Results tagged “theoprahhasspoken”

Considering Oprah’s weight gain was the impetus for her Best Life Series that kicked off the new year, we weren’t surprised to flip on the TV and find her still talking about the struggle, as she’s done in so many shows over the decades. Monday’s show had an unprecedented focus, however, as it featured about a dozen obese teens who had participated in an experiential program that helped them address the issues underlying their immense size. Through massively tearful exercises led by counselors Yvonne and Rich Dutra St. John, the kids and their parents dug deep to figure out what emotional void each teen actually hungered to fill. The most telling of activities were also the simplest, as both teens and parents shed armor to fill in the blanks: “If you really knew me you’d know____” and “I’m angry that___,” the latter of which often causing an eruption repressed turmoil in each kid. As we lay on the couch watching this in sniffly sobs, we hoped Oprah had some purpose to all this soul searching other than to rip out our hearts and send them through a paper shredder. Luckily she did, as Dr. Oz joined her on Tuesday with a show full of healing antidotes.

No one has been anxiously awaiting the Obama Inauguration more than his number one fan Oprah Winfrey, and this week she kicked it into high gear with a second round of Obamarama to celebrate the swearing in of our new president. We found ourselves a little confused on Monday when we were greeted with a rerun of a Martin Luther King Jr. tribute at 9:00 a.m., but Oprah was prepping for her star-studded pre-inauguration blowout we Chicagoans were finally graced with at 11:00 that night.

Ever since Oprah told us circa 1998 that we had the power to change our lives by the year 2000, she's come up with various programs over the past decade to help us do so, culminating with this year's Best Life Series. Today the Sun-Times took a look back at some of Oprah's self-improvement workshops that have sought to pull us out of our collective doldrums. Recaps the S-T, she gave us:

Last week Oprah gave us a five-point instructional checklist on how to live our best life, and on Monday she gave us a pop quiz to make sure we’d paid attention. First thing’s first, we all know Oprah’s madder than Faith Hill after losing her Grammy for once again falling off the wagon and putting on weight, and clearly, misery loves company. Oprah invited a handful of former weight loss success stories who have recently bulked up again to, as she did, face the truth and get back on track. Her featured guest was Erik Chopin, who lost 214 pounds and won his season of The Biggest Loser. He once told the Oprah camp he wasn’t able to appear on a recent show due to a busy work schedule, but in truth, he was afraid to show the world he’d regained more than half of what he’d lost. But Erik, as well as with various chubbed up Skypers, forgave themselves and began anew, and Oprah sent them running along towards a better year. Oprah also peeked in on our sex lives, and viewers raved about Dr. Laura Berman’s foreplay map, which can of course be downloaded at Oprah.com, although we think hands-on learning may be the more appropriate approach.

It’s a new year, but Oprah’s back to her old self. It’s been a few weeks since she stated the obvious: she’s gained weight, and it’s not just holiday pounds. But there’s a silver lining to the somewhat inflated cloud that is Oprah, and that beacon light is the Best Life Series. Oprah began this week-long self-improvement program on Monday talking about her weight. Yes, “again,” but she’s the first to admit we should all be sick of this subject. She can’t believe she’s once again the big 2-0-0, especially considering the downright arrogant stance she took on weight loss during her skinny mini stage about four years ago. Open mouth, insert foot. Oprah spent the first half of Monday’s show eating crow, admitting her life has been out of whack, and that balance was what she truly hungered for. You may assume sitting through a solemn Oprah diatribe would make you want to head for The Hills, but in fact hearing the Great and Powerful Oprah speak honestly about her own flaws made her amazingly human, and we immediately rooted for her.

HBO announced today it has entered into a three-year deal with Harpo Films, from which various scripted television series, films and documentaries will spring. Harpo, which has worked with ABC in the past and has been known for its uplifting and generally Oprah-esque programming, seems excited for the new found freedom a cable network will bring. According to the company's president Kate Forte:

Oprah Winfrey will confess through January's O Magazine that she's back on the weight roller coaster, having recently packed on 40 pounds to make her a round 200. In the article released today to the AP, she says her recent battle with a thyroid condition gave her a fear of working out, and in general caused her to stray from her commitment to healthy living. In her own words, "When it comes to maintaining my health I didn't just fall off the wagon. I let the wagon fall on me."

After the holiday, we were ready to hunker down under a blanket and catch up on our Oprah Watch-ing, but were dismayed to find a week's worth of repeats coming down the pipeline. But we get it, Oprah's got priorities. While she left us to revisit Barbara Walters' sultry affair and deets on the latest internet scam, Oprah took time off to plan Obamarama Take 2. We figured she wasn't done celebrating, but it turns out the Obama Inauguration Special the Oprah camp has planned will be more grandiose than we thought. It appears Oprah will shoot her show from Washington D.C. all inauguration week, and has rented out the Opera House at the Kennedy Center for the occasion. As she told Access Hollywood, "See you there...that's the place to be." (If Access Hollywood's invited, we assume our invitation is on its way.)

Oprah kicked off the holiday season of giving on Monday with free home makeovers for viewers care of Thom Filicia of Queer Eye and Oprah Show live-in lover Nate Dreamboat Berkus. First Thom scrambled to complete a home renovation in 42 minutes while wearing a child-size plastic fireman’s hat. We thought we were in for a light-hearted show, but it took a tear-jerking turn with Nate’s assignment. Guests Joan and Ken had made an appearance on the show back in September and won the chance to take Nate home for a domestic upgrade. What we didn’t know then is that Joan had been diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and has little time left to live. She wanted to make sure her husband and sons had a “manly” place to hang out in their house, so Oprah charged Nate with the task of upgrading the family’s unfinished basement into a guy’s wonderland. Some wood paneling, a pool table and autographed photos of dirt bikers seemed to do the trick, and the joy and relief in Joan’s eyes Oprahfied us.

This Monday, Oprah opened the floodgates for pushy stage moms everywhere with the “World’s Smartest and Most Talented Kids” show, featuring freakishly amazing children hand-selected from thousands of video submissions. The cute-but-tame, pint-sized b-boy and tap dancer along with the demon child hula hooper kept us entertained in the beginning, but the talent show took an awkward turn when the 11-year-old yodeling sensations took the stage. Instead of letting Taylor Ware and her Pippy Longstocking pigtails have their moment, Oprah had the yodelette give the entire audience a lesson, making the whole room “littleoldladyheewhooo” about 16 times before she cut to commercial. Oy. The absolute stunner of the show was little Connie Talbot, the seven-year-old British singing sensation, whose head shaking-induced vibrato in her rendition of “Ben” wiggled its way into our hearts.

Oh Lord here we go. The highly-anticipated “sex show” finally premiered on Monday, and we were all ready to cover our ears from Oprah’s awkward interjections of anatomical misnomers. But we admit, we sold Oprah a little short on this one. What we assumed would be a “vajayjay” festival was actually an intelligent and frank discussion about the state of sexuality in America and what we can do to improve it. Apparently there’s no time like the present, since according to Oprah’s guest, sex therapist Dr. Laura Berman (pictured right), a whopping 1 in 5 couples are in sexless marriages. If avoiding that fate isn’t enough to get you bouncing around the bedroom, consider what else we learned: sex can make you look 7-12 years younger, make your immune system 33% stronger, cause a 50% decrease in heart disease, lessen stress, insomnia, and even relieve menstrual cramps and headaches. Sign us up! Guests Tom and Debra, who win the most courageous couple on the planet award, joined Oprah to discuss their sex life dropping to absolute zero. The pair braved cameras for a few sessions with Dr. Berman, who gave them some handy tips. First, Dr. Berman encourages couples to share fantasies, but in an environment of safety and trust. That means you can’t judge your partner when he asks you to dress up as a Ninja Turtle and spank him. For women specifically, look at your vulva and identify the parts. “Love your vulva,” she told us. Ok, so there was one cringe-worthy moment.

Oprah began her live presidential party on Wednesday with a copy of the Sun-Times in hand, with its stoic image of Barack Obama and simple headline, "Mr. President," declaring it her favorite from that day. As she later told her guest Will Smith, "It was the best paper of all the papers in the world." And she had a lot to choose from.

Though Oprah promised not to use her show as a pulpit for the Obama campaign, she didn't say anything about throwing a house party for his win! After her star-studded "get out the vote" party on yesterday's show, the Big O headed down to Grant Park to cheer on our newly-elected president that she'd supported all along.

Lately Oprah’s Monday shows have been pretty heavy, so we were relieved to have something easy and fun to indulge in during this week's chilly start. Oprah and her O Magazine glam squad helped frumpy schlumpdinkas “get their sexy back.” (Are people still using that phrase? Well, Oprah is.) O always brings out the big guns when it comes to makeovers, but these were almost at the level of The Swan. (Without all the gruesome plastic surgery, of course.) The big reveal song choices were the best. The ladies stepped out to such tunes as Tom Jones’ “You Sexy Thing” and the Isley Brothers’ “Who’s That Lady?” while the sometimes tactless Oprah quipped, “Is that even you? I don’t even recognize you!” Interestingly the O team flipped it on us by bringing the Real Housewives of Orange County to the show, who notoriously dress pretty whore-ifficly, and gave them a makeunder. The California girls looked much more sophisticated and classy, but made it clear they wouldn’t wear the heavy fabrics and turtlenecks back in the O.C. Infidels!

On Monday, a disturbing story yielded disturbing information about our legal practices in this country as the show welcomed Marty Tankleff, a man recently freed from prison for the murder of his parents. Marty, who always knew he was not his parents’ killer, told the story of why he confessed to a crime of which he was wrongfully accused. Before he could get a word out, our knee-jerk judgmental side asked, “Why would anyone confess to a murder they didn’t commit?” The answer was in the mind games prosecutors sometimes play when investigating crimes. Per the experts, in 25% of cases seeking overturn through DNA evidence, a confession has been signed. So how does this happen? In Tankleff’s case, the police told him his father had been pumped full of adrenaline, came out of his coma, and fingered his son for the crime. Marty, only 17 and feeling his father would never lie, became confused and began to doubt himself. The trick caused him to confess. The most shocking part of this story? American police are allowed to do this stuff.

Oprah talks, we listen, and a lot of the time we do what she tells us to do. But hometowner Robyn Okrant has been taking it to the extreme over the last year: buying, reading, consuming and believing just about everything Oprah tells her to. Per Oprah's decree, she has adopted a cat, purchased garden tools for a yard she doesn't have, and even voted for Obama despite previously having leaned Hillary, and she's blogged the entire experience. Matt Lauer caught up Okrant last week to see how things have been "livin' la vida Oprah," as Today appropriately quips.

Suze Orman again?? Who are we kidding. We can’t get enough of the Suze. This Monday there she was wearing the same gold earrings as always, but this time she was doing her “Can You Afford It?” thing from her show. Show me the money! Can a speech therapist mother-of-two afford to stay at home? No. Can a hip, young college grad afford an extravagant lifestyle? Hells no. Can a sales manager with a healthy 401K and stock options afford to retire? FUCK no. Man, these are troubled times we’re living in.

It was all squeals right off the bat this Monday when Oprah brought out Nate “Dreamy Dreamhouse Maker” Berkus and announced someone in the audience would be taking him home for a free home makeover. Oprah followed this act of benevolence by doing the meanest thing ever: dragging an unsuspecting mother of 5 out of bed and throwing her on national television via Skype. Oprah had good reason, though, as Mom won a free home makeover too. Yippee! The show took a more sentimental turn with the return of Fannie Eugene, a guest Oprah once crowned “Princess for a Day” and showered with gifts back in 2003. Now a post-Katrina victim stuck in a FEMA trailer for the last 18 months, Fannie once again received the much-deserved royal treatment from Dreamboat Berkus. With a new house and new hope, tiara-sporting Princess Fannie’s spirit was renewed, as was ours. This is why we watch Oprah.

Oprah was not about easing us into the week this Monday. Her opening show blew the lid off internet child pornography, exposing the startling prevalence of sexual predators and the deeper lows they’re sinking to in the abuse of children and infants. Some shocking stats: 30 to 40 percent of those downloading child pornography are molesters themselves, yet law enforcement for this type of crime is so underfunded that only two percent of leads are able to be investigated. Girls who had been victimized spoke bravely about their experiences, sending the message that the “stranger danger” we warn our kids about could be right next door. When we thought we could handle no more, Oprah thankfully ended the show by providing viewers with an action plan to help eliminate this epidemic. This was a difficult program to watch filled with tears and lacking a single clap of applause, but this is clearly an under-reported topic that deserves our immediate attention. Way to go, Big O.

A new season of Oprah premiered on Monday, and the week kicked off at a magnitude only the Big O herself could accomplish. She assembled an audience of thousands in Millennium Park for a huge Welcome Home celebration that honored basically the entire flippin' U.S. Olympic Team. (Hell yeah we were there.) After a tear-jerker highlights reel and a procession of the athletes, our Olympic heroes spent the show answering questions. We learned: Jason Lezak trained himself, Nastia Liukin invoked the powers of “The Secret” to help her achieve Olympic gold, Misty May-Treanor is headed to Dancing With the Stars and Michael Phelps misses his bulldog.

Oprah is gearing up for her next book club pick, which she'll announce September 19. This gives us plenty of time to get our hopes up. Here are some of our suggestions for OBC picks:

Is Governor Sarah Palin going to sit down with Oprah? Not any time soon, despite a Drudge Report story today that claims Harpo staffers are lobbying to have her on.

                  

Chicagoist headed to the taping of Oprah's Olympic-themed season premiere this morning, along with thousands of other Oprahphiles. The big O welcomed 153 Olympians from Team USA, which was quite a spectacle, but she only interviewed the usual suspects: Michael Phelps (who was then joined briefly by Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak and Garrett Weber-Gale), Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin (who talked about reading , ugh), the men's basketball team (only Kobe Bryant and Jason Kidd said anything—and I don't think Lebron James was there), the men's volleyball team, Dara Torres, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, and three members of the women's 4x400 relay (Sanya Richards did most of the talking). And then American Idol winner David Cook sang, which...was weird.

“The Oprah Effect” hit its pinnacle last night as Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination, and Oprah Winfrey, who has long endorsed him, was in Denver to celebrate. Oprah watched among the crowd of 84,000 at Invesco Field and was moved to tears, so much so that her fake eyelashes couldn’t take the floods. “I cried my eyelashes off,” Oprah was quoted as saying.

Oprah's reps have confirmed that she'll be in Denver at the Democratic National Convention when Barack Obama accepts the party's nomination. She's not introducing him, according to her spokesbot, nor is she renting a $50,000-per-week house while she's there. The bathing in liquid money, though, continues. [S-T]

We know people go nuts about Oprah's favorite things, but having their reactions distilled into specific moments of Oprahgasms is a whole other level of amazing.

Oprah, please. We really don’t need to see your crusty feet. But Oprah does what she wants, and last night that meant taking off her shoes on her way out of Nelson Mandela’s birthday party to relieve an aching bunion.

...forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, just harness your power to your passion. Honor your calling. Everybody has one. Trust your heart and success will come to you.

Continue reading "Oprah Gives Solid, Unsurprising Stanford Commencement Address"

To generate the list, Forbes estimates celebrity earnings, then factors in media metrics like Google hits, press mentions as compiled by Factiva, TV/radio mentions from Lexis/Nexis and the number of times an A-lister appears on the cover of more than 50 consumer magazines.