Oprah confirms show will end in 2011

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by: CTV.ca
Date: 11/20/2009 11:59:00 AM ET

Oprah Winfrey has told a live studio audience that her colossal hit show will end in September 2011 after a 25-year run.

At the end of a show broadcast live on Friday morning to American viewers, Winfrey said the decision came "after much prayer and careful thought."

"Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit," she said.

Winfrey held back tears as she made the announcement to the audience at the end of the broadcast and thanked viewers who stuck with her over the years.

She said she "never could have imagined the 'yellow brick road of blessings' that led her to this moment."

There is speculation she will start a new show on her new channel, which is expected to draw subscriptions from 70 million American homes. The rumours say she will close up shop in Chicago, where she has lived since 1984, and move to Los Angeles.

There's no word on whether the new channel, to be dubbed OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, will be available in Canada.

Her namesake show currently airs in 145 countries and attracts 42 million viewers in the U.S. and is even aired twice a day in Chicago. But it has seen a seven per cent drop in ratings from last year.

Over the years, her program became extremely influential, and covered everything from celebrity guests to struggles controlling her weight.

This season alone her guests have included former U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Whitney Houston, the Black Eyed Peas, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

Iconic pop-culture moments that aired on the show include actor Tom Cruise's infamous couch-jumping expression of love for his now-wife Katie Holmes.

In one episode, Winfrey gave away cars to almost 300 people in her studio audience.

Her words "You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!", are framed in her Chicago studios and was even quoted in "Ocean's Thirteen" by George Clooney's character.

Off her show, she endorsed then U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama ahead of the election. A study at the University of Maryland estimated her endorsement may have gained him a million votes during the Democratic primary.

Powered by the show's success, Winfrey built a media empire which Forbes Magazine has estimated to be worth US$2.7 billion. This year, the magazine listed her as the second most powerful celebrity after Angelina Jolie.

Winfrey, 55, has become a media mogul and launched spinoff talk shows for her frequent guests Dr. Phil McGraw, Dr. Mehmet Oz and also celebrity chef Rachael Ray.

Her magazine "O," is the seventh most popular magazine in the U.S. Books endorsed by her book club often top the best seller lists.

At least one TV critic said it is unlikely people will see another talk show host gain the same following ever again because the media landscape has changed since Winfrey first went on the air.

"Back when she started in 1984 she was it, she was where everybody turned," Greg David, associate editor of TV Guide Canada, told CTV's Canada AM.

Now "there are so many people out there, so many channels people can tune into and watch every day. I think the audience is being disseminated and spreading out all over the place, and I don't think you'll ever see another Oprah."

Winfrey's announcement Friday will come on the same day that "Precious," a film she produced about a girl who suffers abuse from her mother and father, is released in theatres nationwide.

"Precious" won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and is surrounded by Oscar buzz.

-With files from The Associated Press