Nobody does it better than Oprah. No, really.

I have a little dish on a bookshelf in my bedroom that holds small but possibly critical pieces to various parts of my home. I have no idea from whence any of them came, but I know that in case I ever experience an emergency of any kind, I will immediately sort through the various screws, picture hooks, bolts and metal pieces to try and determine which will save the day. I have faith one of them just might.

I have come to think of The Oprah Winfrey Show as I do the contents of that little dish: I’m not exactly sure where it fits into my life exactly, but without it I fear I’ll be lost in the event of a crisis. I have always known she’ll come through for me when I need her most, but since she is essentially a talk-show host, I haven’t quite figured out what would qualify as the speaking catastrophe in which I might be required to pick up the Batphone and have her swoop in and save me from my own verbal self.

As I’ve watched the 25th season of her show faithfully since September (and off and on through the years) in anticipation of her saying good-bye forever (or at least until she announces one of what I’m sure will be many new shows in which she’ll star to boost ratings on her network, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network), I’ve tried to absorb as many lessons as possible. You know, just in case I need to bank a few more for after she’s gone for good (on network television, anyway) tomorrow.

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The OWN network lives up to its buzz.

I remember coming home from school in my teens and watching Oprah. At the time, she was competing with Phil Donahue for the 4 o’clock spot in NYC. Her show was so different. Coming from a woman’s perspective, it presented unique and controversial topics with dignity and meaning. When I grew older, I watched Oprah while feeding babies and cleaning up afternoon toys. Her name skyrocketed into an empire and she became a cheerleader for women everywhere to live their best life. Through it all, the meaning behind her empowerment message remained waiting there for us every weekday at 4pm.

So it was with an eager eye that I tuned into the OWN network over New Year’s weekend. My expectations were high but I was afraid because I kept wondering how she could create a whole network with quality programming. A one hour show of her own was one thing but a 24/7 network was quite another.

The problem is that the bar is set so high. Everything Oprah does is not only spot-on, but meaningful and inspirational. Would this measure up?

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Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is ending her daytime network TV talk show. She will announce the end of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Friday’s show, which observers believe may wind up being one of her most-watched ever.

If you barely remember afternoon television without this world-changing, life-changing, rules-changing production, don’t panic just yet. The show’s not ending this week. Or this year. Continue reading »

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