Did you say you were interested in watching an hour-long commercial for one of the shows on Oprah's new network? Well, settle in, because that's what you got on Wednesday.
The audience for the episode was made up of staff members for the show, and Oprah spent the hour talking to several of them, then showing clips of behind-the-scenes moments that will air on a show called Season 25 (clever name, no?) on OWN.
Let me just say here that my cable provider will have OWN, since it currently has Discovery Health, and OWN is just replacing that. So I technically could watch Oprah's brainchild if I were so inclined. But, this coming Wednesday, I'm getting rid of cable and going to an over-the-air antenna paired with a TiVo. I don't watch much on cable anyway (save for Hoarders, and maybe a few others here and there), and the price of cable just suddenly doesn't seem worth it anymore. I could probably do without the TiVo, too, at $19.99 per month, but I need to watch Oprah, and I can't guarantee I'll always be prepared to do so at 4 pm every day.
You think I could get Oprah to reimburse me for this cost?
Anyway, the premise of this episode was to see what it's like to work for Oprah. And I know that was the premise because Oprah asked her staff the number one question they get from people they meet, and they all said, in unison and totally not planned in advance, "What's it like to work for Oprah?"
Oprah has 464 people on her staff. That's coconuts. Only a few senior producers got the opportunity to talk, though. And even though this seemed like it should be interesting and sort of funny, for the most part the episode was pretty boring. Katie fell asleep at some point, after looking up at the screen and saying, "There are 27 minutes left?!?" Somehow, Oprah "uncensored" managed to just drag on and on.
So, several producers talked to Oprah. One of them, Candy Carter, was named as the producer responsible for bringing us the "200 Men" episode. Katie: "We hate her."
Another senior producer, Andrea, informed all of us that Oprah is really funny. Oprah: "I'm hilarious. That's what y'all don't know about me." Andrea also explained that Oprah is amazing at Scrabble.
Then we moved on to some actual behind-the-scenes stuff, first with a look at the adventures of trying to get those six road trip ladies to drive on to the stage at just the right time in the premiere. That took a lot of planning from the producers, and a lot of work from the art department, who had to make the studio look like a hotel parking garage. Oprah had originally called the plan "the craziest ass thing [she'd] ever heard." Which is pretty similar to what she said about the lady who married the murderer.
Brian was a co-producer on that road trip segment, and he was ready to throw up the whole day of the premiere, especially when he learned that the ladies were somehow running 45 minutes late. But, as we know, it all happened perfectly, and there was a lot of applause in the control room. Back on stage during Wednesday's episode, Oprah told Jenna, a senior producer, that it was okay to say, "I told you so." Jenna hesitated, and then gleefully yelled just that.
That segment was pretty awesome, and probably my favorite part of the premiere. I wonder how many of Oprah's Favorite Things that producing team got for making it happen.
There was some thing about Mark Fuhrman not wanting to do the show because he didn't want to talk about "rape." At least that's what I heard, but Katie assumed he said "race." That would make more sense, but since he was on a speakerphone, it was difficult to understand. The point of the segment was that Fuhrman was angry and didn't want to come on the show. Obviously the producers succeeded in booking him, and afterward Fuhrman said it was the best television experience he'd ever had. All I remember about that episode was how boring it was, so I guess Fuhrman was the only one who enjoyed it.
Jill, the producer who worked on the Fuhrman segment, told Oprah that all the sacrifices they have to make in order to have this job are worth it because they all love their jobs so much. Good to know.
In more behind-the-scenes stuff, we saw that Oprah had a colonoscopy after Dr. Oz, the picture of health, had polyps in his colon. She was starving afterward, and came to work to get a smoothie, then decided to just head into the Monday morning meeting, which she had never attended. She was so drugged and out of it that her executive producer, Sheri, said later that she still hadn't really attended one.
Sheri asked Oprah if the colonoscopy hurt, and Oprah said it was the easiest thing to do. She then talked about not liking to poop in public restrooms. She said recently she couldn't hold it and had to go in the bathroom at the gym, and then the janitor came in. Oprah "waited her out" so that the janitor wouldn't be outside the door and know that Oprah had been the one in there pooping. According to Oprah, "pooping in a public bathroom is worse than a colonoscopy."
Then we got some behind-the-scenes footage of the camping adventure. In part one of that adventure, Oprah and Gayle had a chat about Smokey and Yogi, which was pretty hilarious. But if you'll recall, we only heard that conversation, and never saw any video. A clip from Season 25 showed us that this happened because the cameras somehow got turned off, and the producers didn't notice until 40 minutes later. They were all ready to throw up when they realized the gaffe.
There was something about the surprise with the Backstreet Boys, and then something about The Judds and the segment the show did at their farms in Tennessee. Nothing new there. We already knew The Judds use therapy speak, and that their relationship is strained. So why did we hear more about it now? Oh, because The Judds will be having a reality show on OWN, of course.
So, will you be tuning in to OWN at noon on January 1?
Next: Another commercial, this time for the OWN show Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star.
Oh, and this was episode #60 of the season. Whether there will be 130 or 140 this season, we're nearing the halfway point.
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