Oprah’s Departure: What Does It Mean?

By: Chuck Barney, Contra Costa Times, MCT
Posted In: Opinion

On Friday, Oprah Winfrey announced that she is ending her daytime talk show because “it’s time to leave.” The earth continues to shudder.

It’s colossal news, of course. After all, who will now advise us on the proper books to read? Who will tell us what presidential candidate to support? What diets to try? What products to buy?

Without Oprah in the afternoon, won’t we all be lost?

OK, so I exaggerate … Just a little. But since Oprah delivered the news that she will step down from her daily pulpit on Sept. 9, 2011, a lot of people have tried to wrap their brain around what it all means. A lot of windy observers have tried to gauge the immensity of Ms. O.

She has been called the “queen of daytime television,” but that title is way too puny for a self-made woman who has spread her incredible clout to all forms of media.

An icon? Sure. A saint? Let’s not go there. More popular than Jesus? John Lennon tried that one, and it blew up in his face.

But Oprah is the closest thing to a religion that television has to offer. Her followers don’t just respect her. They revere her. Over the years, they have been encouraged, enlightened and inspired by her. And, occasionally, they’ve even bagged some free bling from her.

TV Guide once proclaimed that Oprah has “the biggest heart that television has ever seen.” Her critics might add that she also has the biggest ego. Both sides would have to agree that she has the biggest bank account.

And so, her departure down the road is going to create a gaping chasm in daytime TV. It’s going to be one that Ellen DeGeneres, Tyra Banks, Rachael Ray or any other pretender to the throne can’t possibly hope to fill. In this fractured media world, there will never be another Oprah. Count on that.

All of which makes you wonder: Why would she walk away? Why would Oprah abandon the priceless piece of television real estate that serves as the linchpin in her vast empire and has made all of her other endeavors possible?

Of course, it’s not as if she’s actually leaving. She just has bigger fish to fry. Not content to just run her own afternoon gabfest, she wants to be the boss of her own cable channel – fittingly dubbed OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).

It might not quite be the future you had envisioned for Oprah. Perhaps you pictured her in the White House – or ruling the global masses from a mountaintop among the clouds.

But it does represent a stupendous risk, even for someone with as much juice as she has. Will her popularity and Midas touch be enough to carry an entire channel? Can she maintain cultural relevance without the mass exposure that broadcast television provides her on a daily basis? Will Tom Cruise ever turn her couch into a trampoline again?

No matter how things turn out, it promises to be a compelling next chapter. Her devotees surely will follow her with rabid zeal, while her detractors will root for some kind of come-down.

And, as usual, all eyes will be on Oprah.