'Oprah' celebrates Oprah on last season premiere
Steve Johnson
Tribune reporter
9:52 a.m. CDT, September 13, 2010
Beginning the final season of her daytime talk show Monday, Oprah Winfrey came out not swinging, but dancing.
She and actor John Travolta, voted the show's all-time favorite guest after 11 appearances, did a modest pas-de-deux to the tune "Love Train," kicking off a show that Winfrey, in a pre-show teaser, promised would bring "two of the most heart-pounding, head-spinning surprises of all time."
Two of those shockers included news that she'll fly the 300-person studio audience to Australia, for an eight-day December trip that will coincide with Winfrey taping at least two episodes there, and Paul Simon playing an updated version of a song he wrote for Winfrey 15 years ago, for her 10th-anniversary show.
Not a surprise: Oprah tears.
Her season-premiere audience was as packed with partisans as one of President George Bush's town-hall meetings: Only "ultimate" Oprah fans were invited, and they yelled, cheered, even shed a few tears of their own to see their heroine beginning the season-long process of saying farewell. Her show airs at 9 a.m. in Chicago, where Winfrey's national career began, giving local fans an earlier look than the rest of the country gets.
Another surprise came when six fans from the Boston area, sent on a road trip to the taping by Winfrey's staff, were tricked into driving right onto the stage, into the middle of the show in progress. And actor Don Johnson did a walk-on, a reference to Winfrey's inability to land the then-"Miami Vice" star as a guest on her first show. Times have changed.
Right away Monday, a retrospective of Travolta's appearances during Winfrey's 24 previous seasons made it clear what kind of year this will be: gushy, sentimental, celebratory of Winfrey's place in her fans' lives and in the culture.
"Oprah, there's only one of you, and there'll never be another one," Travolta told the Chicago-based talk-show host, who will move on next year to host a new, less frequent, evening show on her own cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network.
A rabid fan from Alberta, Canada -- who estimated she has watched 5,500 hours of "Oprah" through the years -- was shown on tape calling Travolta's 50th-birthday toast to Winfrey her favorite on-show moment.
That not exactly understated toast? "You represent the best of our country, and what's possible in our country," Travolta said, "but more importantly you are a citizen of the world, and you are a hero to mankind."
Travolta became a hero to the audience later on, when he stepped out of a mock Qantas Airlines jet in pilot's uniform. The actor is, in fact, a Qantas pilot, and he beamed as Winfrey told her audience about their trip. Confetti, tears and hugs intermingled in the studio, even more when Winfrey, in her role as bestower of gifts, also told the crowd they were each getting a new Motorola Defy mobile phone.
To close the show, Winfrey listened, rapt, eyes moist, as her staff apparently surprised her with the Simon appearance and song.
"Twenty-five years have come and gone," he sang, "and the story's still unfolding."
The plans, producers have said, are for the season to just keep getting bigger. Fasten your seatbelts, viewers
April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008