“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.” —Oprah Winfrey
It’s officially the end of an era.
Every season, the shrinking daytime TV landscape just gets cozier.
Last year, the oldest show in broadcast history, Guiding Light, was axed after 72 years.
This September, after a little more than 54 years of watching our favourite heroines pour coffee while dishing the latest scandalous affair, As The World Turns will sign off the airwaves forever.
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However, the most punishing blow to the daytime industry is the upcoming demise of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Its headliner is traversing her spiritual movement to airier pastures by creating her own cable network named, well, OWN.
“I love this show, this show has been my life, and I love it enough to know when it’s time to say goodbye,” Winfrey emotionally conveyed to her loyal but disappointed audience earlier this season when announcing the shocking news.
Yep, next year, on Sept. 9, 2010, one of the most powerful, famous, and richest women in the world, Oprah Winfrey, will call it quits after 25 years of connecting with the human race with such an unrivaled, unique approach — through love and honesty.
But unlike most exiting soaps, Winfrey is going out with a bang, not a whimper. In fact, many critics are heralding Winfrey’s penultimate season as its best yet. |
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Lately, Winfrey has been on top of her game like never before thanks to high-profile, “get” interviews, such as Sarah Palin, Rosie O’Donnell, Mike Tyson and Jay Leno. Oprah’s also not resting on her laurels. Winfrey has been tackling one tough subject after another — including initiating a text/cell phone ban in cars (soaps could incorporate social responsibility into their narratives by having a character drive off the road because of texting, for example, instead of using a cliché device).
So, as Oprah finishes taping her penultimate season, various soap opera insiders decided to take a look back at Winfrey’s inspirational legacy — and the lessons the soap world could learn from it. |
Having recently watched Winfrey’s 20th anniversary DVD special, it’s clear there is a lot to absorb.
As one of the most prolific and phenomenal journalists and talk show hosts in the world, Oprah proved one could build a super-successful financial empire by simply telling human stories without the influence of a corporate agenda.
Which is why The Oprah Winfrey Show has remained the No. 1 talk show for 23 consecutive seasons. Produced by her own production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., the show is seen by an estimated 42 million viewers a week in the United States and is broadcast internationally in 145 countries.
Not bad for a daytime show, huh (yes, being syndicated helps)?
As a black broadcaster rising up the ranks in the 1970s and 1980s in racist America, Winfrey also single-handedly proved that African-American women can be successful on afternoon television — and come out on top. And that by focusing on a diverse canvas of guests, stories and issues is not only a good thing, it’s paramount.
It’s no secret that through its seven decades, the soap opera medium has struggled with diversity on and off the screen, which many pundits argue is one of the reasons the suds universe has been losing viewers, and sadly, its relevance in the world.
So it comes as no surprise to learn Winfrey’s favourite soap opera is All My Children, which was created and written by one of soaps’ most socially responsible writers, Agnes Nixon. The cast of AMC have even appeared on Oprah on several occasions. Today, not so much because the show has strayed from its identity in recent years.
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One of the reasons why Winfrey fell in love with Pine Valley was because, in her words, she was stunned to see two young, attractive black soap characters in a front-burner storyline in the mid-‘80s. Of course, she’s talking about Angie and Jesse. Add to the fact that AMC tackled controversial subject matter and important social issues, you can easily see why Winfrey was hooked.
After all, Winfrey and AMC’s creator share the same artistic philosophy. The two living legends assert that it’s possible to attract and entertain a huge, loyal audience by both educating and enlightening them in the process (the titans finally met in person when the talk show queen appeared on AMC when Winfrey guest starred as a reporter). |
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Theenvelope.com’s Tom O’Neil admires this rare quality in Winfrey, noting, “Oprah proved that you can hit the jackpot by focusing on fascinating and important issues rather than just outrageous ones, as the soaps do. Oprah’s shows are sensational in order to draw in audiences, but they’re presented with brains and heart. Oprah proves that you can be racy and classy at the same time. Which is why she’s a Daytime Emmy Award-winning champ.”
Over the years and decades, Winfrey’s social agenda has only flourished, while the soap industry devolved into the wacky world of super-villains, super-hunks, and super-couples.
Robert Thompson, a Syracuse media professor, believes it’s vital for The Oprah Winfrey model to be taken more seriously in this dog-eat-dog TV climate. “She dressed up the [daytime] neighborhood,” he states.
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Conversely, soap producers, actors, and writers have dressed down daytime TV, all the while complaining that they are “slumming” it on afternoon soaps.
In these frustrating moments, the soap world would be wise to remember that the likes of Winfrey, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters, Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’Donnell, and Whoopi Goldberg are in their company. And that working on daytime TV is nothing to be ashamed about.
Most impressively, Winfrey has evolved into one of the greatest storytellers of our time. No matter who her subject is, Winfrey delves into the psychology of her guests, urging and inspiring him or her to live their best life. The media titan also boasts an unrivaled sense of what people are talking about in the world and the issues they are struggling with — long before it even enters the public conscience. She’s always ahead of the curve. And like the serial narrative, Winfrey updates her viewers on the progress of her subjects long after she meets them, keeping their story alive in the process. |
According to Emmy-winning soap writer Josh Griffith, another reason behind Winfrey’s success is that she knows exactly who her audience is — and what they want. He explains, “The big lesson for the soap world is that Oprah understands her audience on such a profound level. She knows what touches them, what makes them laugh and cry. She connects with their humanity. The soap stories that worked best are the ones that the audience can relate to at the same level. Falling in and out love. Family conflict. Family connection. Illness. Addiction. Hope in the face of hardship. Triumph after a struggle. Oprah’s show is the stuff of life. Soaps at their best are, too.”
Soap Opera Digest columnist Carolyn Hinsey agrees. “Oprah listens to her viewers. Oprah has evolved as her fans have evolved. She would never wheel out 67 pounds of beef in a wheelbarrow!”
Another Winfrey lesson Hinsey hopes daytime executives begin studying is that “she’s never ‘dumbed’ herself down or tried to appeal to just young viewers. She kept herself relevant by paying attention to the world and giving her fans what they want. That’s why she’s the queen.”
It’s this kind of royal treatment that makes Associated Television International's (ATI) Jim Romanovich respect Winfrey all the more. It’s no secret that many soap executives, writers, actors and producers are guilty of talking down to their audience.
Romanovich explains, “Many believe Oprah’s legacy is based on her diverse issues, charitable work, or being able to get A-talent to appear on her show when she wants. The simple answer is that Oprah related to the people who watched and they related to her. She is the audience. If anything, soaps need to embrace this relatable trait by knowing who their audience is. Oprah also brought characters and stories to her show. The soaps that do this will last the longest.”
She’s also a risk-taker, points out Soap Opera Weekly and Soap Opera Digest editorial director, Lynn Leahey. “Some don’t work out,” says the magazine editor, “but most of them pay off hugely!”
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One controversial risk paid off. After winning 14 Daytime Emmy Awards, the 56-year-old took herself out of the Daytime Emmy race. Because of that, Winfrey was later honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998.
When it comes to winning the golden hardware, a few multiple-winning soap actors could learn Winfrey’s lesson in humility. Many actors have thrown their name into the Emmy race when their storyline and/or performances have not merited recognition costing many deserving performers nods.
Hopefully, Winfrey will re-enter the Emmy race before she signs off the airwaves for good because her titular talk show has been reaching new creative heights. |
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So when all is said and aired, what will “The Big O” be remembered for the most? Winfrey’s soaring message, “hope,” answers Leahey. “Soaps can do the same thing through their fictional storytelling.”
Hope in daytime? Isn't that an oxymoron? After all, even Winfrey’s ratings have taken a hit as well. But unlike the soaps, she’s miraculously managed to retain the majority of her viewers by being consistent, relevant, embracing new technology, and focusing on the triumph of the human spirit.
So the cliffhanger is — will Winfrey’s departure affect soaps’ terminal ratings?
Leahey doubts it, saying, “In most markets, Oprah comes on after the soap lineup airs. I don’t think people are watching Oprah’s show because they were watching soaps as a lead-in.”
But the biggest lesson in Winfrey’s 25-year daytime career could be her exit.
Leahey offers, “The big news here is that Oprah found a new venue to air her stories. She’s leaving daytime for cable. And she didn’t need to leave daytime. She was doing quite well [Laughs]! Once again, Oprah is trailblazing the way. Soaps need to find other avenues to air their stories, too, to ensure their future.”
And 11-time NAACP winning soap diva, Victoria Rowell, concurs.
The former Young and the Restless actress says, “Oprah never stopped exploring, took risks, and when blistering gossip came her way, she deflected and kept it movin’. If mistakes were made, she learned from them and made us learn with her. She navigated like a seasoned Olympian! In my opinion the biggest legacy-message this daytime diva is leaving behind is that change is inevitable — and should not be feared.”
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Nelson Branco is a Toronto freelance entertainment journalist, who regularly contributes to Hello! Canada, The National Post, The Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com, TV Guide USA, tvguide.com, Inside Entertainment, OUT, and fab magazine, along with spearheading the soap coverage for TVGuide.ca's popular daytime TV hub. After graduating from Ryerson University in 1997, he moved from Toronto to New York in 1998 to take on the roles as senior news editor at Soap Opera Update. Branco first freelanced for Soap Opera Weekly as an intern in 1994, and after leaving Soap Update to help create and launch Bauer Publishing's In Touch Weekly in 2003, Branco continued to freelance occasionally for its sister publication, Soaps In Depth. Most recently, he helped create and launch Canada's first celebrity magazine, Weekly Scoop in 2005 as its news and entertainment director. Branco is also a contributor to a new TV show titled Planet Soap to air in Canada and America.
