Yes, Oprah's leaving daytime syndication. But don't worry, she'll be back.
You won't find this on my résumé, but 12 years ago, I worked for three long months at King World, home of Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and The Oprah Winfrey Show (among others). I won't bore you with the details (it was not fun), but I do recall sitting in a meeting where a bevy of overpaid execs were ecstatic that Oprah was not stepping down from her top-rated podium. "Whew! No need to worry about our stock options now," laughed the head of the division. "We got her for two more years."
Now, after talking about leaving her top-rated syndicated talk show for the past 12 years, she will finally do so in 2011. Personally, all I can say is, good riddance. Don't get me wrong, I recognize Oprah's impact. Everything she touches turns to gold. But I am just plain sick and tired of hearing about her departure. Aren't you? And I know damn well—as you should, too—that she is not "retiring." There is no way that the egomaniac of the century is walking away from her daily exposure. She feeds from this. She lives by this. And she is not walking away. It ain't gonna happen. My guess is Oprah will plop herself smack in the middle of OWN, the cable network she's creating in conjunction with Discovery Communications. And that, no doubt, will give the cable net a shot in the ratings arm. But what Oprah apparently does not know is that the cable platform is not daytime syndication, and there is no reason to believe she will attract an audience of the same magnitude. It's much easier to tune into Oprah on channel 7 in your local market from force of habit than find her on one of the higher channels. Looking into my crystal ball, I can already see the headlines in 2012 or 2013 about Oprah's amazing return to daytime syndication, once she realizes her impact has diminished on cable. Just wait. You'll see.
As I always have said, there is only one Oprah. You can't duplicate her. And chances are Sony Pictures Television's Dr. Oz, who owes his success to Oprah, will inherit a large percentage of the Oprah time periods. But September 2011 is almost two years away. And for 20 long months, all we will be hearing about is Oprah departure. Personally, I can't stand it. Can you?
—Posted by Marc Berman

