Hey, Oprah, why you hiding that black fella?
Twenty-five years ago today Oprah Winfrey’s television show was broadcast.
While I stopped watching The Oprah Winfrey Show this past year (t’was so indulgent, too many guests groveling over Oprah and her legacy, etc.), there’s no denying that the former newscaster from little ol’ Kosciusko, Mississippi, completely changed the face of daytime television. Here’s Time magazine on the matter, after Oprah’s ratings beat Phil Donahue’s:
In a field dominated by white males, [Oprah Winfrey] is a black female of ample bulk. As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue [...] What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy.
(“Ample bulk?” Um, that doesn’t sit right, does it?) In any event, according to the History Channel, in 2008, more than 46 millions viewers in the US watched Oprah, and the show was broadcast around the world in 134 countries. Not too shabby.
As anyone alive during the last 25 years knows, Oprah’s also made her mark elsewhere: see, for example, the book industry (Oprah’s Book Club, ya’ll), the Angel Network, and African education for girls. Moreover, her show and power ultimately spawned the terms The Oprah Effect (using her opinions and endorsement to influence public opinion) and Oprahfication (public confession as a form of therapy).
But alas, we also have Oprah to thank for Dr. Phil and the movie Precious (Lee Daniels, 2009). Ah, can’t win ‘em all…
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Professor of film and Shakespeare. Advocate of social media. Lover of popular culture,