Happy New Oprah Year!

On the first day of 2011, in the afternoon, the well known television host of the “The Oprah Show” launched her own television network called „Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN)”.

Though the release was twice postponed, the famous Oprah Winfrey decided to strike her audience at the beginning of the New Year. The OWN network television is a partnership with Discovery Communications and the production costs were estimated at about 189 million dollars. The Oprah Winfrey Network offers lifestyle shows and it is available for over 80 million subscribers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On this channel the fans will be able to watch forward the popular talk show of Oprah Winfrey, which will end this spring. Broadcasted initially on the American channel ABC, the new OWN show will be a serial about the things that happen behind the scenes of “The Oprah Show”. The new broadcast will be called suggestively, “Behind the scenes: The Oprah Show Finale Season”. The show list also includes a big number of reality shows hosted by famous names, such as Sarah - the Duchess of York, Ryan and Tatum O'Neal and Shania Twain. Mass-media sources indicate that the American host also tried to convince other well known names from Hollywood to participate and to host a series of documentaries. The stars Oprah wanted for her new television were Julia Roberts, Forest Whitaker and Goldie Hawn. Also, besides the shows hosted by celebrities, the new television network has a very popular competition called “Your OWN Show”. From all the television viewers that will participate at the competition, there will be ten finalists that will have the chance to make their own show.

Even if the OWN television looks extremely promising for Oprah Winfrey’s fans the reviews of the critics were not all that good. After a few hours of broadcasting the TV channel was rated, by the online publication “Root” as a big disappointment: “Oprah seems content to follow the new television model of programming that exploded in the wake of the 2008 Hollywood writers’ strike: Find anyone with a heartbeat and a willingness to have cameras follow them during their ordinary day-to-day life, and voilà - we've got ourselves a TV show!” The movie reviewer, Matt Zoller Seitz wrote for the salon.com: “One of the more disquieting aspects ... is the pervasive sense (inevitable, I suppose) that this cable network is not just a programming venture and a brand extension, but a living monument to its creator's power -- and a celebration of her willingness to use that power as a force for good. We won't just watch OWN; we will gaze upon it with awe and affection and marvel at the sweet magnificence of its founder.” Frazier Moore from Associated Press commented on the “rather quiet” launch of OWN after more than two years of planning and “months of hype.” With a premiere voided of any kind of extravagance and loudness Moore added “that the strategy seemed that of a soft opening, aimed at whetting viewers’ appetites so they regularly come back and sample the network's expanding menu of new shows as they roll out.”

Despite of the not so good reviews that her new television network received Oprah Winfrey is extremely excited about it and dedicated this project to all of her audience: “I wanted to build a network which empowers you, the viewer, to turn your dreams into reality. So here I am, at the OWN studios, because I wanted to give to someone the same chance I had 25 years ago.”

It can be very interesting to watch the evolution of this television network during the years, but unfortunately, we Romanians can only do that with a bit of help from the press, because OWN is not provided by our cable services. However, most surely there will be Romanian TV channels that will broadcast some of the OWN shows. Let’s not forget that The Oprah Show was fully broadcasted on Euforia TV. Even if the critics are skeptical regarding this new television network the number of the Oprah Winfrey’s fans show that the new television will have a great impact on the American audio-video.