CASPER
New member
NEW YORK – As her many fans know, Oprah Winfrey champions a few golden rules: Take charge of your life ... look beyond yourself to learn how others took charge ... always remember if you can dream it, you can do it.
Another Oprah principle the wise know to heed: Never bet against her.
That's a rule worth keeping in mind especially now, as the long-awaited OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network gears up for its premiere on New Year's Day.
The bold ambition of this venture would spark doubts if there were anybody else's name attached. Consider: a cable network started from scratch (actually, repurposed from Discovery Health, whose channel it will claim) and all-dependent on just one person's identity, vision and marquee power.
But that person is Winfrey, a cultural force perhaps unrivaled in the world. Now, as she moves through the final months of her daytime syndicated talk show, which will end next September after 25 years, OWN is poised to become Winfrey's new TV home base.
Instead of a daily hour boasting Winfrey's on-air presence as host, OWN will be a round-the-clock environment in which — her network vows — she will often be seen but, what is more important, always be felt. She will be the network's spiritual curator, maintaining a constant presence, even from off-camera, as she offers a slate of programs all guaranteed to meet her "Live Your Best Life" mandate.
It's a cable-network startup packed with as-yet-unproven shows. But these shows — 600 hours of original programming airing in 2011 — are endorsed by TV's most trusted figure. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will soon end, but, according to Winfrey, it is serving as a prism for the spectrum of programs OWN means to air.
"I want to take what I've established in daytime — inspiring people and giving them hope, and some cars — and build on that, 24-7, OWN-style," Winfrey told advertisers at a gathering last spring. "OWN will be the network built on great intentions."
Another Oprah principle the wise know to heed: Never bet against her.
That's a rule worth keeping in mind especially now, as the long-awaited OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network gears up for its premiere on New Year's Day.
The bold ambition of this venture would spark doubts if there were anybody else's name attached. Consider: a cable network started from scratch (actually, repurposed from Discovery Health, whose channel it will claim) and all-dependent on just one person's identity, vision and marquee power.
But that person is Winfrey, a cultural force perhaps unrivaled in the world. Now, as she moves through the final months of her daytime syndicated talk show, which will end next September after 25 years, OWN is poised to become Winfrey's new TV home base.
Instead of a daily hour boasting Winfrey's on-air presence as host, OWN will be a round-the-clock environment in which — her network vows — she will often be seen but, what is more important, always be felt. She will be the network's spiritual curator, maintaining a constant presence, even from off-camera, as she offers a slate of programs all guaranteed to meet her "Live Your Best Life" mandate.
It's a cable-network startup packed with as-yet-unproven shows. But these shows — 600 hours of original programming airing in 2011 — are endorsed by TV's most trusted figure. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will soon end, but, according to Winfrey, it is serving as a prism for the spectrum of programs OWN means to air.
"I want to take what I've established in daytime — inspiring people and giving them hope, and some cars — and build on that, 24-7, OWN-style," Winfrey told advertisers at a gathering last spring. "OWN will be the network built on great intentions."
