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No You Di’nt …

Yes I did. I’m about to bash Oprah, to get your knee high boots on because this could get messy.

Okay, so I’m not going to bash her too bad, but more likely complain about her. Sure, she’s probably a great person … a queen … a goddess … or at least she likes to think so.

Here’s my problem with Oprah. I think the power has gone to her head. She gives off the impression, and rightly so, that she can change the world. It’s not all her fault. I mean, there a flocks of people that watch her show every day, hanging onto every word Oprah says as if she’s Christ revisited. Oprah says that she likes a certain toothpaste and next thing you know you can’t find the shit in any store within 500 miles. It’s the Oprah factor.

My main problem with her is that when she interviews people, she often seems distracted. Her guest is talking and she’s looking off-stage at the producer or something, as though she could care less about what the person is talking about. I’m sure she’s already read their notes and probably heard the story already, but still … it seems rude to be watching a show and see the host not paying attention to what the guest is saying.

Another problem is the fact that she interupts people/audience members. A sort of “I’m done hearing from you … NEXT” type of thing. I totally realize that there are time constraints and schedules, but for most of these people, they’ve flown a long way to see Oprah and probably spent more money than they wanted to. For most it’s probably the only reason for flying into Chicago. The least she can do is to let them talk to her for a few minutes.

Which brings me to gripe number three. The other day I was watching an “after the show” type of thing and this one lady stands up and asks to take a picture with Oprah. Oprah snaps back that she’ll do it, but won’t do any others, because “she can’t take photos with the whole audience”. Erm. Those people are the ones that made you the household name you are … for some, they’ve dreamed about seeing a taping since the beginning and YOU don’t have time to take a picture with them. That just pissed me off.

I remember going to the Today show taping in New York and being amazed that Matt, Katie, Ann and Al took the time to take photos with every single person outside the studio after the show was over. I’m sure they were pretty busy, but they still took the 45 minutes or so to make the audience feel important.

I understand that Oprah has to tape a couple of shows a day … but isn’t that her JOB. That’s what she does. She makes a talk show. It’s funny that she can spend an hour after the show to tape a “after the show” episode … because it’s a money maker. Hey, those advertisers are probably paying a good fee to stick ads on her “after the show” shows. Seems to me that as long as it’s making money, she’ll take the time, but when the cameras turn off … she’s outta there.

Anyhow, on the plus side, Oprah does plenty of good. She appears to be fairly generous to her audiences as far as giving them stuff goes. It just seems like sometimes I watch that show, which isn’t very often, and she doesn’t seem like she’s all there. Either distracted or interupting people who might be asking a question. Maybe that’s just what happens when you no longer really need regular people to make you a superstar — when you’ve got all the money you need and are pretty self-sufficient. Face it, if she stopped working today, she’d be set for the rest of her life, even if she dropped off the face of the earth.

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