« WWfM 8-4-2008 | Main | John Edwards, the Olympics, "Eureka" »

August 04, 2008

Comments

Don

I don't live in the KC market or have any other skin in the game... but shouldn't the press release say... "we beat Oprah reruns! Look at us! Aren't we great! We beat shows that aired eight months ago! We're neato!"

(Don, I'm guessing you don't have a background in PR. Seriously, though, Oprah's reruns have handily beaten the competition for years. Including KCTV5 News at 4. What's so different this year that the reruns aren't working?--AB)

Cliff

These aren't just reruns. These are reruns of reruns of reruns. In Chicago, Oprah is shown both in the morning and right after Nightline (pushing Jimmy Kimmel back to 12:05 am). So every day is a rerun day. Given that many of her episodes are repeated not just twice, but three times, that's six times for a single episode!

Stooge

I never watch the show, but I can't help but respect Oprah for all this. She stays true to herself and loses some ratings share... but at least she's doing what she believes in. A populist Oprah is much less interesting than one who's willing to take a risk and speak her mind.

Amy

Personally, I think it's two-fold. The Obama thing certainly factors in. But Oprah has also shifted the focus of her show over the past few years. It seems like every week is all RAH RAH WOMEN BOO TO MEN. Or Poor Misunderstood Women(tm). Annoying, condescending and that's not good for ratings. I only tune in when a Celeb I like is on.

Brandyjane

While her enthusiastic support of Obama is probably a part of the ratings slide, I think an even bigger reason is the New Age spirituality she injects into nearly every topic. It alienates viewers from all across the religious spectrum, from atheists who think it's just stupid to Christians who believe she's leading people astray. The woman had an entire episode on past lives! And now she has those weekly online discussion groups about her brand of spirituality. It's getting creepy. Viewers don't tune into Oprah to watch the Church of Oprah.

Joanna

I agree with Amy about the general anti-man slant of the show. The main reason I quit watching 3 or 4 years ago, though, was that I got tired of the hypocrisy. Oprah preaches her dismay at what our "celebrity-driven" culture is doing to the country and then fawns like a teenager over every actor that does her show. Her show expends a *lot* of effort to make sure we all love the celebrities that show up.

modean

Well Oprah may take the summer off but it's clear from the comments here that her staff is hard at work. :)

Seriously folks, either you don't get it or you don't want to get it. Oprah saw her ratings slip months ago when she first openly endorsed Obama over Hillary but it wasn't enough for her to drop in comparison to the competition. Now in repeats she's actually losing ground. If you don't get that a woman who's practically become an industry unto herself is now seeing it slip away because she is showing overt support for a political candidate for the first time, then you just don't get it.

Stushie

Oprah lost a lot of viewers when she decided to endorse and promote Eckhart Tolle's book, A New Earth. Dabbling in New Age hocus-pocus turned off lots of Christians.

Laura

I have talked with several people with different ethnic backgrounds, religion or not as to why they have stopped watching or “reduced” their watching Oprah; across the board many felt that her support for Obama was damaging to her. “She jumped on the boat before really knowing the candidates” is a quote from one I recall. Most felt it was because of her new spirituality. The “chanting” birthday (or woman’s) party she held. Most people thought she was a God fearing, Jesus Christ believing Christian. Her (Oprah) Stating “What? God is jealous of Me?” - when she denounce that belief, Christians stopped watching. When she began to force this belief in every avenue she could, more left. I myself was never an “Oprah’s on! I must drop everything!” type of person. Although I am a Christian, neither reason stated above is why I stopped watching her nearly 4 years ago. IMHO, her show quality has disintegrated. I feel that may be another main cause - people have had enough of the "Oprah" scene.. It's time to move on.

Steve

I, too, have stopped watching, though in my case it's more of a coincidence. Now I've got 14 on the TiVo and I go through and see what the topic is, and then I click delete.

As far as ratings decline, this has got to be a boon to the glut of new talkshows that will be coming this fall.

And while Tyra Banks has proclaimed herself "The NEW Oprah" I just don't think that's the case. I don't think she has the universal appeal that one would need to fill that roll.

At the same time, Oprah won't panic. Ratings, like so many other things in life, are cyclical, and nobody knows that better than her. She'll slump, and then (hopefully) kick it in to high gear this fall.

Rose

I no longer watch Oprah under an circumstances and it has NOTHING to do with Obama. I truly think that everyone is way off base with this one. If that were true, Movie and Television would be taking a huge hit too - 95% of Hollywood supports Obama. The reason and I am sure of it is her support and pushing of the teachings of Eckhart. There was a grass roots movement to boycott her show about the same time as the Obama appearance. That is the true story. How come no one will report that?

The comments to this entry are closed.

TV Barn on Twitter:








Site design by A.B. with help from Julio Garcia | About KansasCity.com | Terms of Use/Privacy | Copyright | RSS | Contact