I love this show. This show has been my life," she told viewers. "And I love it enough to know when it's time to say good-bye. Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and it feels right in my spirit. It's the perfect number—the exact right time. So I hope that you will take this 18-month ride with me right through to the final show."
his show has been my life and I love it enough to know when it's time to say goodbye.the exact right time," Winfrey said during Friday's show at her Chicago studio
Winfrey, the queen of daytime talk, will refocus her efforts on cable, where a new network, a joint venture with Discovery Networks, is now set to launch in January 2011, after several delays. "After production wraps on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey plans to appear and participate in new programming for OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a 24-hour cable network that reflects her vision, values and interests," her company said in a statement Friday.
Winfrey, 55, is not expected to host a talk show for that network, but is developing several lifestyle programs and will appear on a somewhat regular basis. But Winfrey is giving up a major platform on syndicated television and analysts say it's highly unlikely she'll match her current audience of more than 7 million viewers, up slightly this season thanks to high-profile interviews with Sarah Palin, Whitney Houston and others.
Winfrey, who also earned an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 1985 film "The Colour Purple," is considered a major opinion-maker in the United States. Her public backing of presidential candidate Barack Obama last year was considered a boost for the Democrat's campaign.
Winfrey choked up once and wiped away a tear as she thanked viewers for having "graciously invited me into your living rooms, your kitchens and into your lives.
"So here we are, halfway through the season 24. And it still means as much to me to spend an hour every day with you as it did back in 1986," she said.
Oprah delayed the 3-1/2-minute announcement until the end of the show. She began the show saying she would make an announcement at end, then went into a segment about a 5-year-old girl who was murdered and raped.
Her book and product choices have launched best-sellers and marketing bonanzas.
In a telling moment on the show, she noted Romano was at one time the best-paid actor on television and then told him: "I don't make decisions based on money, and neither do you."
Winfrey's disarming style that endeared her to her viewers has encouraged such celebrities as Michael Jackson, Tom Cruise and Whitney Houston to unburden themselves on camera.
She promised more of the same in the coming 18 months, saying she and her staff will be "brainstorming new ways we can entertain you and inform you and uplift you when we return here in January" after a holiday hiatus.
