After 25 seasons Oprah Winfrey Show ends

“The Oprah Winfrey Show”, the foundation of a media empire that worth billions who start as a local Chicago talk show will end in 2011 after 25 seasons.

The CBS Corp. unit declared: “We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success. We look  forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well.”

Oprah Winfrey

The decision that Oprah Winfrey took seems to be supported by many fans:
- “You always want to end a show when people want more — and not when people are sick of watching you”.
- “It’s time to elevate to something new. Whatever she does is going to be a blessing. It’s going to be rewarding and eye-opening. Her name alone opens doors.”

Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University said that “Oprah Winfrey is in a category of her own. This is a great American story and like any great American story it’s supersized.”

The 24th season was amazing, drew more than 20,000 fans to Chicago’s Magnificent Mile for a block party with the Black Eyed Peas.

“I call her `Queen of the New Consciousness’ because she did so many things to change lives, the books that she promoted,” said hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

Larry Gerbrandt, analyst for Media Valuation Partners in Los Angeles said “Oprah’s been a force of media and there’s really no person you can look to out there who you could say, `That’s the heir apparent’.  It’s a big loss, but not as huge as it would have been 10 years ago,” he said. “However, it still commands  the biggest audience and ABC station competitors are licking their chops.”

Winfrey wrote in the 1998 book “Journey to Beloved”: “I came from nothing. No power. No money. Not even my thoughts were my own. I had no free will. No voice. Now, I have the freedom, power, and will to speak to millions every day — having come from nowhere.”