It’s Oprah’s world and we are just viewers

Has the world had enough of Oprah? That question was put to the ultimate test when the Big O decided to quit her daytime talk show and devote a whole TV network to herself, her friends and her way of thinking.

If you know what OWN is and have heard about its lackluster success, well, you might have an answer to my question.

There is a difference between wowing TV audiences one hour per day and having round-the-clock programming. Unless Oprah is cloned it seems impossible to do everything and be everything, but gosh darn it, she tried.

As I write this, Oprah is in Toronto wowing audiences as part of her Oprah’s Lifeclass tour. I spoke with one eager attendee this morning and she couldn’t even tell me exactly what Lifeclass is – yet she waited hours to get into the big show.

That’s right: someone taking time out of their day to see something they know nothing about just because it is Oprah. Tickets for the Toronto show were being sold online for up to $1,600 – just to sit in the audience as Oprah tapes a show. Let’s look at this, people.

Many were quick to criticize OWN for it being a pay channel. Oprah on TV isn’t free anymore. But for a few bucks a month to get the channel, what is that compared to $1,600 just to be at her show for an hour? Don’t get picky now.

Perhaps the TV network failure humbled her. I hope for the sake of humanizing her it made Oprah see that a person can’t be the best at everything. And failure and mistakes are fine. I think to the average TV viewer (and entertainment reporter, anyway) Oprah having a TV network all about herself and her beliefs was one more way of her saying to people that it is Oprah’s world and we are just viewers.

Unfortunately with people camping out and scalping tickets in Toronto, they might be feeding her ego just a little.