Oprah Cancels Her Own "Big Give" TV Show

"Oprah's Big Give" helped ABC to big Sunday ratings, but apparently they weren't big enough for Oprah Winfrey, as the queen of daytime has asked ABC to pull the plug on her first foray into primetime. The New York Post's Don Kaplan reports that Oprah has canceled her "Big Give" TV show:

Oprah Winfrey asked ABC officials not to renew "Oprah's Big Give," her philanthropic reality show that had been a modest hit on Sunday nights.

"We loved that show and absolutely would have loved to bring it back," ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson said yesterday . "But it was something [Oprah] didn't want to do." ...

"The Big Give" was Oprah's first regular foray into primetime and, while she is the most watched - and wealthiest - daytime TV personality, she has yet to crack prime-time TV with a hit series.

Even with frequent appearences by the Queen of Daytime herself and her friends like John Travolta, Jennifer Aniston and Jada Pinkett-Smith, the ratings for "Big Give" never really pushed past 10 million viewers.

Read the entire article here or read more about Oprah's Big Give here.

Comments

[Alvin4NY]

"The Big Give" was Oprah's first regular foray into primetime
______________________________________________________

Again, such great research and reporting from Huff-Po.....Oprah's first "foray" into Prime Time came right after her talk show launched, with "The Women Of Brewster Place" - which was filmed at Harpo, in Chicago. It was a modest hit as a mini-series, but as a regular series, it failed. Get it right, guys, your reporting is soooo lacking.....

[klandish]

Her vibe, her dogs, her set, her friends, her Chicago penthouse and Santa Barabra estate. her gurus, her Gail, her admiring housewife audience, her weight lose and gain, her money, her girl's school, her Dr.Phil, her charitable nature that makes her more money, her and all of her ... repetitive and seriously over exposed

[smayhew]

amen - and now Oprah's current Dr Phil will make a run for the White House.... some powerful money there.. but enough of the praise for her simplistic world view.. there are complicated, intelligent black women abounding in this country - let's stop elevating the self-important

[REZBOO]

It is so sad the Oprah Winfrey is so discontented.

She plays second to no one and so now it's official--- it was really about us GIVING BACK TO O with blowout ratings. Sooner or later the truth is revealed, no matter how many billions one has to bury it.

[amanda85]

Wait a minute...

If this is about giving to needy people and not just shamessly seeking record-high ratings, then why quit? ABC isn't complaining (evidently they're making enough money), then what's the problem?

[Bozwellian]

uh, LOL, she , Oprah is NOT stopping "giving" , just found the TV show format "cumbersome" and semi narcissitically inclined" so prefers to do her giving OFF the stage. She has given thru the years, much that is NOT KNOWN about, only some of her giving is publicly paraded so get a grip folks (think too many jealousies showing up in the nasty comments and hope for her demise and want to have HER be discontented . FOlks, she IS and remains quite human, she DOES enjoy her earned wealth but she gives far more than you realize and not as just a gimmick , she does so sincerely and with sincere motivation and intent !!)

[MinerSam]

I only saw one of her shows (higly promoted) and I came to the conlusion that Winfrey is a USER of people. Particulary women who are vulnerable.

The show had women who ran away from a cult, who had been sexually abused there as children, and for whom it took great courage to escape.

But as they were telling there sad story and sobbing Opra kept breaking into commercials. Since she is the prouducer she has control of this aspect.

I counted a wopping 18 commercials in a hald hour period. Of Walmart, women and childrens' products. She also uses her name to sell what seem to me as low quality supplements on the Internet.

And on those SUV guzzlers that she gave away on her show, from what I understand the recipients were unaware that they had to pay the $7,000 sales tax.

Her trashing of audiance members who opposed the war and support of pushing out the democratically elected governor of California in favor of a Republican...Puts he on a different side of the fense than the kind of people I spend time with. ich.

[StealthisBlog]

Uh about the taxes... yeah you gotta pay them. If you win a car on 'The Price Is Right' - you gotta pay the tax on it. Now you also have a brand new auto as collateral for a loan and payments on seven grand are cheaper than payments on twenty-five grand. Sheesh.
And if she tried to pay the tax, that is a gift and you gotta pay tax on that. Someone said let GM give the cars to her and then she sells them for a dollar to the audience. Sadly, the IRS sees this as a tax evasion scheme and will crack right down on that business. I don't make these rules folks. Write to your Congressperson.

[Changeling]

Yeah.

GM GIVES the cars to HER.

SHE pays the taxes on them and takes title.

Get It????

The IRS is PAID.

So then now that the taxes are PAID she can do whatever the hell she wants with them.

The IRS can't keep going after the same 7K. It doesn't work that way.

Know what you're talking about before you speak.

[haydesigner]

And how would you propose the show pays for itself then??
Virtually *every* *single* *show* on TV has commercials.

You're either purposefully ignorant, or willfully naive. Not sure which is worse.

[vandegrasse]

OMG! Big O using OPM instead of her own. Wow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAeBcyJIz20

[Agentlady007]

Good news. Now William Morris has their Oprah Actress star back for the silver screen.

[sklfcats]

Good
What a dumb idea

[edsel]

Did you see the show? It was people helping people in need. Ya jerk

[Robert11010]

The show was misrepresented to the public. It wasn't really a "big give" at all - it was a show pitting fundraisers against fundraisers. If you're not a fundraiser ... who cares?

[CheshireCat2]

The thing is Oprah helped to put people together for the good of a common cause.

[Robert11010]

Yes she did - but like I said, the show was misrepresented. I sat and watched the first show, after watching umpteen million promos for it. I thought she was going to pick random people to go out and give money away. That's not what the show was about. It was about FUNDRAISING. By the end of the show, I didn't care anymore, because fundraising is not something that I'm interested in. It should have been called "American Fundraiser"

[Robert11010]

I felt so sorry for some of the celebrities that they literally backed into a corner ... what were they supposed to say with the cameras rolling??

[CheshireCat2]

You might be right about that because people of influence are often accosted for that purpose. I yield to you on this one.

[rcampbell]

Do you think maybe the people who get the funds that are raised might care?

[ann1]

I like and admire Oprah. It's her money and she can do what she wants. The very people who are criticizing her would be skinning and grinning right up in her face if they were to meet her. Give me a break! You're all sore losers just like Hillary at least Oprah knows how to exit gracefully. Unlike Hillary, Oprah isn't forcing herself upon us, she's not holding the country hostage. I'm proud of Oprah and no matter what I think of her, I'd never diss her publicly.

[haleywins]

Her money? Not likely, she never used any of her money that went to any individual or family or cause. If anything her production company made money from ABC and the commercial sponsors. The old Oprah was to be admired however since she became a bazillionaire, not so much anymore. Do you seriously enjoy all her programs with her rich and influential friends? She was more believable and respectable when her shows were about everyday people not the celebrity ones.

Believe it Oprah has lost her footing.

[dumboldfarmer]

Since we don't know what her reasons for canceling the show are, we shouldn't be judging her. We only theorize. Only Oprah knows for sure.

[tressie22]

love her or hate her, any black woman born during the time when she was born and created a billion dollar fortune has to be a bit more savvy than people who make a career of posting comments on blogs. :/ attribute anything you want to her, but to call her stupid or talentless or anything less than successful says more about the person posting than it does Oprah. i actually think she showed her business chops with this decision. she could have been emotionally tied to the product but she kept a level business head and made a solid decision. plus, she has to start hoarding content for OWN (another reason i'd be loathe to call her anything less than successful) - you know, the network she just bought. i'm thinking she used ABC as a testing ground.

[haleywins]

Of course she is successful, and no she is not talentless, and yes she made a smart decision to pull this off the air, it was a dumb program, although the intention was good, they did not deliver what they were promising.

It is not enough to have talent though, in fact Roger King recognized it and guided her to become successful. She did not do this alone, she had help. Maybe she does not acknowledge this enough. Her early years in syndication were not perfect, but close to it. But now, she(her show) barely resembles her early success. All those celebrities all the time on her current shows, are boorish. Common people are so much more interesting.

I would bet money Oprah is bored of it all too. Maybe she is spending too much time in her ivory tower, time to return to reality.

[DinOhio]

Oprah....Uma....Oprah....Uma....Oprah....Uma

[yambartsumian]

Oops. I watched every episode of that show... on abc.com

[SugarMan]

She needs to give up that stupid church she founded with Eckhart Tolle. He is the devil

[brokenarrow]

You've got Tolle mixed up with thoes televangelists and the ones who start faux universities, then end up having GAY METH SEX, AND WIVES WHO SEDUCE COLLEGE BOYS.

Tolle is an author, nothing more. He is also AWAKE. Oprah is another person who has lived the EXAMINED LIFE.............she, too, is AWAKE.

You are confused, that's all. Once you become aware, you no longer are in the state of confusion, so I wish you well..................shugahman.

[petecook5]

Now that is some retarded sh!t you just said! Wake up woman and start thinking for yourself.

[SugarMan]

No wonder your arrow is broken.
I am very much awake. Oprah is in danger as long as she is misleading people about this so-called new "path to God."
Jesus Christ is the only way.
IF any one is confused, it is you my friend.
Jesus said, "No man cometh unto the Father expect by ME"

[vorpalmusic]

What did Jesus mean when he said "Expect by me" ?

[racetoinfinity]

Anyone who thinks their way is the only way is at a low level of awareness.

[Syco]

Oprah for vp

[kitfox]

Wow! the bitterness, and the speculation of commenters here on huffpo is hilarious. I'm not an Oprah fan, and she may get on my nerve from time to time however, I can't deny the fact that she's a brillant woman in terms of the entertainment world! I commend her for making her own money by her own merits and to be where she is today as not only a woman but an African-American woman!

Kudos Oprah!

[observing]

Although she is successful with her gabfest I would not call her brilliant. Let's save those words for the truly great minds of our time which are few and far between. An Infotainment show's success does not equal one being some advanced intellectual. For Pete's Sake even Jerry Springer is rich and succesful from his awful show. A truly charasmatic personality is what Oprah has - not a great mind.

[kitfox]

Pssssst Observing...... You didn't read correctly.

(WHAT IS THAT CALLED AGAIN? OH yeah!! SELECTIVE READING)

I merely stated YOU CANT DENY SHE IS A BRILLANT WOMAN IN TERMS OF THE ENTERTAINMENT WORLD and also as an African-American woman for that I COMMEND HER!!!!

btw: where on earth in my post did i state she had a great mind? oh yeah i forgot you didn't read it in the first place* tisk, tisk, tisk!!!!!

*put down the hater-aid and slowly back away from the hater juice, cover your right eye and read the post - you may need glasses*

[SOOKOOYAH_GURL]

Are you jealous? Oprah is brilliant. She is doing what others want to do and have all failed.

Oprah and Martha run successful shows, magazines, radio shows, and O even has her own network.. So yeah, I owuld say she's brilliant! If Oprah isn't considered brilliant, who is?? Pamela Anderson? George Bush??

[AggravationKills]

Who Cares? I wish she'd pull the plug on her afternoon show and then her minions could walk away from their Tv sets and we would be free of idiots like Dr. Phil once and for all. There are better things to do in life than that which the Big O tells you.

[provgrays]

With Oprah's populist and corporate appeal, she should have a scriptwriting contest that anyone could enter. It would take a lot of readers to edit down such a pile of submissions, but if she found a hit, she could extend her incredible media power to network TV.

She can literally create a bestseller just by mentioning the title on her show. That's power.

[Pamela1961]

I believe there was a lawsuit from some woman from Boston who had met with Oprah's producers and disgussed years ago doing a very similar show. The woman claimed Oprah stole the idea and maybe that is why she cancelled it. I'm no longer a big fan of Oprah's as she has to have "Oprah Winfrey presents..." on everything she creates. It just seems like she's gotten a little too into herself and lost that original down to earth charm she had. Maybe it was always an act.