Douglas Howe: November 2009 Archives

CNN and other outlets are reporting today that "The Oprah Winfrey Show" will be ending after 25 seasons.

The last show will be coming up soon: on September 9, 2011.

Okay, so it's not so soon! Mrs. Winfrey has followed the path of evening talk show host Jay Leno, the host of "The Tonight Show" from 1992-2009. To remove speculation about the potential of him moving to another network, or about what would happen with Conan O'Brien, the succession plan was announced well in advance of his May, 2009 departure from the show. Mrs. Winfrey's announcement comes almost two years before her show will actually end.

I have several questions and reactions to the news:

Wow! Sometimes it takes the end of something to appreciate how amazing it's been. According to the Oprah.com website, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" has been the highest-rated talk show for 23 consecutive seasons, being seen by 42 million viewers a week in the United States and 145 other countries. It has spun off "Oprah's Book Club," "O" Magazine, Oprah.com, "Oprah's Angel Network," Harpo Films and a host of other associations.

More Than a Show. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is more than a show. It's an institution. It's a movement. It's a congregation. It's a marketing animal. It's the home base of a much larger media empire. While most talk shows ("Larry King Live," "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," "Late Night With David Letterman, etc.) attract media leaders who are releasing a book, movie, campaign or public relations message, Oprah's endorsement has turned unknown people into household names, including Eckhart Tolle and Marianne Williamson. She has helped turn unknown gadgets into everyday must-haves . She once urged her audience to read Leo Tolstoy's"Anna Karenina," and the ancient Russian classic shot to the top of the Best-Seller list.

Just about everyone I know wants to be around people who are authentic. Who are transparent. Who are open.

We also love it when those in the public eye can be the same, but it happens so rarely in our day of media image-crafting where the off-stage life of celebrities is as calculated and choreographed as their films, shows, concerts or competitions.

That's why it's been so appealing to see Andre Agassi not on the professional tennis tour but on his recent book tour. In televised interview after interview, he's refreshingly open about his book, "Open," a crafty title about his success in Grand Slam "Open" tournaments and his openness about his life.

In the book--and vulnerably so in interview after interview--Agassi speaks about his use of crystal meth, his hatred for the game of tennis, his failed marriage to Brooke Shields, his hair falling out, his dad who gave him drugs, falling to #141 in the world rankings and other matters. In an amazing way, this superstar celebrity sounds like an everyday guy dealing with everyday things: he hated his job, his marriage failed, he was going bald, he was tempted by drugs, he had issues with his birth parents and how he had to make an impossible comeback after hitting rock bottom.

I remember watching Agassi play in a little qualifier tournament in Burbank, after he'd fallen so far off of the tennis map that he couldn't even play in the big tournaments. At that time, he was in the tennis basement, between the big hair success of his boyhood days and the championship comeback he was about to launch. Watching him on TV this week, I'm inspired and impressed by how far he's come personally as well as professionally.

Ms. Carrie Prejean is either a humble servant of the Lord who's learned from her prior mistakes, a courageous champion for Christian values, an opportunistic young diva who's ingeniously combining a conservative mindset with risqué acts caught on tape, a victim of our media driven society and its hunger for spicy and scandalous stories and photos, or some combination of all of the above.

Ms. Prejean, the former Miss California USA who was stripped of her crown, is now touring the TV news shows and having to answer the kind of questions that few of us would relish. She's recently appeared on NBC's "The Today Show," Fox's "Hannity" and many others.

Her supporters are saying that she's a courageous young woman dealing with the challenges of some past mistakes. Her critics are saying that she's being two-faced by speaking about conservative issues while herself not living up to the standard. Her supporters are saying that she's being unfairly targeted by liberals because of her conservatism.

Either way, she's rapidly become a superstar--not because of what she's accomplished as a leader or singer or dancer or champion or charity leader--but because of the salacious details involving her rise to stardom, her temporary fall, and whatever may come next. Her current book, "Still Standing - the Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate and Political Attacks" is now in stores.

"I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

"I just wanna go the distance."

"You're an impertinent man, Mr Hobbs!"

Perhaps you remember one of these quotes from a certain kind of movie. A special kind of movie. Or maybe you've been inspired by a recent event in the sporting world. Or by someone on the current sports stage.

If you're interested in all in that world that exists at the intersection of sports and inspiration, Beliefnet has a new site for you at http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Sports-Inspiration.aspx.

Whether you're into Baseball, Football, Basketball or Golf; NASCAR, Formula One or Indy Cars; the Olympics, the World Series, the Superbowl or March Madness; or Tennis, or Bowling or whatever your sport, Beliefnet's Sports Inspiration site will have something for you.

"I'm goin' to Disneyland!"

...Or so went the story of what champions used to say to the camera after winning the world championship. In an inspiring twist to a great evening for Gotham, New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi provided the icing on a great night by performing a Good Samaritan act on his way home.

So, instead of being in a wild celebration in need of a designated driver, Girardi was being good and doing good, at the same time!

It seems that on his way home from winning the World Series, Girardi was on a "curvy stretch of highway on the outskirts of New Rochelle. He came upon a car wreck and stopped to help a girl involved in it. The full story is here.

"She had no idea who I was," Girardi told a radio interviewer.

It turns out the "she" was Marie Henry, 27, of Stratford, Connecticut, who said Girardi "sprinted across three lanes of traffic to come to her aid."

Vanity Fair magazine has a long tradition that's being made into a book. I suspect it'll be a movie before too long! There's just something wonderful and inspiring about getting to know other people better, whether it be stars, friends...