'Oprah's Next Chapter': Oprah Evening Show Coming To OWN

Oprah is set to announce plans for an evening show on her new Oprah Winfrey Network, the Wall Street Journal's Sam Schechner reported.

The announcement, expected Thursday, will answer the lingering, overarching questions about the network, most recently raised by New York Magazine: to what degree will Oprah herself appear on the network that bears her name, and to what degree can the network succeed without her appearing on it?

Before Thursday's planned announcement, Oprah had been reluctant to commit to appearing on a show on the network, a joint venture with Discovery Communications. Her syndicated daytime talk show will go off the air in 2011.

The evening show will be titled "Oprah's Next Chapter" and will feature Oprah globetrotting with celebrity friends to locales like Egypt and China.

"I'm going to take viewers with me, going to take celebrities I want to interview with me," she told the Wall Street Journal.

"Having Oprah on the network in a meaningful way is important," said David Zaslav, the Discovery CEO who pitched Oprah about starting a network with his company.

The hourlong show will debut late next year, the Journal reports.

More from the Associated Press' Frazier Moore:

NEW YORK -- Oprah Winfrey has reigned in daytime for a quarter-century, but she'll be moving to nights to host a show on her brand-new cable channel.

The program makeup of the much-anticipated Oprah Winfrey Network became clearer Thursday with the announcement of five new series. These include "Oprah's Next Chapter," which should reassure viewers that Winfrey will appear on the 24-hour network she'll largely be guiding from behind the scenes.

"My vision for OWN is to create a network that inspires our viewers and makes them want to be who they are on their best day," said Winfrey, 56, in a statement.

But her millions of fans will want to see her, not just feel her, and on a regular basis. "Oprah's New Chapter" seems a promising start.

Each edition will release her from the studio and her longtime talk-show format for conversations and travel around the world.

"From the Taj Mahal to her beloved oak tree, the Great Wall to her own teahouse, it's a whole new kind of Oprah show," according to the network. "If she can dream it, she'll do it!"

"Oprah's Next Chapter" is scheduled to premiere in late 2011. That will be shortly after Winfrey lays to rest her weekday syndicated talk show at the close of its 25th season, a milestone she said "feels right in my bones" when she voiced her plans on the air last November.

A joint venture of Winfrey's Harpo Inc. and Discovery Communications Inc., OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network is now set to sign on Jan. 1 after missing two earlier deadlines. It will be available in approximately 80 million homes, replacing the Discovery Health Channel.

Other shows announced Thursday for OWN include:

_"Visionaries: Inside the Creative Mind," on which big-name talents take viewers inside their creative process, offering an opportunity to see how they bring their art to life. Included on the roster are Academy Award-winning director James Cameron, Grammy Award-winning musician Lady Gaga and photographer Annie Leibovitz.

_"Your Own Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star," produced with reality TV giant Mark Burnett, will mount a nationwide search to discover the next big TV personality.

_"Gayle King Live!" brings to TV the morning radio show of Oprah's best friend.

_"Why Not? With Shania Twain" is a reality show chronicling the trials and triumphs of the top-selling country music star.

These new series join a slate of previously announced shows including:

_"Behind the Scenes: The Oprah Show Final Season," a "docuseries" that takes viewers behind the scenes of the final season of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

_"Breaking Down the Bars," billed as a prison show whose women inmates have a shot at rehabilitation and atonement.

_"Enough Already" sends home-organization guru Peter Walsh on a quest to help people declutter their lives.

_"In the Bedroom With Dr. Laura Berman" aims to help couples improve their relationships and sex lives.

_"Inside With Lisa Ling" brings viewers reports on unexpected people from far-flung locations.

_"Kidnapped by the Kids" sets the stage for parents caught up in a world disconnected by technology and hectic lifestyles to get a wake-up call when their kids take drastic steps to reclaim Mom and Dad.

_"The Miracle Detectives" sets a believer and a skeptic on the trail of amazing events that couldn't possibly have happened - or could they?

_"Oprah Presents: Master Class" features prominent personalities hand-picked by Oprah (including Bono, Simon Cowell, Lorne Michaels and Condoleezza Rice) who share their stories, insights and lives.

_"The Swell Life" takes a look inside the family of former competitive surfer Izzy Paskowitz, his wife, Danielle, and their three children (one of whom is autistic), as well as their surf-school business.

_"Searching" puts search specialist and genealogist Pam Slaton on the trail of long-lost friends and family members.

___

On the Net:

http://www.oprah.com/own

Comments

[mdavis70360]

09:26 AM on 04/21/2010

Oprah can't turn the page and move on to a new chapter because skeletons from her past are coming out like never before. Keifer Bonvillain wrote a book about Oprah and named it "Ruthless." He based the book on recorded conversations he had with Winfrey's office manager. Oprah and her attorney fough hard to block publication of the book. The author published audio clips of his conversations with Oprah's office manager on his website www.ruthlessbiz.com. Now the author plans to release the tapes. I'll bet Oprah is scrambling to shut this guy up. He has the dirt on tape and it seems like he's ready to sling it everywhere. Not to mention the fact that Oprah's employees aren't supposed to share details about her life as per confidentaility agreements. But the office manager got tired of the lies and spilled the beans on everything. Even Oprah's lesbian relationship with Gayle King.

[NevaforLeadership]

09:48 AM on 04/11/2010

I am predicting -- and hoping that I am right -- that Oprah's OWN will be the first to turn the media race to the bottom around.

Takes one to reach for the highest common denominator for the rudderless sheep to follow.

[Alexandra08]

10:55 PM on 04/10/2010

I think Oprah Winfrey is a magnificent individual who sincerely cares about people. However, Discovery has also just purchased Sarah Palin's Alaska -- a series in which Palin, the least deserving person of the title of environmentalist, will be introducing Alaska's natural grandeur. This is an individual who fought protection for the Polar Bears, wanted to pollute the Bristol Bay, reinstituted aerial hunting of wolves, enacted a $150 bounty on wolf forelegs brought in to Alaska Fish and Game. I am disappointed that Winfrey would share a network that implies endorsement of this kind of ignorance. Therefore, I for one will not watch any Discovery programs, including Oprah Winfrey, until the travesty of Sarah Palin pretending to be the guardian of Alaska's wildlife and wildlands is gone.

[NevaforLeadership]

09:49 AM on 04/11/2010

Oprah is not producing shows on Discovery. It is her own network, OWN. Discovery is an investor/partner.

If you want to improve media standards, you need to watch high quality programming. That will be OWN.

[PrettBritt87]

08:19 AM on 04/10/2010

I can't wait! Oprah is an inspirational and substantive journalist. I hope she continues to promote education, understanding, tolerance, love, and peace through her work in the media. God bless.

[Bluebell1]

07:46 AM on 04/09/2010

I hope Oprah stays in the public eye with some program. She is truly inspirational, having built an empire for herself from nothing. She's overcome so many personal and social obstacles and became successful through hard work and perseverance. And she seems to be a genuinely nice person as well. I think she's great and is a strong role model for all women looking to their next chapters.

[toocoldout]

01:23 PM on 04/09/2010

What a sweet post! You sound like a very warm & genuine person. Fanned!

[NevaforLeadership]

09:50 AM on 04/11/2010

I second your sentiments.

[oxjr]

05:45 AM on 04/09/2010

Oprah has earned every penny she has, and it was not easy. Does anyone remember a billionaire unmarried black woman even existing before her. Yeah she is a bit out of touch and a bit narcissistic, yes but so would you and I. Give credit where credit is due.

[Northernerd]

06:00 AM on 04/09/2010

She's just plain "phony shallow".

[NevaforLeadership]

09:54 AM on 04/11/2010

My only response to your comments is that you couldn't possibly watch her show or keep up with her enormous charitable and inspirational giving.

Otherwise, you would be really embarrassed to call her phony and shallow.

That, let alone her creating such success from more humble beginnings than most of us ever had to face.

[toocoldout]

07:34 AM on 04/09/2010

Oh I think she's absolutely FABULOUS. And she's currently the RICHEST African American of ALL TIME and the ONLY black billionaire (male or female) in all of America:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/06/richest-black-americans-busienss-billionaires-richest-black-americans.html

[jemborg]

11:38 AM on 04/09/2010

Doesn't Tiger Woods count? He meant to be the first billionaire sportsman as well.

What you and the OP say is impressive and all kudos to her but indeed most brilliantly successful career women have been unmarried and/or (more importantly) childless, so I'm not surprised by that.

Being a good mother is hard work... it sucks up your time. I know, my mother was one of the first female lawyers in the world... she gave up her career for motherhood. No, she wasn't forced to by my dad she just didn't want us raised by nannies etc.

[lmab]

04:34 AM on 04/09/2010

Oprah is a p@rasite....like Babara.

[Whycee54]

12:28 PM on 04/09/2010

yeah but a very wealthy and influential p@rasite!

[cpad]

03:03 AM on 04/09/2010

*blergh* - so sick of Oprah and her "Look at me! I'm all puffed out full of myself" attitude. So her new show will be called "Oprah's New Chapter," as if there could not possibly be any more compelling subject matter. Well, now she can promoted Oprah's New Chapter on Oprah's network in Oprah magazine with Oprah on the cover. *blergh*

[Knowitall]

11:31 AM on 04/09/2010

Fortunately you won't have to watch.

[cpad]

03:58 PM on 04/09/2010

Indeed. We don't have her network in our cable package :)

[NevaforLeadership]

09:56 AM on 04/11/2010

Keep just a nugget of Oprah's compelling subject matter, and transform your life.

[RButler]

01:53 AM on 04/09/2010

Apparently, the new Oprah channel will simply have a picture of Oprah on the screen 24/7 like her magazine. Or you can go to the 'Fireplace Channel' for variety.

[lauram]

11:46 PM on 04/08/2010

With Oprah's reach, she could have played a far greater role in bringing information to people over the last 20 years. Instead she's brought the same old celebrity-cosmetic-which jeans are right for me-touchy-feely schtick day in and day out. She could have reported on half the huffpo news. Every other day. Once a week even. But no, money on top of money is more important.

[toocoldout]

12:29 AM on 04/09/2010

She brought enough information to people to inspire them to vote for the most brilliant educated & successful (health care) president in decades:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/so-much-for-one-person-one-vote/

She gave us Dr. Oz, whose show brings invaluable preventative health care advise to millions on a daily basis & will ultimately save the health care system trillions.

She brough great literature (Toni Morrison, Faulkner, Tolstoy) to the masses on a level never seen before.

The provocative daytime talk shows she popularized in the 1980s did more to make gays mainstream than any other development of the 20th century according to a Yale study documented in the book FREAKS TALK BACK.

She's encouraged millions of Americans to embrace a more secular inclusive form of spiritaulity than the dogmatic organized religion of the past.

And above she's brought light and love into the homes of millions of soccer moms & has been a constant source of positive energy in a very negative world.

[WiltonDiary]

05:39 AM on 04/09/2010

Thank you!

[Northernerd]

06:03 AM on 04/09/2010

Thank-you Michelle Obama for making all that crystal clear. My day has begun with a bang of righteousness.

[jemborg]

11:44 AM on 04/09/2010

I know what you mean, she had an annoying evangelist manner at times too (part of her success, I suppose). But she got better at the end, She occasionally had shows that were more relevant and political, less US-centric.

[Sibil]

11:00 PM on 04/08/2010

Shoot me now.......

[sweetwhine]

11:07 PM on 04/08/2010

Don't tempt me.

[Two Cents]

06:47 AM on 04/12/2010

. . . too bad fanning is only allowed one. ;o)

[Two Cents]

06:48 AM on 04/12/2010

( . . . add "ce" where useful.)

[4inline]

10:08 PM on 04/08/2010

Oprah who?

[WiltonDiary]

05:39 AM on 04/09/2010

There is no reason for you to know!

[Two Cents]

06:50 AM on 04/12/2010

. . . you know, the one who's always blamed for Obama's being president instead of Clinton. (Of course, we all know it was Kennedy's fault.)

[MrsFonebone]

09:38 PM on 04/08/2010

Year after year, year after year, more Oprah. Everywhere. All the time. I wanted to watch the nature series but why in the world did she think she could compete with pros in narration like Attenborough? She will perish in night time ratings--she's a soft ball, easily conned egomaniac interviewer these days and if they airbrush her pix anymore she's gonna disappear.
Give it a rest, Oprah. You were brilliant in "The Color Purple" -- you should have done more serious acting. Though I can never forgive you inflicting the horrible "Dr Phil" on the world.

[toocoldout]

12:37 AM on 04/09/2010

Of course she's a soft-ball uncritical egonmaniac interviewer? HELLO! She's an ENTERTAINER helping celebrities promote their latest movies. She's not a journalist .

[RButler]

01:59 AM on 04/09/2010

I know what you mean about the nature series. I love the one called 'Planet Earth' and one reason is that the woman who narrates it has such a great voice and it goes so well with the music and outstanding photography. Oprah's voice is a distraction. I like Fran Drescher but wouldn't want her doing the show either.

[aurealll]

09:13 PM on 04/08/2010

I understand now! Never watched a program.... I am not from this country.

[WiltonDiary]

05:42 AM on 04/09/2010

Nor have you watched much of anything; Oprah Winfrey, a multi-billionaire, is an International success story and one of the largest private brands in history!

[DissedBeliever]

05:12 PM on 04/09/2010

Oh, Wilton. Xenophobia is not a good color on you.

[sulalives]

08:50 PM on 04/08/2010

Oprah must be moving toward a raw format something that cannot be watched in the daytime...I wonder...I cannot wait to see her prime time show