'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
Comedienne's Second TV Show Canceled This Year
Oprah's exit is like Johnny Carson leaving The Tonight Show
by Allison Waldman, posted Nov 21st 2009 11:02AM
After watching The Oprah Winfrey Show today and hearing her teary announcement about her decision to end her syndicated talk show, I had one thought in my head. Oprah Winfrey is doing a Johnny Carson. She's writing her own script (no pun intended). Oprah is leaving while she's still wanted, while she's still strong, and by setting the date 18 months down the road, she's giving herself a victory tour. This is very much like Johnny Carson's decision to leave The Tonight Show. The difference, of course, is that Oprah's show is not an established landmark entity like The Tonight Show, which had Steve Allen and Jack Paar as hosts before Carson. No, Oprah was/is The Oprah Winfrey Show. She will not leave it behind for someone else to inherit the throne. She's taking the throne with her.
The more I think about it, the more it seems that this is a very smart move by Ms. O. It burnishes her legend. She's going out on her own terms and picking her own exit strategy. Compare this goodbye to Phil Donahue, who should be remembered as Oprah's predecessor, but is generally a forgotten man. Just a generation ago, Donahue was "the man" in talk. The Donahue Show was a huge success in syndicated talk.
Today, the Jay-walking nebbishes wouldn't recognize his name, let alone be able to identify his 8x10. The biggest Phil in daytime now pretends to be a doctor.
You can't imagine Oprah fading like that. She's too big, too mass-media, too Oprah. She also will have 18 months of shows in which she'll be lionized and revered like nobody's business. Then she'll plot her return to television on OWN. We won't have time to notice that she's gone.
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