’s in everything she does. She talks about herself, she touches the audience and they become almost one with her.”

That oneness has fueled Winfrey’s show for 25 seasons, through 30,000 guests, a million studio audience members, legions of viewers in 150 countries, 48 Emmys and the Kennedy Center Honors. Her personal net worth is $2.7 billion, according to Forbes, making her the only female African American billionaire at present. She’s used her daytime platform to establish a production company (with projects in film, TV and XM satellite radio), a glossy national magazine (with 2 million subscribers) and a now-shuttered charity wing (which raised more than $80 million and constructed schools in South Africa).

Oprah Winfrey was joined in several of her final shows by some of stars who she had befriended in her long career. They spoke about Winfrey’s achievments and lauded her ability to relate to her audiences. As AP explained:

As the final original “Oprah Winfrey Show” airs Wednesday, celebrities talk about the talk show host.

“I’ve got to say, I bow before cultural icons like Oprah, who take things that can be as minor and goofy as an hour worth of TV and turn it into something that is actually something everybody can be talking about. You know what’s going to be missing now from the vernacular? ‘Did you see Oprah yesterday? Did you see that girl on “Oprah?” Did you see that thing on “Oprah?’” So, we’re going to miss her. God bless her service. But we’ll get by.” — Tom Hanks.

“It’s been an honor to have been a guest on Oprah’s show throughout the years. She has meant a lot to me personally and professional, and she truly is in a class of her own. I’m sure she’s going to continue to pioneer the way television is presented on her OWN network.” — Celine Dion who has been a guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” 27 times, the most of any other celebrity.

In her final show, which was taped Tuesady but will air Wednesay, there were no guest stars, only Oprah. As AP reported:

Oprah Winfrey’s talk show ends Wednesday with an episode featuring only the talk show queen thanking her viewers and highlighting the lessons they have learned from one another over 25 years.

Audience members who attended the Tuesday taping in Chicago of the final episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” said Winfrey was the only person on stage.

“When she came out, her appearance, the way she stepped on stage and the message she brought about finding yourself, your purpose,” said Wanda Nash, 47, of Chicago, an executive assistant and foster parent. “It was all about Oprah.”

Fans leaving Tuesday’s taping said Winfrey had tears in her eyes as the television icon said a final thank you.

Winfrey kissed and hugged her longtime partner, Stedman Graham, and made her way through the halls of Harpo Studios, saying goodbye to her staff, audience members said.

There was a single chair on the stage, but Winfrey stood most of the time, they said.

More from The Washington Post

On Faith: Oprah Winfrey, spiritual leader?

Celebritology: Oprah gets musical sendoff from Boyz II Men, Jimmy Kimmel

TV Column: Oprah’s Farewell Tour keeps going, and going, through a galaxy of stars