the oprah winfrey show

As 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' prepares to bow out, thousands of fans are expected to pack out Chicago's United Center today for the taping of a double episode, 'Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular'.

Although details of the guest lineup have been kept strictly under wraps, it's expected to be a star-studded affair. Executive producer Sheri Salata told the Associated Press that the celebrity response "has been a resounding 'yes'."

"Celebrities from film, television and music feel a deep appreciation for the support they have received from Oprah and the show over the years," Salata said. "Oprah will be very touched by that gratitude."

In 2003, James Frey established his contempt for the literary memoir format by releasing 'A Million Little Pieces,' a supposed memoir that turned out to be full of lies.

Oprah Winfrey helped make 'Pieces' into a bestseller in 2005 when she made it a selection of Oprah's Book Club and interviewed Frey on her show. In 2006, Frey went on the show again to admit that he had made up parts of the book.

On Monday's 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), Winfrey interview Frey again, and he reaffirmed his feelings about memoirs.

"I don't have a whole lot of respect for the genre. I think most writers of memoirs, and this is a very unpopular statement, do what I did."

Frey said he thinks most people who write memoirs manipulate and fabricate things and play with the truth, to tell the best story they can. But, you know, he might be exaggerating that just a little bit.

In February, 1988, four skinheads appeared on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated) to defend their views. One skinhead said that blacks hadn't created anything in America; they had come to America from the jungles of Africa and were taught by white people. Another said the skinheads only used violence when they were attacked.

On Friday's show, two of those former skinheads returned, looking considerably older and less dangerous.

"Absolutely from the bottom of my heart I apologize for how we were on your show, because we were rude, we were arrogant, we were disruptive, and hateful," said one of the former skinheads. Winfrey accepted the apology.

Mike, the former skinhead who had addressed the question of violence, actually broke into tears thinking about what he had said in 1988. "That kid was lost," he said.

On Thursday's 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), Winfrey challenged some of her fashion experts with an unusual makeover request.

In a pre-taped clip, four female Chicago police officers, dressed in full uniform blues, asked for help with a makeover, saying they were tired of being "fashion don'ts.".

The four officers got their makeover, and stood behind a screen, silhouetted in the style of 'Charlie's Angels,' waiting for the reveal. Gone were the starchy blues, replaced with skirts and glittery clothes that made the quartet look more fashionable. Expert Diane von Furstenberg said, "The makeover is not just about the clothes, it's really about confidence.".

Although these four may feel more confident outside the precinct in these duds, they're probably more confident in their old uniforms when it comes to chasing down a criminal or finding a place to holster a gun. Those are truly unusual fashion challenges -- in the real world, at least.

In November of 2006, Dr. Mehmet Oz said in a segment with Oprah Winfrey that when a man loses 35 pounds on a diet, he gains one inch in penis length.

On Tuesday's 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), Winfrey welcomed Mike, a husband and father of three who happened to catch that segment, and took it seriously.

Winfrey turned to the audience during her introduction and smiled coyly, saying "Now he's lost 104 pounds. You can count the inches for yourself." Mike did look good, and Winfrey commented that he looked like a "different person." But that didn't address the main issue. For that, Winfrey went to Mike's wife, Shannon.

Shannon smiled and said, "Dr. Oz was right." Then again, what could she really say? "Nah, nothing could help Mike," or "I wish he'd lose some more weight." Wouldn't want to spoil the moment.

With the end of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' drawing near, Gayle King relived some of her favorite moments from the long-running talk show on 'Good Morning America' (weekdays, 7AM ET on ABC).

King cited Oprah Winfrey's 1988 show where she pulled a wagon of fat behind her to mark a 67-pound weight loss. She also recalled performances by Tina Turner and the Black Eyed Peas, which King said one viewer described as "joy rising." "I think that was really such an accurate portrayal," she said. "People literally started weeping after that."

Chaz Bono legally became a man last year after gender-reassignment surgery and a change from his old name, Chastity. But as he said today on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), it has been a tough battle.

Bono has a documentary, 'Becoming Chaz,' which premieres tomorrow on Winfrey's OWN Network. Winfrey quoted Bono talking about how his parents set his public image when he was 2, showing off their daughter on television. He was then "Sonny and Cher's adorable daughter Chastity, for better or for worse."

'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated) is winding down to a dwindling few episodes, and on today's edition, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts had heartfelt comments about Winfrey and her show.

Hanks talked about how Winfrey's openness has helped people: "Men now know how to communicate their feelings to their loved ones because of Oprah, kids now know how to tell the truth about what has happened to them, because of Oprah ... Love you, girl."

"She's always there, she always has something positive to say," Roberts said, almost on the verge of tears ... "I couldn't possibly say farewell ... I'm in denial that she won't be part of my every afternoon." That's a sentiment that millions of viewers must be feeling about the end of the show.

Both Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey are counting down the days. Gaga has a new album, 'Born This Way,' coming out May 23. A couple of days later, on May 25, the last 'Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated) will air. So it was a nice bit of cross-promotion for Lady Gaga to come on the show and sing Winfrey a farewell song.

Dressed like a Klingon widow and sitting at a keyboard horned into a giant golden shoe, Gaga regaled the audience with a refrain about Winfrey's 25 years, set over cheesy power chord rock, repeating the phrase "you and I" a lot for some unclear reason. Did we mention the church windows? Yes, there were church windows.

Gaga and Oprah (an introduction Letterman would loved to have made) then embraced. In a nifty little plug for the album, Winfrey said, "You've encouraged people to be comfortable being born the way they are." If this is true, Gaga owes mom a big Mother's Day present for being born in a plastic-looking blazer with big pointy shoulders.

Today, John Lewis is a U.S. Representative for Georgia's fifth district. But in 1961, Lewis was a student and participated in the Freedom Rides in the South to fight segregation.

On Wednesday's 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), he spoke about his experiences as one of the first Freedom Riders. (May 4 is the 50th anniversary of the first Freedom Rides). Lewis was beaten for his efforts; now, 50 years later, he sat next to Elwin Wilson, the man who delivered the beating.

Singer Shania Twain has lived through a strange soap opera the past several years, one that saw her divorced from her producer husband, Robert "Mutt" Lange, over an alleged affair with Twain's friend and Lange's assistant, Marie-Anne Thiebaud. Though the affair has never been admitted to publicly, there are still plenty of hard feelings for Twain, who is now married to Thiebaud's ex-husband (Swiss business executive Frederic Thiebaud).

Twain was on Tuesday's 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated) and said that she has made a deal with Lange that Thiebaud will never come in contact with their son, Eja. "That's an agreement that we have,"Twain said. "I basically said that Eja will never be a part of her life and you'll just have to accept that now, or we'll all move so far away to the other end of the planet ... I did threaten there, I have to admit."

Twain's rationale was that she and Eja had had enough exposure to someone Twain feels took her happiness. The story already seems complicated enough without that kind of awkward family reunion.

Barack and Michelle Obama sat down for a taped interview with Oprah Winfrey the day President Obama released his long-form birth certificate to the press. That interview aired Monday on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated). Since the interview was taped before Sunday's news about the death of Osama bin Laden, much of the conversation centered on the birther issue.

When the issue first came up, President Obama said he didn't take the controversy seriously.

"When it first came up, were you thinking, 'I hope I was born here,'" asked Winfrey. Obama said no. "I was there," he said. "It seemed unlikely that my 18-year-old mother had plotted at the time, saying, you know what, he's going to be president, so let's pay off the newspapers." While the President found it amusing, Michelle Obama was less entertained.

Rob Lowe's sex tape scandal the night before the Democratic National Convention in 1989 was huge, career-threatening news at the time. Now? Not so much. But, as Oprah Winfrey pointed out on today's 'Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), Lowe was one of the first celebrities to have a sex tape scandal. And that's something of which he's not terribly proud.

"Sometimes being a trailblazer is highly overrated," he said. Lowe was caught on tape with two women, one of whom turned out to be only 16 years old. Lowe said he had been hassled about producing his own ID at the door of the club where he met the women, so assumed they couldn't have been underage. So, when did he find out one of them was 16? "Ha! A little too late," he said.

Lowe said the scandal almost seems quaint now, with people releasing sex tapes to boost their careers. But he also notes it was the best thing that ever happened to him because it helped push him toward sobriety. Nothing, it seems, could have prevented 'Dr. Vegas,' though, which pushed many others toward sobriety.

Oprah Winfrey and Bob Greene asked a number of 'Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated) fans to take the "20 Years Younger Challenge," based on Greene's book of the same name. They followed Greene's regimen for two months, and on Wednesday's episode, Winfrey featured the women, showing the group's "before" picture and then following their progress.

In a pre-recorded clip, Winfrey showed the women working out and talking about their experience. "I have to admit I wouldn't imagine myself at almost 50 wearing a tank top and stretchy pants in front of the camera," said one woman working on an elliptical machine.

There's no way to quantify whether they actually seem 20 years younger, but some of them reported benefits like kicking blood pressure pills. Maybe they mostly feel 20 years younger.

Michael Douglas has had his share of problems lately, not the least of which was throat cancer. He appears to have beaten that, but today on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' (weekdays, syndicated), he spoke of the latest hardship to befall his family. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Douglas's wife, was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which, like Douglas's cancer, has become tabloid fodder.

Zeta-Jones was a source of strength for Douglas through his health struggles, possibly to the detriment of her own health. Douglas seemed to indicate that Zeta-Jones, though discussing the diagnosis openly now, was reluctant to focus on herself earlier. "My oldest son is in federal prison, my ex-wife is suing me, and I got cancer," said Douglas. "It's kinda hard for the wife to say, 'I'm depressed.'"

Zeta-Jones is reported to suffer from bipolar II, a form of the disorder that Douglas said does not feature mania as strongly as its more serious counterpart, but leans heavily toward depression.