The queen of talk has found a way to keep talking on her own network, despite her contract.
Oprah is obligated to keep her daytime talk show in local syndication through late 2011. But one of the programs announced Tuesday in the line-up for her network will be a show about a show: "Behind the Scenes: Oprah's 25th Season."
By documenting the making of the talk show, Oprah will be able to do what she does best on her network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), earlier than anticipated. OWN will take over the Discovery Health Channel in January 2011.
Along with "Behind the Scenes," OWN will feature programming such as "Kid-napped" (a working title), in which kids capture their workaholic parents, stripping them of Blackberries and email until they're cured of their loveless ways. Also announced were "Miracle Detectives," in which a skeptic and a believer investigate the seemingly supernatural; "Sentenced," a program about women in a correctional facility in Rockville, Ind.; and "Search," where three people go looking for loved ones they've lost.
The move will likely end Oprah's time in Chicago, a city she has called home for over 25 years. She kicked off this season of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with a massive celebration along Michigan Avenue, in what NBC Chicago described as "a love letter to the city." It is widely believed that she will move to Los Angeles when her new network takes off.