Oprah Winfrey stopped by the 'The Dr. Oz Show' (Weekdays, Syndicated) show to update her fans on what she's been up to since 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' went off the air. After 25 years "in the chairs," as she described it, Winfrey is excited to be getting up and "going out into the world just talking to people who I felt were interesting."

This includes film luminaries like George Lucas at his ranch, as well as a group of Hasidic Jews who'd never heard of her before agreeing to do her program. Clearly, the freedom that's been allowed her with the OWN network has opened Winfrey's mind to the possibilities of what she can explore.

When Gayle King left her show on OWN to become the host of the new, reformatted CBS morning show, Wendy Williams wondered if the move might signal a behind-the-scenes rift between besties Oprah and Gayle King. She delivered a monologue urging the longtime friends to remember the good times and stay close. And apparently Oprah heard her plea. Or at least her people did, anyway, because Williams received a letter from "Oprah" reassuring her that Gayle and Oprah were still best friends.

Wendy read a copy of the letter Wednesday on 'The Wendy Williams Show' (weekdays, syndicated on Fox) and joked that she was keeping the original in a locked vault in her office. "There is only happiness for Gayle and this wonderful opportunity," the letter clarified. After the letter ended with a "Love, Oprah," Wendy added her own post-script: "stay black."

Rosie O'Donnell learned something unexpected about the one-time queen of daytime television. She discovered that Oprah Winfrey likes to take tequila shots, and even had footage of Oprah teaching her how to take one on 'The Rosie Show' (Weeknights, 7PM ET on OWN).

O'Donnell seemed a bit surprised by the three-step process of properly drinking one down, but was game to try. Unfortunately, she didn't get to the lime part fast enough, and the tequila started to burn.

"What the hell?" she shouted before finally sucking the lime. "There should be a warning: It's gonna burn your throat!"

I hear Rosie O'Donnell has leagues of devoted fans, but I've never met one. I hope for Oprah Winfrey's sake that she asked her staff to produce evidence of these throngs of Rosie-lovers before she gave Rosie five live hours per week on her network.

Me, I never had very strong feelings about O'Donnell, at least not while she was enjoying her reign as the Queen of Nice. I admit I enjoyed the schadenfreude of her unmasking as not-that-nice, not-that-beloved and definitely not-that-into Tom Cruise, but the truth is I didn't pay her much attention. It was only in researching her recent history that I discovered just how many accusations of breach of contract and unprofessional behavior she leaves in her wake as she joins the OWN team.

Jonathan Franzen's novel 'The Corrections' was the publishing sensation of 2001. It won multiple awards and made its author a household name.

Especially after Oprah Winfrey chose it as one of her Book Club picks and he famously turned down an invitation to appear on her show.

Rumors have swirled for years about possible movie and TV adaptations of the lengthy tome and now there are reports that producer Scott Rudin ('The Social Network,' 'There Will Be Blood') and writer-director Noah Baumbach ('The Squid and the Whale,' 'Margot at the Wedding') are close to a TV series deal with HBO.

According to Deadline, the cable network may soon place an order for a pilot episode.

It's also been reported that none other than Anthony Hopkins has expressed an interest in playing one of the central roles.

In her first week on the job at her OWN network, Oprah Winfrey discovered she was in for a much different experience than her 25-year tenure on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show.' In a note on her Facebook page, she wrote, "It's ten times harder than doing my daily show." 'The Insider' (weekdays, 7PM on CBS) reported on Winfrey's efforts to improve the network, including hiring Rosie O'Donnell to do her own show.

According to 'Insider,' OWN is the 63rd ranked cable network and Web site traffic has recently plunged by 50 percent. Winfrey is hoping O'Donnell's show, which shoots on Winfrey's old set, will give the network a boost when it debuts this fall. O'Donnell seems happy to be involved. "We did like a four-hour sort of sit down, what's going on, what do you think," she said. "At the end of it, she's like, what do you say we do this. I'm like, I'm in."

News broke Wednesday that Oprah Winfrey has appointed herself CEO and Chief Creative Officer at the Oprah Winfrey Network. Thursday, 'The Early Show' (weekdays, 7AM on CBS) took a look at the nascent network and the problems its run into since launching. According tot he report, OWN is averaging 267,000 viewers in prime time viewing hours, an improvement of just 12,000 viewers over Discovery Health, the network it displaced.

For someone used to dominating television in syndication, the numbers have to be a disappointment for Winfrey. But as Ronald Glover of Bloomberg Businessweek pointed out, cable is a different game. "Cable television is not afternoon television, it's not broadcast television," he told CBS. "The number of channels that the OWN channel is competing against is huge."

CBS also reported that Winfrey sent a memo to her staff, which read, in part, "We are in this boat together in a very real way now. And I will put my brand and my future on the line because I know this one team ... is the boat I want to be in." That's a good thing for Oprah, as since her show ended, OWN is the only TV boat she's in.

Oprah Winfrey has been named the new CEO and CCO of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. Makes sense, right?

Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, presidents of Harpo Studios, will now become presidents of OWN. Winfrey's new title change takes place this fall while Logan and Salata's is effective immediately.

"I am ready to dedicate my full creative energy and focus as the full time CEO of OWN. By aligning the mission, talent and leadership of Erik, Sheri, the OWN team, the Harpo team, along with expertise of David Zaslav, Peter and all of Discovery behind us, we can unleash the full potential of the network," Winfrey said in a statement.

In a Facebook note to her fans, Winfrey called merging of Harpo and OWN as part of her "going with the flow" mentality.

Brooke Burke has come a long way since her first job. As a 15-year-old, she worked part-time at a pretzel shop, making $3.75 an hour. Now, the model and TV star is co-host of 'Dancing With the Stars' and makes -- well, a lot more than she used to. On 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), Burke gets a chance to reenact her first job, and finds that her pretzel-making skills have really fallen apart.

Watch the video after the jump.

What do you do when you're Oprah Winfrey, you're ending your mega-successful show in about a year and you want your audience to surge during the May sweeps? First, you get Tom Cruise to return to your program. Then, you fill in around that.

That's exactly what Oprah is doing on her show. On the May 14 installment Cruise, along with Cameron Diaz, will show up to promote their upcoming action-comedy 'Knight and Day.' Don't look for too much couch-jumping by Mr. Cruise, though, as he has a movie to promote.

Surrounding Cruise's appearance are a bevy of personalities, both in and out of Hollywood, that will stop by to chat with Miss O. This includes Simon Cowell, Dolly Parton, former First Lady Laura Bush, Julia Roberts and, for all of you screaming teenage girls out there, Justin Bieber. The full schedule can be found after the jump.

To celebrate Earth Day, the creators of the documentary 'The Cove' appeared on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated). 'The Cove' is a film that exposes the yearly slaughter of thousands of dolphins in a village in Japan. Though some of the dolphins are sent to zoos, the vast majority are killed and eaten for meat. So many dolphins are killed in the hunt that the blue water is turned to red.

Watch the video after the jump.

The star of 'Cake Boss' appeared on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated) to discuss his life and his dreams. Buddy Valastro -- head baker on the reality series -- talked to Winfrey about his childhood, and about how far he's come since then.

Watch the video after the jump.

"You didn't think six was enough?"

Oprah Winfrey's opening question to Nadya Suleman on Tuesday's 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated) set the stage for the mother of 14 to explain the emotional needs that forced her to give birth to octuplets, and to talk about the "tremendous amount of guilt" she has for having so many kids.

Watch the video after the jump.

Oprah Winfrey appeared at an awards show today -- and there, she discussed some of the accusations made against her in a new unauthorized biography. The biography was written by Kitty Kelley, and among other things, the book claims that Winfrey abused drugs and lied about the extent of poverty that she suffered as a child. The book also raises speculation as to the true identity of Winfrey's biological father.

Watch the video after the jump.

Russell Crowe was on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated) on Friday to discuss his latest film, director Ridley Scott's 'Robin Hood,' which opens May 14.

Early buzz on the film has it that this version of the legend will be more realistic, violent and exciting than previous outings. But none of that mattered for Crowe's two young boys (Charlie, 6 and Tennyson, 3 1/2) who attended a screening of the PG-13 movie with their dad. "This should have been one of those great moments between fathers and sons," Crowe said. "Within five minutes, my oldest boy Charlie goes, 'Ah, dad, can we go now?' And ... Tennyson goes, 'Dad, when do you get a horse?'"

Watch the video after the jump.