The Oprah Winfrey Show: How Oprah Knew It Was Time to Call It Quits
The Oprah Winfrey Show ended after 25 years on the air six years ago, and Oprah explained why. She didn’t want to stay too long.
In an interview with Vogue, she stated the following about the end of her talk show:
“I began to consider the times: where we were, would I be able to take it digitally? People were shifting into the ‘I want to be able to watch it when I want to watch it’ mode, and the four o’clock hour was no longer mandatory viewing. I could sense it happening in the audience. Their behavior was changing, and the media landscape was changing.”
“I had written in my journals years before, ‘I never want to stay in the ring too long because I end up punch-drunk.’ I didn’t want people to say, “She should have quit that show three years ago!” I started reading this incredible Michael Jackson article, and one of Jackson’s friends was quoted as saying, “His number-one problem is that he never realized Thriller was a phenomenon.”
“And he spent the rest of his life chasing it.” As a result, when Bad only sold 20 million albums in the beginning, he was disappointed because it wasn’t Thriller. He thought he could outdo Thriller. Whoa, I thought. Take note of that. I didn’t want to be the one chasing a fad. That is exactly what the Oprah show was. Everything fell into place at the perfect time. That will never happen again. ‘Who will be the next Oprah?’ people would ask. And the answer is, “There will not be.”
