Oprah set to end talk show in 2011

The New York Post reports: The queen of daytime TV will announce today that she's ending her long-running talk show in 2011 -- after 25 years -- when her current deal expires. Oprah Winfrey will make the announcement on today's show.

Signs that Winfrey was gearing up to leave -- including the launch next year of her cable network, OWN -- have been around for months.

"I don't believe this is the last we'll be seeing of Oprah's talk show -- I think she'll be doing it on [OWN]," said industry analyst Marc Berman of Mediaweek.

Ratings for the show, while still strong, took a hit last season, and Winfrey was expected to take a cut in fees if she continued her show beyond 2011.

Still, she seemed to be pulling out all the stops this season to pump life back into her show by grabbing an interview with the elusive Whitney Houston, shocking viewers with a glimpse of chimp-maul victim Charla Nash, and having a hugely anticipated talk with Sarah Palin, whose visit to "Oprah" this week gave the show a huge ratings boost.

The news of the show's demise came quietly yesterday in an internal memo to the TV stations that carry Oprah. The talk-show host had promised to make her decision by the end of the year.

UPDATE: O makes it official: "After much prayer and careful thought, I decided that next season, season 25 will be the last season," Winfrey told audience members. "I love this show. … This show has been my life and I love it enough to know when it's time to say goodbye."

Comments

Jessica said…
i heard about it this morning and just this week i was thinking, " i wonder when she'll end it" and i honestly didn't think it would be this soon. Of course its not the end for her, but the Oprah show, i expected it to be on for another 20 yrs!

Xoxo
November 20, 2009 at 12:19 PM
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