Dec 05, 2002 12:26 PM
6337 Views
(Updated Dec 05, 2002 12:34 PM)
The Questions
''The anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at Ground Zero.....'';
''Nine coal miners were rescued after spending more than 72 hours in a mine shaft....''
''What would you do if you were locked in the truck of a car?''
The Answers
That and a whole multitude of questions are answered during The Oprah Show. Now don't sigh like that! The Oprah Winfrey Show is much more than an African-American woman walking around with a microphone talking about the problems of the world and people. Its much more than a few people coming together to voice their individual problems before a live studio audience and exposing their private lives to the world. Its also more than a platform for aspiring or fading artists to display and revive their cult following.
About The Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show has not only helped millions of people but continues to provide assistance to millions more. From bringing newspaper headliners to the front row to stating true to life facts on family, motherhood, parenthood, and a myriad other issues to the screen, Oprah includes a plethora of issues to make the programme more interesting each time you switch the channel to her show.
About The Host
Oprah began her career as a broadcaster in WVOL Radio in Nashville when she was only 19. There was no looking back for her after that. After a series of broadcasting stints, she found herself host to a morning talk show in Chicago, A.M. Chicago. In less than a year, the show grew so much in popularity, it was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. It went on to become the number one talk show in the US while Oprah continued to receive laurels for her more than commendable approach to the human population of the world.
Her popularity led to the inauguration of her own production studios called Harpo which is the transpose of her name. Since then, Oprah has been reinventing the show that enlightens and empowers millions of viewers worldwide. Her efficacious approach to otherwise reticent guests and perturbing social anomalies, make for some very interesting and erudite watching. Her philanthropic actions, her revelation of her own personal misfortunes and the reality of her shows only serve to cement the general opinion of her personality.
And What Else?
Besides hostingThe Oprah Winfrey Show, she also incorporates a segment called Oprahs Angel Network, a campaign encouraging people to open their hearts to those in need. She is also responsible for starting the Oprahs Book Club, an on-air reading club which encourages the population to read. All books recommended by the book club are bestsellers.
The Oprah Winfrey Show also consists of a special segment termed as Oxygen, the media for women to find out whatever they need, be it on family and pregnancy or how to live life they way they want. It's a lifeline for women in their times of need.
What Does She Do?
Oprah has taken the dreams of people and made them a reality. In an incident where a wife lost the memory of her first five years with her husband and consequently the memory of their wedding, Oprah helped them recreate their wedding in a dream-like manner. But her shows are not restricted to the romantic deliberations of these self-sacrificing people. Tragedies that will move anyone to tears, real life heroes and how they became one, survival stories and many more are just some of the things you can watch on this popular TV show.
Why I Like It
What Oprah has also done and what I really watch the show for is what happens after the big TV news cameras have retired for more interesting news. That is where Oprah kicks into high gear to bring to us the real story behind the highly political broadcasts of the big media houses. What the women in Afghanisthan have gone through and continue to go through in the wake of the elimination of the Taliban regime? What happened to the families after September 11 and how they survive with the last words they heard or read from their lost loved ones? Always concentrating on the victims and more often than not, getting emotionally involved herself, Oprah brings to the forefront all the issues that noone has time to look at.It is a mixed bag of emotions; a pot pourri of personalities, an amalgamation of the different faces of life all brought to you in a one hour presentation.
What Can You Expect?
She has weight-watching shows (Though she herself yo-yo's from one side of the scale to the other) and exercise shows, marital advice and baby care advice, self-defence and self-help, tackling promiscuity and fighting rape; The Oprah Winfrey Show has it all! There is no doubt that some of these shows are downright irksome. Who wants to see a bunch of people hashing out their problems on national TV? Why can they not solve their own problems with a therapist? Why come to this one-minute-fix-it-all show and also make a spectacle of their lives? Look at it this way - their problems could be yours and their solutions could be yours. If you don't like what you see, the remote control does have a button that says ''Off''.
