The Oprah Winfrey Show memories

[j swift]

I was looking at Oprah's Favorite Things list on Amazon it just struck me that her final episode was a decade ago in 2011 (May 25th to be exact).

In response, I went through YouTube and made a playlist of some of my favorite video memories.  Many are from the final years, but I go back to watch them every now and then.  Each and every time I cry my eyes out.   I used to have the DVD box set and I made a rule to only watch it on New Year's Day because it made me so maudlin, but now most of those episodes are either on YT or Oprah's site.

My list includes:

The 24th season premiere when The Black Eyed Peas sing I Gotta Feeling and the entire city of Chicago does a flashmob dance

Stevie Wonder surprises Jake Simpson (an obscure Star Search reboot winner) and they duet

Kristen Chenowith singing with the men of Moorehouse College that Oprah had paid for their tuition

Whitney Houston, the final interview and her singing I Didn't Know My Own Strength

Jo Ann Compton the woman whose daughter was killed, and had planned to take her own life after show

Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon explaining how being more successful than their partners affected their relationships

Nate Berkus redoing Kirstie Alley's kitchen (or Nate discussing the death of his partner)

The Forsythe County Georgia episodes about racial segregation

The first surprise trip to Philadelphia

My questions are (1) does anyone else do an annual Oprah rewatch, (2) which videos do you favor, and (3) does anyone else like the ones that are most likely to bring tears to your eyes or a lump in your throat?

Edited November 5, 2021 by j swift

[DRW50]

Oprah recording her own theme song. 

The shows she broadcast from Texas while she was being sued by the beef industry - and her running around, victorious. 

The blooper reel of Oprah and various women marching down the  street, ready to throw undergarments into a  trash can fire,   chanting and holding placards,  until  Oprah  abruptly stopped and said, basically, "What  in the hell are we doing?"

[applcin]

I can't say I do a regular rewatch. I had some that I had saved on tape here and there but some of the ones I particularly enjoyed:

- Paul McCartney interview when she told him she had wanted him to marry her but it was okay that it was Linda
- Celine Dion, I think it was her first time on Oprah, getting surprised by her parents and siblings and also displaying quite a bit of humor; also Celine Dion when a couple where the husband had cancer (as Rene had been through) were thrilled to have her sing for them (I'm not sure if they were the same episode)
- Davy Jones/Peter Noone/Mark Lindsay
- A show about songs that were written for/about real women, featuring Dion, Ronnie Milsap, Casey Kasem, the real Girl From Ipanema and more
- A show about commercials that included Fabio, the Snapple lady, a pre-Buffy Anthony Head (then known for the Taster's Choice ads), Mikey from Life Cereal, etc.

I confess...I used to love the Iyanla and John Gray (Men Are From Mars) episodes. I really enjoyed how the audiences interacted in those.

There was another one with makeovers featuring a couple who hadn't cut their hair in years, Tim and Wendy White. Victoria Principal and Iman were on it. This couple who were obviously crazy about each other couldn't keep their hands off each other. It was just so sweet to see how they were with each other...and then I found out several years ago that Tim had died of a heart attack in his 40s about 5 years after the show and was buried in his makeover suit. Oprah did a follow-up on them. Wendy was heartbroken. I think both segments are on youtube,

[Vee]

LMAO, what?

The Iyanla Vanzant reunion near the end. Very juicy and scandalous, sure, and they're both 100% operators and self-important windbags to a certain point obviously trying to get out of ahead of the other as being in the right during that fateful conversation. But it also felt earnest and right. I'll semi-shamefully admit I love Iyanla's silly show on OWN, so I'm glad they patched it up. I never bought into Iyanla, but I missed her when she was gone.

[victoria foxton]

Oprah was fun for a long time. But once she got stuck up(enlightened) and started pandering too her studio audience. I stopped watching. At her best Oprah could connect with her guest and audience at an emotional level. I like her earlier yrs. When she was more genuine.

[beebs]

Thank you, was gonna say exactly this. I can still watch Pre-1993 Oprah and be entertained. She was fun, enlightening, entertaining, and tackled a lot of serious stuff and remained relatable. But once she became this...purveyor of soundbyte "wisdom" and woo, I tuned out. 

[BetterForgotten]

There was a point in time when Jerry Springer's show was more "serious" than Oprah's....

Things changed a lot after those ranchers in Texas sued her and when she started giving that quack Dr. Phil a platform to spew his sh!t. The "live your best life" nonsense made her so entitled and elitist, and it was never really the same after. The period around her epic box office flop with Beloved being the absolute nadir. 

The Quincy Jones/Rod Temperton produced theme ('Oprah's Theme') will always be my favorite, even if it's only known now for simply being one of the songs Carlton danced to in the Oprah episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air...

 

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Edited November 5, 2021 by BetterForgotten

[SFK]

I’m from the D.C. area and that iconic synth pan flute solo got a Go-go remix that had a fair amount of airplay in the ‘80s.

I loved watching Oprah when I got home from school. Lots of warm memories. Haunting ones as well. Her show really was the perfect way to wrap up an afternoon of soap viewing and her final episode was emotional viewing like any soap finale.

I also must say that Oprah and Webster have got to be where I got this itch to visit Chicago. Still haven’t made it yet but those two shows definitely birthed my interest in the city.

We had a sock hop on a Friday night in the 7th grade and Oprah’s episode that afternoon was all about the latest dance moves. I feel like everyone there that night had watched.

Paul Simon’s 10th anniversary theme still makes me verklempt.

I’ve uploaded some clips to YT of a makeover episode I loved with Joan Collins, Debbie Allen, and Ali MacGraw.

Boyz II Men surprised two teenage fans and serenaded them as they cried their eyes out.

The Trudy Chase episode. Her description of her abusers filling a basket full of snakes and pouring it over her head has stuck with me for all these years and has my hackles raised as I type this.

I loved when Patti LaBelle was on and they cooked Patti’s macaroni and cheese together. Patti commended Oprah on her dough kneading for the biscuits. Oprah’s response: “I did a movie.”

Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler on for The First Wives Club.

ANY time Susan Lucci and the All My Children cast were on. She’d also have Knots cast members on every now and then which I enjoyed.

Any time Whitney was on. When O adopted the I’m Every Woman theme, she dedicated some time in the season opener to playing the various versions (upbeat, slow and serious, Gospel) of the song for the audience.

Some awkward moments that live on in my memory include O using the term “skid marks”, and in her trashier days asking a guy how it was possible that he and another guy had sex with a woman at the same time. The guy replied, “I mean, we basically sandwiched her.” O: “You sandwiched her. Okay. Uh, I just want to remind everybody that this is a daytime show…” I was in elementary school at the time and even then I remember thinking, “Bitch, you asked!”

[BetterForgotten]

Of course, we can’t forget how great Debra Wilson was at parodying her - Debra has said she heard Oprah was not very amused by these skits.

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[DRW50]

The  Debra Wilson sketches are in many cases wonderful, and extremely funny. Most sketch shows from Oprah's heyday barely even had black women in the role, and the one that did  I hesitate to upload, even though I think it's entertaining, because it's mostly just fat jokes (it's the one Kim Wayans did on In Living Color). SNL had  Oprah parodies about a dozen times, but this is the only one I would say really works (it's less about her than her banshee audience):

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I should also mention the  infamous confrontation between James Frey and Oprah. It was queasily compelling, because you knew how much she was seething at not only his lies, but also the damage he had done to her sprawling empire.  

[Franko]

I actually just watched an episode from 1988 recently. It was on men who weren't communicating with their wives. I was impressed that aside from some tension between one of the wives and the doctor on the panel (Herb Goldberg, author of The Inner Male: Overcoming Roadblocks to Intimacy), the panel approached the subject from the "We've had problems, but are in recovery" point of view. The studio audience had more pathos.

Speaking of that, there was an excessive amount of audience reaction shots, roughly one per minute.

I'm kinda fascinated by that period when Oprah was an unmistakable TV star, but hadn't yet solidified her status as queen of the universe. I'll say 1987-93.

[j swift]

It is amusing that a constant lesson of the show was to follow your instincts, but Oprah's instincts were frequently off.

SO good, thank you for the recommendation!  Also, in hindsight wasn't it amazing how many stars she got to fly in Chicago; often in the middle of winter?

Great song and Paul Simon was such an unexpected choice for the show

I watched her cook with Aretha Franklin last night and it was a classic.  First, Aretha is wearing the most intricate braided geometric shape on top of her head, then she says that if she wasn't a singer she would have been a ballerina, then she says that she feels best when her weight is around 100lbs; all while they're making banana pudding - too wacky for words.

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by j swift

[Vee]

That was a favorite of mine too. He was such an ass.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Vee

[j swift]

I get your point, but I also enjoy the period when was she was just richer than god and bit out of touch.  The Colin Cowie birthday ball, her distress over not being able to buy a birken bag, and the tours of her homes were great! 

I also loved when that building was renovated next to the studio and they did a show where she met her neighbors.

Also, I was a huge fan of the After the Show on Oxygen and the Behind the Scenes on OWN.  Oprah has a great sense of humor and those shows allowed her to show that side of herself more often.

I agree that the Beloved-period was a low point.  In hindsight, any time she got really thin she also got a bit too preachy for my liking.  I loved the Vogue photoshoot, but daily affirmations and gratitude journals were not my favorite messages.  It all seemed to use spirituality as wish fulfillment rather than honoring the divine force beyond ourselves in wonderment. 

I'm reminded of a story that Nigella Lawson told in a recent interview.  She remarked that in Europe cooking is about technique, but in the US food is associated with feelings.  So, she's cooking on a show and the host asks her about loosing her father and her husband within the same year and how it affected her views on life.  She hesitated, then replied that the universe is a random place and she learned that in order to cope with loss you can't take coincidence so personally.   For me, those are words to live by, as opposed to the Oprah mantra of trying to use gain insight in order to change the universe.  

Edited November 5, 2021 by j swift

[j swift]

Is it just me or does the original Oprah opening look like every plastic HR award for Employee of the Month that's been manufactured sine 1987?

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