The SEED Foundation (also often referred to as the SEED Schools ) is a 501(c)(3) organization , established in 1997 to provide boarding school college-preparatory educational opportunities to underserved students.
122-637: In 2002, the SEED School of DC received a $ 100,000 grant from Oprah Winfrey 's Angel Network for the construction of new dormitory facilities. In 2010, the SEED schools were featured on 60 Minutes and the Washington, D.C. school is featured in the 2010 documentary film Waiting for "Superman" . The SEED schools are boarding schools serving disadvantaged students located in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Miami. The schools integrate "a rigorous academic program with
244-411: A historically black institution , where she studied communication . However, she did not deliver her final paper and receive her degree until 1987, by which time she was a successful television personality. Winfrey's career in media would not have surprised her grandmother, who once said that ever since Winfrey could talk, she was on stage. As a child, she played games interviewing her corncob doll and
366-801: A "tycoon" regarding her investments which as of 2022, are estimated to total approximately $ 127 million. As her talk show was beginning, Oprah first purchased a condominium in Chicago's Water Tower Place in 1985, before purchasing the condos adjoining and directly below it in 1992, 1993, and 1994, respectively. In 1988, she purchased an 164-acre property including main and guest residences, orchard, and stables in Rolling Prairie, Indiana as her weekend refuge. In 1992, she purchased an 80-acre compound in Telluride, Colorado , which she would go on to sell in approximately late 2000. In 1994, she also purchased an apartment at
488-823: A (then) 42-acre (17 ha) estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito, California . Additionally that year, she also purchased homes in both Elmwood Park, Illinois and Merrillville, Indiana for other family members and friends. Similarly, in 2002, she purchased her father's home in Franklin, Tennessee and a lakefront condo in Milwaukee , Wisconsin . In 2003 she listed her compound in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, and sold it in 2004. From 2003 to 2005, Oprah acquired several properties totaling 163 acres in Kula and Hana , Hawaii as well as
610-508: A 24-hour simulation of the experience of slavery, which included being tied up and blindfolded and left alone in the woods. Despite major advertising, including two episodes of her talk show dedicated solely to the film, and moderate to good critical reviews, Beloved opened to poor box-office results, losing approximately $ 30 million. While promoting the movie, co-star Thandie Newton described Winfrey as "a very strong technical actress and it's because she's so smart. She's acute. She's got
732-522: A bad perm), Winfrey turned to reporter Lloyd Kramer for comfort. "Lloyd was just the best," Winfrey would later recall. "That man loved me even when I was bald! He was wonderful. He stuck with me through the whole demoralizing experience. That man was the most fun romance I ever had." According to Mair, when Kramer moved to NBC in New York, Winfrey had a love affair with a married man who had no intention of leaving his wife. Winfrey would later recall: "I'd had
854-450: A barber in Nashville, Tennessee , and landed a job in radio while still in high school. By 19, she was a co-anchor for the local evening news. Winfrey's often emotional, extemporaneous delivery eventually led to her transfer to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company. Credited with creating
976-546: A benefactor to others. Winfrey also emerged as a political force in the 2008 presidential race, with her endorsement of Barack Obama estimated to have been worth about one million votes during the 2008 Democratic primaries . In the same year, she formed her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama . In 1994, she
1098-728: A competing Nashville station . In 1976, she moved to Baltimore 's WJZ-TV to co-anchor the six o'clock news. In 1977, she was removed as co-anchor and worked in lower profile positions at the station. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking , which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars . In 1984, Winfrey relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV 's low-rated half-hour morning talk show, AM Chicago , after being hired by that station's general manager, Dennis Swanson . The first episode aired on January 2, 1984. Within months after Winfrey took over,
1220-410: A deep love. A love I will never forget." In the 1970s, Winfrey had a romantic relationship with John Tesh . Biographer Kitty Kelley claims that Tesh split with Winfrey over the pressures of an interracial relationship. When WJZ-TV management criticized Winfrey for crying on air while reporting tragedies and were unhappy with her physical appearance (especially when her hair fell out as a result of
1342-416: A different sex, or revealing that they were pre- or post-op transsexuals . Some of the most dramatic examples sometimes escalated into violence, with some guys, being from the street, punching the transexual in the face, when they were revealed to be trans. There were other weird, over-the-top situations which were on Springer, that also never were on Bey : some included big (literally), 70-pound babies, and
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#17330858157671464-491: A field dominated by white males, she is a black female of ample bulk. As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue ... What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye ... They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less
1586-501: A greater emphasis on self-help than their predecessors (owing to the popularity of shows such as Dr. Phil ). Steve Wilkos eventually left Jerry Springer and received his own syndicated talk show, The Steve Wilkos Show , which debuted in 2007. The once-defunct Tribune Entertainment ordered new pilots for tabloid-style talk shows hosted by radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge and conservative talk radio host Bill Cunningham , for
1708-477: A lesser extent Montel Williams , began to distance their programs from the genre by refocusing them to incorporate more serious subject matter or staying on stage in the manner of more traditional talk shows. Another example of this trend was Geraldo Rivera ending his show in 1998 to focus on his CNBC talk show Rivera Live full-time. New talk shows also followed the trend of emphasizing less bawdy themes; The Ananda Lewis Show (which ran from 2001 to 2002) made
1830-401: A loved one that their spouse or lover is cheating' ( The Maury Povich Show ), or if they're 'going crazy' because their parents have split up ( Donahue )." The subgenre is sometimes described in pejorative slang as "trash TV", particularly when the show hosts appear to design their shows to create controversy or confrontation. One of the earliest of the post-Oprah shows was Geraldo , which
1952-577: A man or woman; however, Schmitz claimed he was intentionally led to believe that they were a woman. The trial court initially found for Amedure's family and the show was ordered to pay $ 25 million in damages. However, this decision was later overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals , who held that the murder was "unforeseeable" and that the show "had no duty to anticipate and prevent the act of murder committed by Schmitz three days after leaving [the] studio and hundreds of miles away". However, that decision
2074-410: A media columnist for The Washington Post , stated: "Oprah doesn't do follow-up questions unless you're an author who's embarrassed her by fabricating portions of a supposed memoir she's plugged for her book club", referring to the controversy around James Frey 's A Million Little Pieces . In 2021, she conducted an interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex , and her husband Prince Harry , which
2196-482: A mind like a razor blade." Harpo Productions released a film adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston 's 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God in 2005. The made-for-television film was based upon a teleplay by Suzan-Lori Parks and starred Halle Berry in the lead female role. In late 2008, Winfrey's company Harpo Films signed an exclusive output pact to develop and produce scripted series, documentaries, and movies exclusively for HBO . In 2013, Winfrey starred in
2318-502: A more intimate, confessional form of media communication, Winfrey popularized and revolutionized the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue . By the mid-1990s, Winfrey had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, mindfulness, and spirituality. Though she has been criticized for unleashing a confession culture, promoting controversial self-help ideas, and having an emotion-centered approach, she has also been praised for overcoming adversity to become
2440-423: A more serious focus, host Maury Povich over time developed a largely formulaic series that carved out a niche: by the 2010s, Maury had become almost synonymous with adversarial DNA paternity testing and polygraph . A typical episode of Maury features a poor woman, often with a checkered sexual background, accusing a past sexual partner of being the father of her child, which the man will categorically deny. At
2562-579: A mother because she had not been mothered well. At 13, after suffering what she described as years of abuse, Winfrey ran away from home. When she was 14, she became pregnant, but her son was born prematurely and died shortly after birth. Winfrey later stated she felt betrayed by the family member who had sold the story of her son to the National Enquirer in 1990. Winfrey attended Lincoln Middle and High School in Milwaukee , but after early success in
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#17330858157672684-463: A national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session. TV columnist Howard Rosenberg said: "She's a roundhouse, a full course meal, big, brassy, loud, aggressive, hyper, laughable, lovable, soulful, tender, low-down, earthy, and hungry. And she may know the way to Phil Donahue's jugular." Newsday ' s Les Payne observed, "Oprah Winfrey is sharper than Donahue, wittier, more genuine, and far better attuned to her audience, if not
2806-420: A need to spend time and money on new content and the low cost of residuals. In the scholarly text Freaks Talk Back , Yale University sociology professor Joshua Gamson credits the tabloid talk show genre with providing much needed high impact media visibility for gay, bisexual , transsexual and transgender people, and doing more to make them mainstream and socially acceptable than any other development of
2928-569: A new channel called OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network . It was scheduled to launch in 2009 but was delayed, and actually launched on January 1, 2011. The series finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show aired on May 25, 2011. In January 2017, CBS announced that Winfrey would join 60 Minutes as a special contributor on the Sunday evening news magazine program starting in September 2017. The National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2018 opened
3050-399: A new studio at Winfrey's Chicago headquarters. The channel broadcasts 24 hours a day, seven days a week on XM Radio Channel 156. Winfrey's contract requires her to be on the air 30 minutes a week, 39 weeks a year. Oprah's extensive and continuously evolving real-estate portfolio has garnered heightened attention throughout her life and career, with many prominent industry outlets branding her
3172-442: A nurturing boarding program, which teaches life skills and provides a safe and secure environment." The students live in campus dormitories during the week in order to provide students with a uniform residential experience. The SEED School in Washington, D.C., opened in 1998, has an enrollment of 320 students from sixth through twelfth grades. The school serves students from across Washington, D.C. The majority of SEED students live in
3294-834: A penthouse apartment in Atlanta , Georgia . In 2005, she purchased a home in Douglasville, Georgia which was gifted in 2011 to a family member. In 2006, Oprah purchased a co-op apartment along Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago, reportedly with plans to permanently move there from her prior adjoined-condo unit in Water Tower Place for the duration of her show but for reasons unknown, the property sat entirely unused until she sold it in 2012. In 2008, she sold her penthouse apartment in Atlanta. That year, she also listed Gayle King's estate and purchased her (through her second LLC Sophie's Penthouse)
3416-411: A penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan , New York City which would later be sold in 2012. In early 2014, she listed her combined-unit Chicago duplex on the market. Later that year, Oprah came back to Telluride, Colorado to purchase a 60-acre lot with plans to build on the property. A lawsuit filed against her that year by a retired nuclear physicist living in the area regarding trail access rights
3538-507: A point of being an alternative to the tabloid style talk shows still airing at the time. The Phil Donahue Show , seen by many as originating the genre, was cancelled in 1996 as it could not compete with the new crop of shows. Donahue and Rivera would attempt to re-establish their journalistic credentials on cable television: Donahue with a short-lived talk show on MSNBC , and Rivera going back to his "roving reporter" roots, filing reports on CNBC, NBC and Fox News . Maury Povich began hosting
3660-526: A poorly vetted drug as a cure. In addition to her talk show, Winfrey also produced and co-starred in the drama miniseries The Women of Brewster Place (1989) and its short-lived spin-off, Brewster Place . As well as hosting and appearing on television shows, Winfrey co-founded the women's cable television network Oxygen which was the initial network for her Oprah After the Show program from 2002 to 2006 before moving to Oprah.com when Winfrey sold her stake in
3782-453: A possible fall 2011 debut; while Bubba's show was not picked up, The Bill Cunningham Show debuted in limited syndication in September 2011 before moving to The CW (becoming the only talk show on U.S. network television not to be lifestyle- or celebrity interview-oriented) in September 2012; Cunningham continued to host the show until he decided to leave in 2016, at which point Robert Irvine took Cunningham's place. An American version of
SEED Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue
3904-508: A presidential candidate. Winfrey added that Palin would make a fantastic guest and that she would love to have her on the show after the election, which she did on November 18, 2009. In 2009, Winfrey was criticized for allowing actress Suzanne Somers to appear on her show to discuss hormone treatments that are not accepted by mainstream medicine. Critics have also suggested that Winfrey is not tough enough when questioning celebrity guests or politicians whom she appears to like. Lisa de Moraes,
4026-503: A professor of sociology and American studies , criticized tabloid TV shows, claiming that they had blurred the lines between normal and deviant behavior. The genre experienced a particular spike during the 1990s, when a large number of such shows were on the air, but which gradually gave way during the 2000s to a more universally appealing form of talk show. The Les Crane Show , a network talk show that aired on ABC as part of its late-night schedule from August 1964 to February 1965,
4148-787: A public school. The SEED School of Miami opened in August 2014 on the Florida Memorial University (FMU) campus in Miami Gardens ; FMU is within the former Opa-locka North census-designated place . It serves 97 sixth- and seventh-graders from all over South Florida. SEED has announced plans to expand with additional schools in other U.S. cities. Lad Lake met with SEED Foundation officials when they were planning their own charter school. Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey ( / ˈ oʊ p r ə / ; born Orpah Gail Winfrey ; January 29, 1954), known mononymously as Oprah ,
4270-563: A rare prime-time interview called, Michael Jackson Talks ... to Oprah with Michael Jackson , which became the fourth most-watched event in American television history as well as the most watched interview ever, with an audience of 36.5 million. On December 1, 2005, Winfrey appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman for the first time in 16 years, to promote the new Broadway musical, The Color Purple , which she produced. The episode
4392-563: A relationship with a man for four years. I wasn't living with him. I'd never lived with anyone—and I thought I was worthless without him. The more he rejected me, the more I wanted him. I felt depleted, powerless. At the end, I was down on the floor on my knees groveling and pleading with him". Winfrey became so depressed that on September 8, 1981, she wrote a suicide note to best friend Gayle King instructing King to water her plants. "That suicide note had been much overplayed" Winfrey told Ms. magazine. "I couldn't kill myself. I would be afraid
4514-538: A series on ITV as Jerry Springer . Vanessa Feltz 's programme The Vanessa Show was cancelled by the BBC in 1999, as a result of the discovery that some participants were actually actors cast from a talent agency, although it was known previously for outlandish stories similar to the American shows. Face to Face itself as the " Barangay hall on-air" of the tabloid talk genre in Philippines, which reached its peak during
4636-430: A special exhibit on Winfrey's cultural influence through television. Winfrey left 60 Minutes by the end of 2018. In June 2018, Apple announced a multi-year content partnership with Winfrey, in which it was agreed that Winfrey would create new original programs exclusively for Apple's streaming service, Apple TV+ . The first show under the deal, Oprah's Book Club , premiered on November 1, 2019. Oprah's Book Club
4758-524: A tabloid show in the United Kingdom for several years. Lake's new show lasted only a year, and Queen Latifah's was delayed until September 2013 and was cancelled after two years. Goddard and Kyle also failed to gain traction with their U.S. talk show efforts, and both were canceled after two seasons. Face the Truth , a half-hour series which debuted in the fall of 2018, attempted to cross the tabloid format with
4880-502: A teenager was working at a local grocery store. At the age of 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL , which hired her to do the news part-time. She worked there during her senior year of high school and in her first two years of college. She had won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University ,
5002-453: A weekend news show in 2006 with wife Connie Chung on MSNBC while still hosting his daytime show. Weekends with Maury and Connie was cancelled after six months due to low ratings, and received harsh reviews by many of the same critics who criticized his daytime talk show. Jerry Springer, while continuing to host his televised " freak show ", also hosted Springer on the Radio on Air America in
SEED Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue
5124-434: A weird case of an 800-pound guy who needed help getting out of his house, and so Springer, along with a contracted construction grew, demolished his wall to help get out. In this regard, Springer was more like a talk show version of Roseanne and, to a lesser extent, every John Goodman movie. For both, violence and fights between guests became almost ritual , with, on Springer, head of security Steve Wilkos separating
5246-493: A whole different territory. Reflecting on the genre as a whole Donahue added, "If you want to know about America's culture in the last half of the 20th century, watch some of these programs." Annita Pania is the longest living representative of the tabloid talk genre in Greece, which reached its peak during the mid-1990s. American tabloid talk is widely viewed in the United Kingdom. First-run tabloid chat shows are also produced in
5368-461: Is also why I gained so much weight later on. It was the perfect way of cushioning myself against the world's disapproval." Tabloid talk show A tabloid talk show is a subgenre of the talk show genre that emphasizes controversial and sensationalistic topical subject matter. The subgenre originated in the United States and achieved peak viewership from the mid-1980s through the end of
5490-410: Is an American talk show host , television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor . She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show , broadcast from Chicago , which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century and was once the world's only black billionaire. By 2007, she
5612-459: Is based on the segment of the same name from The Oprah Winfrey Show . The second show under the deal, Oprah Talks COVID-19 , debuted on March 21, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic . A third show, The Oprah Conversation debuted on July 30, 2020, with Winfrey "[continuing] to explore impactful and relevant topics with fascinating thought leaders from all over the world". In 1993, Winfrey hosted
5734-560: The Drudge Report reported that Winfrey refused to have Sarah Palin on her show, allegedly because of Winfrey's support for Barack Obama. Winfrey denied the report, maintaining that there never was a discussion regarding Palin's appearing on her show. She said that after she made public her support for Obama, she decided that she would not let her show be used as a platform for any of the candidates. Although Obama appeared twice on her show, those appearances were prior to his declaration as
5856-561: The Academy Award -winning Brokeback Mountain . While having changed with the times from her tabloid talk show roots, Winfrey continued to include gay guests by using her show and to promote openly gay personalities like her hairdresser, makeup artist, and decorator Nate Berkus , who inspired an outpouring of sympathy from middle America after grieving the loss of his partner in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on The Oprah Winfrey Show . Winfrey's "therapeutic" hosting style and
5978-667: The Bob Hope Humanitarian Award ), a Tony Award , a Peabody Award , and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award awarded by the Academy Awards , in addition to two competitive Academy Award nominations. Winfrey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. Orpah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954; her first name was spelled Orpah on her birth certificate after
6100-600: The Four Seasons Hotel Chicago . Between 1996 and 2000 she purchased a total of five condos in different development areas of Fisher Island, Florida . In 2000, through her Chicago-based LLC Overground Railroad, Oprah purchased her friend Gayle King an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut . In 2001, Oprah sold all five of her Fisher Island condos and purchased what would become her "main home base" she has also called "The Promised Land" (where she currently lives as of 2022),
6222-463: The Oprah.com website to provide resources and interactive content related to her shows, magazines, book club, and public charity. Oprah.com averages more than 70 million page views and more than six million users per month, and receives approximately 20,000 e-mails each week. Winfrey initiated "Oprah's Child Predator Watch List", through her show and website, to help track down accused child molesters. Within
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#17330858157676344-522: The Southeast Washington, D.C. neighborhood. The D.C. school has been called successful with "91 percent of ninth graders go on to graduate and 96 percent of graduating seniors are accepted to four-year colleges". The SEED school in Washington D.C. was visited by U.S. president Barack Obama in April 2009, where the president also hosted a bill signing ceremony to enact a national service act. The school
6466-576: The Upward Bound program, was transferred to the affluent suburban Nicolet High School . Upon transferring, she said she was continually reminded of her poverty as she rode the bus to school with fellow African-Americans, some of whom were servants of her classmates' families. She began to rebel and steal money from her mother in an effort to keep up with her free-spending peers. As a result, her mother once again sent her to live with Vernon in Nashville , although this time she did not take her back. Vernon
6588-555: The biblical figure in the Book of Ruth , but people mispronounced it regularly and "Oprah" stuck. She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi , to a teenaged mother, Vernita Lee, and father Vernon Winfrey. Winfrey's parents never married. Vernita Lee (1935–2018) was a housemaid. Vernon Winfrey (1933–2022) was a coal miner turned barber turned city councilman who was in the Armed Forces when she
6710-402: The panel show with host Vivica A. Fox . The program failed however, and was cancelled after one season. As stalwart hosts of the format such as Povich and Springer retired from their programs in the late 2010s and early 2020s, syndicators increasingly turned to reruns of the programs to replace them. Such reruns have been relatively successful for syndicators and stations, given the lack of
6832-426: The pejorative slang term " trash TV ", particularly when producers appear to design their shows to create controversy or confrontation, as in the case of The Richard Bey Show , Geraldo (such as when a 1988 show featuring Ku Klux Klan , neo-Nazis , and anti-racism and Jewish activists led to an on-camera brawl) and Jerry Springer , which focused on lurid trysts – often between family members. Vicki Abt,
6954-502: The "100 Most Influential People" of the 20th century. Sociologist Vicki Abt criticised tabloid talk shows for redefining social norms. In her book Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV Talk Show , Abt warned that the media revolution that followed Oprah's success was blurring the lines between normal and deviant behavior. Television critic Jeff Jarvis agreed, saying "Oprah
7076-412: The 1990s. Airing mostly during the day and distributed mostly through television syndication , tabloid talk shows originated in the 1960s and early 1970s with series hosted by Joe Pyne , Les Crane , and Phil Donahue ; the format was popularized by personal confession-filled The Oprah Winfrey Show , which debuted nationally in 1986. The format has since been emulated outside the United States, with
7198-429: The 20th century. In the book's editorial review Michael Bronski wrote "In the recent past, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered [ sic ] people had almost no presence on television. With the invention and propagation of tabloid talk shows such as Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, Jane Whitney, and Geraldo, people outside the sexual mainstream now appear in living rooms across America almost every day of
7320-494: The British tabloid talk show The Jeremy Kyle Show also launched in September 2011. Ricki Lake and The Queen Latifah Show were both slated to return in September 2012, but with revamped, more mature formats (Latifah's as a more celebrity and lifestyle-focused program and Lake's focusing more on lifestyle and self-help topics) to reflect the hosts' increased age; also set to debut was a show hosted by Trisha Goddard , who hosted
7442-597: The Frog and in 2010, narrated the US version of the BBC nature program Life for Discovery. In 2018, Winfrey starred as Mrs. Which in the film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle 's novel A Wrinkle in Time . She also lent her voice to an animated virtual-reality short film written and directed by Eric Darnell , starring John Legend , titled Crow: The Legend , telling a Native American origin tale. Winfrey has co-authored five books. At
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#17330858157677564-587: The Madroneagle compound on Orcas Island , Washington and sold her last home property in the Chicago area from Elmwood Park. In late 2019, Oprah yet again expanded her Montecito home-base compound, this time to 70 contiguous acres, with the purchase of a four-acre complex from actor Jeff Bridges . In 2021, she sold her Orcas Island compound as she said she was too busy to use it and purchased another compound in Montecito further away from her home-base compound, flipping
7686-596: The United Kingdom, Latin America and the Philippines all having popular shows that fit the format. Tabloid talk shows have sometimes been described as the "freak shows" of the late 20th century, since most of their guests were outside the mainstream. The host invites a group of guests to discuss an emotional or provocative topic and the guests are encouraged to make public confessions and resolve their problems with on-camera "group therapy". Similar shows are popular throughout Europe. Tabloid talk shows are sometimes described using
7808-484: The United Kingdom, which are largely similar to their American counterparts, albeit more tame in style. Most hosts get more involved with their guests, rather than taking an apathetic attitude in a fashion similar to Jerry Springer and usually the audience is not as involved. Jeremy Kyle , for example, was known for his confrontational attitude towards those on his programme, The Jeremy Kyle Show , while others like Trisha Goddard are more pacifist. Springer himself hosted
7930-470: The age of eight, she was baptized in a Baptist church . Winfrey has stated she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old, something she first announced on a 1986 episode of her TV show regarding sexual abuse . A biographer alleged that when Winfrey discussed the alleged abuse with family members at age 24, they reportedly refused to believe her account. Winfrey once commented that she had chosen not to be
8052-444: The air is what women had been talking about in ladies' rooms." Donahue recalled that he finally had to do a show about doctors who hated him because, for the first time, women were challenging their physicians. He also discussed how hosting the show helped him overcome his own taboos. "I put a gay guy on in 1968 – a real live homosexual sitting right next to me. I was terrified ... I'm from University of Notre Dame . And believe me that's
8174-429: The announcement of a weight-loss book in 2005, co-authored with her personal trainer Bob Greene, it was said that her undisclosed advance fee had broken the record for the world's highest book advance fee, previously held by the autobiography of former U.S. President Bill Clinton . In 2015, her memoir, The Life You Want , was announced following on her tour of the same name, and scheduled for publication in 2017, but
8296-409: The basic format is to be continued in a follow-up show hosted by Karamo Brown . On March 6, 1995, The Jenny Jones Show taped an episode titled " Revealing Same Sex Secret Crush ". One of the segments featured Scott Amedure, a 32-year-old gay man, revealing his crush on acquaintance Jonathan Schmitz, a 24-year-old straight man. Schmitz reacted with laughter while on the show, but became disturbed by
8418-475: The combatants before fights escalated into something more serious, and on Bey , even more dangerously, Bey stopping the fights himself. Both were criticized for being promoting immorality and graphic language on TV. In Springer's case, he claimed that he had no creative control over the guests. Springer has also been accused of stealing Bey's show, following the latter's cancelation in December 1996, although Springer
8540-462: The common staples which would be copied by The Ricki Lake Show , The Montel Williams Show , and even the more family-oriented Sally : adultery, dysfunctional families, bad kids. Bey took it further and had booty-shaking contests, even games which involved dates with a hot girl as the prize. Both of them had numerous features on the Ku Klux Klan and racism (one of the most famous Bey episodes
8662-453: The context of her long-running talk show as early as the late 1950s, but her show did not have a studio audience. Tabloid talk shows often post a "cart" during an episode in order to recruit guests. According to Elizabeth Kolbert of The New York Times : "Almost all the talk shows, from Sally to Ricki Lake , post notices, known as 'carts,' in the middle of a show that ask viewers to call if they have, for example, 'been trying to tell
8784-434: The crows on the fence of her family's property. Winfrey later acknowledged her grandmother's influence, saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and "gave me a positive sense of myself". Working in local media, Winfrey was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville 's WLAC-TV (now WTVF-TV ), where she often covered the same stories as John Tesh , who worked at
8906-428: The end of the segment, Povich dramatically reveals the results of the paternity test, and the affected parties react with strong emotion. By the 21st century, Maury had already earned a reputation as being "miles further down the commode" than Springer, and the name of the show would become a byword for dysfunctional parental situations. Maury would continue until Povich, at age 83, announced his retirement in 2022;
9028-601: The film The Butler directed by Lee Daniels . Though her performance garnered significant Oscar buzz, she was not nominated for the award. Oprah voiced Gussie the goose in Charlotte's Web (2006) and voiced Judge Bumbleton in Bee Movie (2007), co-starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger . In 2009, Winfrey provided the voice for the character of Eudora, the mother of Princess Tiana , in Disney's The Princess and
9150-565: The first 48 hours, two of the featured men were captured. On February 9, 2006, it was announced that Winfrey had signed a three-year, $ 55-million contract with XM Satellite Radio to establish a new radio channel. The channel, Oprah Radio , features popular contributors to The Oprah Winfrey Show and O, The Oprah Magazine including Nate Berkus , Dr. Mehmet Oz , Bob Greene, Dr. Robin Smith, and Marianne Williamson . Oprah & Friends began broadcasting at 11:00 am ET , September 25, 2006, from
9272-415: The full-length spoofs of the medium (complete with fake guests and audience members asking questions). In the September 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine , Oprah Winfrey interviewed Phil Donahue at his Manhattan penthouse apartment in what she described as a "full-circle" moment. She wrote in the article's introduction, "If there had been no Phil Donahue show, there would be no Oprah Winfrey show. He
9394-449: The incident later. Three days after the episode's taping, Schmitz went to Amedure's home and killed him by firing two shots into his chest. Schmitz was ultimately convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. Schmitz was released on parole on August 21, 2017. Amedure's family filed a negligence lawsuit against the producers of The Jenny Jones Show . The show informed Schmitz that his secret admirer could be
9516-457: The label, while other hosts, such as Jenny Jones , resent it. Richard Bey and Jerry Springer would gain reputations as the most confrontational and sexually explicit, with stories of lurid trysts – often between family members, and with stripping guests and audience members. The Richard Bey Show started this trend, and for a time, was the most graphic of the TV talk shows. For Springer, although
9638-572: The latter in 2022 with split properties, one of which was sold to her property manager and longtime personal trainer Bob Greene, and the other to actress Jennifer Aniston . In 2023, Winfrey also purchased 870 acres of land in Maui for $ 6.6 million. Winfrey's high school sweetheart Anthony Otey recalled an innocent courtship that began in Winfrey's senior year of high school, from which he saved hundreds of love notes; Winfrey conducted herself with dignity and
9760-446: The mid-2000s. The syndicated Judge Hatchett dealt with many of the topics of tabloid talk shows, but was set within the framework of a court show and was more direct in its efforts to intervene in the participants' lives. Only a handful of the shows from the tabloid talk era remained in production as of 2011, and only one new tabloid talk show premiered between 2000 and that time: The Tyra Banks Show , which ran from 2005 to 2010,
9882-599: The minute I did it, something really good would happen and I'd miss it." According to Winfrey, her emotional turmoil gradually led to a weight problem: "The reason I gained so much weight in the first place and the reason I had such a sorry history of abusive relationships with men was I just needed approval so much. I needed everyone to like me, because I didn't like myself much. So I'd end up with these cruel self-absorbed guys who'd tell me how selfish I was, and I'd say 'Oh thank you, you're so right' and be grateful to them. Because I had no sense that I deserved anything else. Which
10004-419: The network. She is also the president of Harpo Productions ( Oprah spelled backwards), a film and TV production company behind The Oprah Winfrey Show , Dr. Phil , Rachael Ray , The Dr. Oz Show and many others. She also moderated three ABC Afterschool Special s from 1992 to 1994. On January 15, 2008, Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans to change Discovery Health Channel into
10126-514: The new crop of tabloid talk shows, such as Jenny Jones – "One-Night Stand Reunions". When Winfrey reminded him "You started all this," he replied, "If that's what you think, I'm proud. What I'm most proud of is that we involved the audience more than anybody else in the game. People who owned the airwaves got to use them in this wild thing called democracy." While both Winfrey and Donahue admitted to having done shows that were "naughty", both wondered if newer shows like Jerry Springer had crossed over into
10248-408: The one thing you didn't want to be doing at Notre Dame was hangin' with gay people ... If you don't understand those feelings then you don't understand homophobia. There's a reason for the closet. As the years went by after that show, I got involved in gay politics, and through my activism, I began to realize what it must be like to be born, to live, and to die in the closet." Donahue also commented on
10370-442: The same audience shifted directly over to the new reality television and court show genre that rose to prominence at around the same time; most reality television and many court shows featured conflicts and raunchy material that would be normally seen in a tabloid talk show. (When Springer's show was canceled in 2018, it was replaced with a court show hosted by Springer.) As early as the late 1990s, hosts such as Oprah Winfrey, and to
10492-762: The show faced accusations that Winfrey was promoting junk science . This has manifested as criticisms of Winfrey for promoting particular guests whose medical commentaries (both on her show and in the wider media) frequently lack supporting science. Common targets of this criticism include Dr. Oz 's promotion of various "miracle pills" (especially those aimed at weight loss), Dr. Phil , Jenny McCarthy 's unfounded assertions about vaccines, and Suzanne Somers 's promotion of bioidenticals. Multiple publications have called on Oprah to denounce medical statements made by her former proteges long after her show ended. For example, there were calls for her to denounce Dr. Oz in 2020 reaction to his comments about coronavirus and his promotion of
10614-428: The show started as a politically-oriented talk show, the search for higher ratings in an extremely competitive market led Springer to topics often described as tawdry and provocative, increasing its viewership in the process. Bey and Springer were different in their subject matter: for Bey, which before 1996, was more popular, the show was, hence, far more elite, attracting a more VH1 type of audience, and involving
10736-456: The show went from last place in the ratings to overtaking Donahue as the highest-rated talk show in Chicago. The movie critic Roger Ebert persuaded her to sign a syndication deal with King World . Ebert predicted that she would generate 40 times as much revenue as his television show, At the Movies . It was then renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and expanded to a full hour. The first episode
10858-483: The show with the rest of the cast. Winfrey responded by saying that she is opposed to rap lyrics that "marginalize women," but enjoys some artists, including Kanye West , who appeared on her show. She said she spoke with Ludacris backstage after his appearance to explain her position and said she understood that his music was for entertainment purposes, but that some of his listeners might take it literally. In September 2008, Winfrey received criticism after Matt Drudge of
10980-404: The tabloid talk show genre have been both praised and blamed for leading the media counterculture of the 1980s and 1990s, which some believe broke 20th century taboos, led to America's self-help obsession and created confession culture. The Wall Street Journal coined the term "Oprahfication" to refer to the concept of public confession as a form of therapy and Time magazine named Winfrey one of
11102-557: The week." Gamson credits the tabloid talk show fad with making alternative sexual orientations and identities more acceptable in mainstream society. Examples include a recent Time magazine article describing early 21st century gays coming out of the closet younger and younger, and the decline of suicide rates among gays and lesbians. Gamson also believes that tabloid talk shows caused homosexuals to be embraced in more traditional media. Examples include sitcoms like Will & Grace , primetime shows like Queer Eye and feature films like
11224-470: The workforce (resulting in a corresponding decline in potential viewers for daytime television , a phenomenon that had also mostly killed off the tabloid talk show's predecessor in daytime lineups, the daytime game show, and would later force cutbacks in soap operas, another daytime staple, as well). Common presumptions indicated that viewers were tiring of the constant recycling of subjects that are often shown on such programs. Another explanation would be that
11346-597: The world" and Martha Bayles of The Wall Street Journal wrote, "It's a relief to see a gab-monger with a fond but realistic assessment of her own cultural and religious roots." In the early years of The Oprah Winfrey Show , the program was classified as a tabloid talk show. In the mid-1990s, Winfrey began to host shows on broader topics such as heart disease, geopolitics , spirituality, and meditation. She interviewed celebrities on social issues they were directly involved with, such as cancer, charity work, or substance abuse, and hosted televised giveaways. The later years of
11468-431: Was "White Male Paranoia," which aired in 1993 on WWOR, and had guests complain about anti-white racism), an exposé of shock rock (for Bey this would sometimes include metal artists, especially in early years, and loud music by Aerosmith and thrash metal groups like Motley Crue during, for instance, the big butt contest episode; for Springer , it was appearances from Eldon Hoke and Gwar ), and paternity tests . Bey
11590-557: Was "indefinitely postponed" in 2016. Winfrey publishes the magazine: O, The Oprah Magazine and from 2004 to 2008 also published a magazine called O At Home . In 2002, Fortune called O, the Oprah Magazine the most successful start-up ever in the industry. Although its circulation had declined by more than 10 percent 2.4 million from 2005 to 2008, the January 2009 issue was the best selling issue since 2006. The January 2009 issue
11712-458: Was Winfrey's "first intense, to-die-for love affair". Winfrey helped get Taylor a job at WVOL, and according to Mair, "did everything to keep him, including literally begging him on her knees to stay with her". Taylor, however, was unwilling to leave Nashville with Winfrey when she moved to Baltimore to work at WJZ-TV in June 1976. "We really did care for each other," Winfrey would later recall. "We shared
11834-411: Was a model student. The two spoke of getting married, but Otey claimed to have always secretly known that Winfrey was destined for a far greater life than he could ever provide. She broke up with him on Valentine's Day of her senior year. In 1971, several months after breaking up with Otey, Winfrey met William "Bubba" Taylor at Tennessee State University. According to CBS journalist George Mair, Taylor
11956-418: Was a replacement for Ricki Lake after Lake quit her show. Tyra ' s format was more contemporary in the style of Oprah and Dr. Phil , but employed a few stunts including having audience members appear in their underwear, and most famously, Banks once pretended to suffer the effects of rabies to a shocked reaction. Tabloid shows made a slight comeback in the late 2000s and early 2010s, although with
12078-520: Was also the first to use the 18+ sex hotlines, featured on bumpers for the show during commercial breaks/interstitials, first on WWOR , its original broadcaster, and then in national syndication, from 1995 on. Common topics on Springer were more or less the same: partners admitting their adultery to each other, fights breaking out. However, things Springer had which Bey didn't included: women or men admitting to their partners that they were transvestites who had convinced their partners that they were
12200-635: Was also visited by Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall . The SEED School of Maryland, opened in August 2008, draws students from across the state. The school currently has an enrollment of 400 students from sixth through twelfth grades. The school's first class of seniors graduated in May 2015. The school is located at 200 Font Hill, Baltimore , Maryland ( 39°17′2″N 76°39′50.4″W / 39.28389°N 76.664000°W / 39.28389; -76.664000 ) SEED Maryland includes boarding facilities. The State of Maryland classifies it as
12322-627: Was born. A genetic test in 2006 determined that her matrilineal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, from the area that became Liberia . Her genetic makeup was determined to be 89% Sub-Saharan African, 8% " Native American " ( Indigenous peoples of the Americas ), and 3% East Asian. After Winfrey's birth, her mother traveled north, and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her maternal grandmother, Hattie Mae (Presley) Lee (April 15, 1900 – February 27, 1963). Her grandmother
12444-675: Was broadcast globally and received international media attention. In 2024, ABC announced an upcoming television special titled “AI and the Future of Us: An Oprah Winfrey Special” . Scheduled to air on September 12, the one-hour show aims to delve into the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on daily life. Notably, it will feature interviews with prominent figures from the tech industry, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Bill Gates . Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg 's The Color Purple (1985), as distraught housewife Sofia . She
12566-409: Was broadcast nationwide on September 8, 1986. Winfrey's syndicated show brought in double Donahue's national audience, displacing Donahue as the number-one daytime talk show in America. Their much-publicized contest was the subject of enormous scrutiny. According to Time magazine in August 1988: Few people would have bet on Oprah Winfrey's swift rise to host of the most popular talk show on TV. In
12688-403: Was designed as competition to NBC 's long-running franchise, Tonight , and its hard style contrasted with Tonight's more comedic format. The show generated significant controversy and was canceled after six months, later being retooled into a lighter talk show in an effort to boost ratings. Joe Pyne , a Los Angeles-based host, also hosted a similar talk show in syndication, although the focus
12810-652: Was dismissed later that year with the judge citing little case law to support his case, among other issues. The extent of the agreement between all the parties and jurisdictions regarding her subsequent development on the property remains undisclosed. In 2015, Oprah purchased another property in Telluride, and later that year, expanded her Montecito compound with another 23-acre estate and yet another 44-acre dedicated crop and equestrian preserve. That year she also sold both of her downtown Chicago homes. In 2018, Oprah obtained two adjoining parcels of land totaling 23 acres including
12932-456: Was far more like Roseanne , and Bey was far more elite and celebrity in nature. Of all time, they're about tied in terms of hard R-rated content, with Bey slightly having an edge for more graphic, bloodier fights. Maury would go on to become one of the most enduring examples of the format, albeit it being less sensational and far more peaceful than that of Bey and Springer. Debuting the same season as Springer and likewise initially having
13054-465: Was filmed in New York City. In 2006, rappers Ludacris , 50 Cent , and Ice Cube criticized Winfrey for what they perceived as an anti- hip hop bias. In an interview with GQ magazine, Ludacris said that Winfrey gave him a "hard time" about his lyrics, and edited comments he made during an appearance on her show with the cast of the film Crash . He also said that he wasn't initially invited on
13176-484: Was hailed by some as the "television event of the decade" and helped Letterman attract his largest audience in more than 11 years: 13.45 million viewers. Although a much-rumored feud was said to have been the cause of the rift, both Winfrey and Letterman balked at such talk. "I want you to know, it's really over, whatever you thought was happening," said Winfrey. On September 10, 2007, Letterman made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show , as its season premiere
13298-480: Was in Nashville, Lee gave birth to a third daughter, who was put up for adoption in the hopes of easing the financial straits that had led to Lee's being on welfare , and was later also named Patricia. Winfrey did not know that she had a second half-sister until 2010. By the time Winfrey moved back with her mother, Lee had also given birth to Winfrey's half-brother Jeffrey, who died of AIDS -related causes in 1989. At
13420-708: Was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame . Then in October, she finished the Marine Corps Marathon in less than four and a half hours. She has received honorary doctorate degrees from multiple universities. Winfrey has won many awards throughout her career, including 19 Daytime Emmy Awards (including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman's Award), two Primetime Emmy Awards (including
13542-537: Was later overturned By the early 2000s, the genre began to decline in popularity with viewers, and certain hosts either saw their shows cancelled due to low ratings (such as Jenny Jones and Sally Jessy Raphaël), died (such as Wally George ) or voluntarily ended their shows to pursue other interests (such as Ricki Lake). Many media analysts have attributed the decline in popularity of tabloid talk shows and daytime talk in general to competition from cable television and satellite television, and an increased number of women in
13664-511: Was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been, largely as a result of the long hours she worked as a maid. Around this time, Lee had given birth to another daughter, Winfrey's younger half-sister, Patricia, who died of causes related to cocaine addiction in February 2003 at age 43. By 1962, Lee was having difficulty raising both daughters, so Winfrey was temporarily sent to live with Vernon in Nashville, Tennessee . While Winfrey
13786-485: Was more on his confrontations with guests and less on audience participation. The early years of NBC's late-night series Tomorrow with Tom Snyder covered similar tabloid topics without a studio audience (as Tom Snyder did not believe he provided anything an audience would want to see in-person), before the show took on a more celebrity-driven format when Snyder moved to New York City in 1975. In Chicago, Lee Phillip Bell occasionally addressed controversial topics within
13908-447: Was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The Alice Walker novel later became a Broadway musical which opened in late 2005, with Winfrey credited as a producer. In October 1998, Winfrey produced and starred in the film Beloved , based on Toni Morrison 's Pulitzer Prize –winning novel of the same name . To prepare for her role as Sethe, the protagonist and former slave, Winfrey experienced
14030-431: Was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world. Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee . She has stated that she was molested during her childhood and early teenage years and became pregnant at 14; her son was born prematurely and died in infancy. Winfrey was then sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon Winfrey,
14152-647: Was oriented toward controversial guests and theatricality. As an example, one of the early show topics was titled "Men in Lace Panties and the Women Who Love Them". One 1988 episode featuring white power skinheads ended in a brawl that left host Geraldo Rivera with a broken nose. This incident led to Newsweek ' s characterization of his show as "Trash TV". The term was subsequently applied to tabloid talk shows at their most extreme; some hosts, such as Richard Bey and Jerry Springer , have proudly accepted
14274-460: Was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, for which other children made fun of her. Her grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. When Winfrey was a child, her grandmother was reportedly abusive . At age six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , with her mother, who
14396-452: Was strict but encouraging, and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, and joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School , placing second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. In 1986, Winfrey said, "'When my father took me, it changed the course of my life. He saved me. He simply knew what he wanted and expected. He would take nothing less'". Winfrey's first job as
14518-458: Was the best selling issue since 2006. The audience for her magazine is considerably more upscale than for her TV show; the average reader earns well above the median for U.S. women. In July 2020, it was announced that O Magazine would end its regular print publications after the December 2020 issue. In the December 2020 issue, Winfrey thanked readers and acknowledged it was the magazine's "final monthly print edition". Winfrey's company created
14640-414: Was the first talk show to follow the format. Host Les Crane would bring on controversial guests, interview them in an aggressive but fair style, and take questions from the audience. Crane was the first to interview an openly gay man on-air and frequently interviewed black celebrities, folk singers and other taboo guests; Crane was rebuffed in his efforts to interview lesbians on one of his shows. The format
14762-414: Was the first to acknowledge that women are interested in more than mascara tips and cake recipes – that we're intelligent, we're concerned about the world around us, and we want the best possible lives for ourselves." In the interview, Donahue explained that "the show became a place where women discussed issues that didn't naturally come up, and certainly not in mixed company. Much of what we talked about on
14884-470: Was the one that trashed daytime TV. She took the Donahue format and then brought on the whiny misfits and losers and screamers and shouters, and then everyone, including Donahue, followed her, until it went overboard. Then finally she came back and recanted and said, no, no, now I'm the queen of quality on TV." Talk shows were often spoofed in mainstream media, with Night Stand with Dick Dietrick being one of
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