Ever since Oprah began her career as a talk show host, she had the overall goal to inspire and uplift people through her positive shows. She carried that goal over to her very own network with hopes of providing extremely positive programming, while balancing out a lot of the negative and drama-filled shows that are currently on television.
Unfortunately, people don’t always tune in to those “uplifting and inspiring” shows and because of that, her network’s ratings struggled in it’s first few years. Now, she has shows like Tyler Perry’s Love Thy Neighbor to make people laugh, an upcoming reality show titled Houston Beauty, which will be packed with drama and a few cat fights, and even, Crazy. Sexy. Life , which follows four friends who are approaching their 4o’s and trying to figure life out.
In a recent interview with New York Magazine, O revealed that she had to switch things up and ease up from her serious, heartwarming and empowering shows to bring the ratings. However, don’t get it twisted…you won’t be seeing any wig snatching anytime soon.
On making the shift in her programmingRead more from Oprah’s NYMag interview HERE!
I have a tendency to look at everything from the point of view of: What is going to be meaningful, and uplift people? That can become too stoic and too serious—which is the same issue I suffered with at the magazine in the beginning. It needed more humor. So we [began] looking for lighter fare. Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s works. Iyanla: Fix My Life was also a turning point. Having programming that was in alignment with the vision but also left the space to widen the lane for the vision. If it were up to me, I’d be doing [Winfrey’s Sunday talk show] Super Soul Sunday conversations all the time.
On if there is a line that is drawn or things that she will not put on OWN
I’m interested in doing no harm. Before, it was always, I’ve got to uplift as well as entertain. And now I can look at a thing and say, “What harm does it do?” And harm is not just violence and calling people b—hes. It’s the tone of things. The role that I see myself serving is to put a mirror up to people’s lives by allowing them to see, through the storytelling that we do, their lives through other people. You can see somebody’s sorrows, but also their triumphs, and be lifted by that. You have to be responsible for the energy you’re putting out into the world. There are a lot of people, particularly in this business, who don’t give two poops about it. I’ve sat at those mogul jamborees—all the big muckety-mucks in a room, the bastions of media. And I’ve asked the question, “Where is your moral compass?” Not a lot of people are thinking about that, but I feel a responsibility to it. To whom much is given, much is expected.
On if she’s glad she’s launched the OWN Network despite the pitfalls
Absolutely. There’s a wonderful spiritual, and also a book that Maya Angelou wrote, called “Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now.” If I had it to do over, I would just do things differently. I would definitely have waited until the Oprah show was over, instead of trying to do it all at the same time. So do I have regrets about that? Not deep ones. I learned so much about myself, and sticking with it, and not giving up. I learned so much about putting your ego aside, and leaving room for other opportunities and other people’s insights. For that reason, I wouldn’t take nothing for the journey.
On if she misses connecting with an audience in the studio every day
Not in a studio. One of the things I’m preparing to do is a speaking tour. That’s what I see in the future, in terms of my connection to an audience. I don’t think I will ever be sitting in front of an audience again doing a show like Oprah. The truth is, I really don’t miss trying [to do a show] every day. If I got in the car by 8:10 a.m. and was home by 8:20 p.m., that was a good day, for 25 years. What took up the time was not the show. It’s all the other preparation, and the business of the business. I don’t miss that. But I do miss the day-to-day connection. When you tell 10 million people about something about which you are enthusiastic, and they trust you, you can get a million people to respond. I miss that immediate direct access. So now I do it through Twitter.
On if it’s important for her to evolve the network so that it can exist beyond “Oprah” in the next 50 years
Yeah, 100 percent. Because that’s what true leadership is—to be able to put whatever you’re doing, whether it’s your cupcake company or a network—in a position that it can sustain itself without you having to be the prominent force every day. You want to create an opportunity for other people. I love being behind the scenes and creating opportunities for other people to shine.
Last week, the trailer for Houston Beauty (based on one of the oldest beauty schools in the nation) was released and my first thought after seeing the drama-filled trailer was, “ooouuhhh OWN is getting ratcheeeet!”
Now, I so get it!
Catch it below:
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