Tag: Oprah Winfrey (61-70 of 159)

Feb 3 2011 11:47 AM ET

Jennifer Aniston turned down 'SNL' for 'Friends' (and other great decisions actors have made?)

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Jennifer-AnistonImage Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty ImageChatting with Oprah Winfrey yesterday to promote their new comedy Just Go With It, Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler revealed that she was offered a chance to join Saturday Night Live‘s cast before she shot the Friends pilot, but she turned it down because she was, actually, ready for prime-time. ”I remember being on the ninth floor where Lorne Michaels’ office was, and seeing Jen come in,” Sandler said. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God. There’s Aniston. Is she about to be on our show?’” No, she was about to gracefully decline. ”It was a boys’ club,” Aniston said. “They thought I was making a huge mistake.”

I assume we all agree, in hindsight, this was one of the wisest decisions an actor has ever made. Financially, Aniston never has to work again. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 24 2011 01:42 PM ET

Oprah has a half-sister: Big family secret revealed!

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OPRAHImage Credit: Art Streiber/OWNOprah Winfrey promised to reveal a big family secret today on her show, and the Queen of All Media did not disappoint: According to the Associated Press, Oprah introduced her heretofore-unknown half-sister, Patricia. The talk-show host explained that her mother, Vernita Lee, had kept her pregnancy a secret and had given Patricia up for adoption when Oprah was nine years old. Patricia apparently initiated communication after seeing Lee in television interviews discussing certain details that dovetailed with the few facts Patricia knew about her birth mother. A DNA test has confirmed Patricia’s relation to Oprah.

PopWatchers,where do you rate this revelation on the Oprah scale of Huge Revelations? Do you think Patricia will now get her a show on OWN? And what sort of cosmic coincidence leads to this information only just coming out in time for Oprah’s final season?

Read more:
First Lady Michelle Obama to appear on ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’
Piers Morgan interviews Oprah on CNN: Larry King? Who’s Larry King?
Oprah’s 12 Most Memorable Episodes

Jan 12 2011 09:48 PM ET

Oprah ate 30 lbs. of mac and cheese after 'Beloved' flopped. What's your biggest mac and cheese moment?

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Beloved-Oprah-WinfreyImage Credit: Everett CollectionWe’ve all had our bad days. We’ve all binged on something — food, shopping, Buffy the Vampire Slayer marathons — to pull us out of our funk. But what do you do if you’re the Most Powerful Woman In Media and your passion project feature film not only takes a major belly flop at the box office, but it gets beaten by the third Chucky sequel?

Apparently, you order up 30 lbs. of mac and cheese.  READ FULL STORY »

Jan 9 2011 03:10 PM ET

'Your OWN Show' premiere: Zach Anner is my early favorite

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Zach-AnnerImage Credit: Adam Larkey/OWNOf all the shows coming up on OWN, the one that screams “become obsessed with me!” is definitely Your OWN Show. The who-wants-to-be-the-next-Oprah series taps into some of the best parts of reality contest shows: The contestants are vivacious and well-matched, and the ability to host a show is one we can all easily judge. Sure, it’s a lot of people kissing Oprah’s butt, and it gets a liiiiitle bit schlocky. But! There’s something so upbeat and loving about everyone trying to be their best selves, etc etc.

My early favorite is definitely Zach Anner. I was completely charmed by his audition videos over the summer (not to mention his social grace handling the subsequent voting controversies), and on Friday night’s premiere, he stood out as the contestant with the best, most telegenic sense of self and sense of humor. Team Zach!

So far, what’s setting Your OWN Show apart from, say, Design Star, or Dream Job, or Next Food Network Star is that everyone already seems very comfortable on camera. The big obstacle in the premiere was coming up with a solid idea, and then executing that with some level of production competency — which is a really different skill set than being ebullient and compelling on screen. It made the episode a little more Apprentice-y than I thought it would be, but I was still really into it.

Am I the only one totally psyched for this show, PopWatchers? Whom are you rooting for?

Jan 1 2011 10:10 PM ET

'Oprah: Behind the Scenes' premiere: Now we're talking, OWN!

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Oprah-WinfreyImage Credit: Janet Mayer/PR PhotosSince Oprah Winfrey is contractually incapable of doing a talk show for OWN while her syndicated one continues to air, her executives came up with a pretty ingenious way of featuring the Queen of Daytime on her new cabler: Oprah: Behind the Scenes. Narrated by Winfrey, the show takes a behind-the-scenes look at the 25th and final season of Oprah before she rides off into the sunset next September. What a marvelous idea: I didn’t catch the premiere episode of Oprah but felt like I got a much better perspective of the adrenaline-fueled hour by watching Behind the Scenes. I doubt we’ll ever witness those truly authentic behind-the-scenes moments, like Winfrey possibly having an epic meltdown or executive producer Sheri Salata blowing up at her staff, but I definitely got the idea that it’s not all fun and games for the 464 employees at Harpo Studios in Chicago.

Anyone who caught the first episode of Oprah already knows that Winfrey treated her audience to a free Australian trip, but it was still a gas to watch her production team whoop it up in the booth as their boss addressed the audience of rabid, mouth-breathing fans. READ FULL STORY »

Jan 1 2011 02:07 PM ET

'Kidnapped by the Kids': Oprah Winfrey kicks off new network with a workaholic named Hank, a frustrated wife and some lonely kids. Huh?

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kidnapped-by-the-kidsImage Credit: OWNThe folks behind the Oprah Winfrey Network made the (odd) decision to kick off the new cabler with Kidnapped by the Kids, a reality show about a pair of frustrated and lonely wee ones who abduct their traveling daddy for a week of camping, rehabilitation, and general torture for being the sole wage-earner. Instead of launching OWN with the 25th season of Oprah: Behind the Scenes – which probably would have been the best way to immediately capture viewers – we got a pretty dull look at Hank, an obviously likable and well-meaning guy from Santa Monica, Calif., who bums out his family whenever he travels for work (which, apparently, is every freaking week).

Poor Hank gets ambushed at the airport by his kids, who supposedly earned the permission of their dad’s boss to steal him away. (Imagine what it must have been like for the anonymous supervisor, who had no choice but to acquiesce because cameras were rolling and somewhere, Winfrey was probably watching). READ FULL STORY »

Dec 14 2010 06:11 AM ET

Oprah Down Under: Screaming Aussies, free loot, and one Hugh Jaccident!

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hugh-jackman-oprahImage Credit: Don Arnold/WireImage.comJust how powerful is Oprah Winfrey? If you ask one of the 200 Harpo employees accompanying her on the big trip Down Under (specifically, the pre-show cheerleader tasked with keeping the audience peppy and shrieking for yesterday’s two 90-minute tapings at the Sydney Opera House) this is the answer you’ll get: “Our boss has a really good in with Mother Nature. We don’t do rain at The Oprah Winfrey Show!”

I think I actually believe her. After weeks of constant downpours in Sydney and devastating floods throughout the country (thanks, La Niña), the famously blazing Aussie sun came out for every one of Oprah’s eight days down under. Yesterday, her now world-famous walkabout reached its climax on the forecourt of the newly rechristened Oprah House. I was there in the morning, and I was there in the afternoon. It was, in a word, madness – an odd mix of talk show and tent revival that brought together 12,000 buoyant Australians, 302 lucky Americans, dozens of local journalists and one accident-prone actor. Hugh Jackman’s totally bodacious entrance on a zip-line for the afternoon show ended more like a total bummer when the actor – who’s made headlines for stunt troubles in the past – failed to brake quickly enough and bashed his right eye on a lighting rig. Despite trying to shake off the collision – he quickly downed a gulp of red wine that was waiting for him during his interview – Jackman was taken offstage for medical help before returning. “Ohhhh, we’re gonna hear about that,” said Oprah, clearly shaken. “Ohhhh, that’s gonna play on the news, over and over and over again.” The O knows – it was breaking news within minutes. (I told you he was drinking wine.) READ FULL STORY »

Dec 13 2010 11:30 AM ET

Oprah's new OWN trailer: Extreme Oprah-ness ahead!

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Oprah’s upcoming OWN network has a new trailer, and while it’s no “Get with the program, get with Oprah” song, it’s still very Oprah-y. Hugs! Dancing! Tearing up! Kissing people the way you want to be kissed! Maya Angelou! You know, the basics. If I didn’t know this was a trailer for an entire network, I’d guess that it was a trailer for a season of Oprah, which is probably the point. You don’t get to be one of the most powerful women on earth by going off-brand, you know? READ FULL STORY »

Dec 8 2010 01:55 PM ET

Oprah opens up about Gayle King

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The easy headline is, “Oprah Denies Being Gay,” but that’s not what was so mesmerizing about Barbara Walters’ video tease of tomorrow night’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. It was Winfrey’s sincere, heartfelt description of her relationship with close friend Gayle King. “She is … the mother I never had. She is … the sister everybody would want,” said Winfrey. “She is the friend that everybody deserves. I don’t know a better person. I don’t know a better person.” READ FULL STORY »

Nov 23 2010 05:22 PM ET

'Oprah's Favorite Things': Should her audience really cry over cashmere?

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oprahs-favorite-thingsImage Credit: George Burns/Harpo ProductionsRaindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, iPads and VWs, and Elfa closet systems. These are few of Oprah’s favorite things, as has been well reported during her two-episode Favorite Things extravaganza. But we pop culture enthusiasts can add something to our own list of beloved objects: Watching Oprah’s Favorite Things episode.

Let’s face it: We don’t really tune in to see which material items Oprah covets. (Do you even remember what brand of car she gifted her audience in 2004? I do — it was the Pontiac G6 — but only because I’ve written about the famous moment more than a few times.) No, we watch to see the audience react to Oprah’s giveaway. Because winning free stuff from Oprah is not just a pretty cool distinction — it’s a religious awakening. Audience members keel over or punch the air, bawling incessantly while the talk show maven gives away even the smallest of items. Say, a $17 Black Eyed peas CD. Or Beecher’s macaroni and cheese. (I have, however, nearly been brought to tears eating my mom’s macaroni and cheese, so maybe I get that one.) And we reap the benefits: Though we won’t go home with a new Nikon camera, or a Tory Burch tote, or a Ralph Lauren cashmere sweater, we get to laugh at the screengrabs, guffaw at the GIFs, and talk with family and friends about the show because how crazy are those people?! READ FULL STORY »

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