OWN It!
Mark your calendar! At noon on January 1, 2011,
OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
goes live with a cable channel unlike any you've ever seen.
See what you'll be watching...
Photo: Robin Layton © 2010 Harpo, Inc.
Oprah Presents Master Class, premieres January 1st
The revealing biography series
Oprah Presents Master Class shares hard-won insight from extraordinary achievers whose paths have inspired Oprah—and countless others.
See what they know for sure
The Gayle King Show, premieres January 3rd
O's editor at large is bringing her popular news radio program, The Gayle
King Show, to TV. She gave us the scoop.
Her Mission: "I don't want to hear, 'Lights, camera, action!'" says Gayle. "Radio is a very intimate medium, and I want to preserve that, even though I'll be talking to TV viewers now, too. When guests come to my studio, they always say, 'Wow, I feel like it's just you and me!' It's conducive to conversation. That's why I'm not having a studio audience."
Her Topics: Depending on the day, Gayle might touch on the challenges facing gay teens, the rise of Islamophobia, or the decline of civility in our politics, or she might invite Carrie Underwood, Michelle Obama, or Jay-Z to the studio for a chat. "I'm all over the place," she says.
Her Snark-Free Zone: "I don't want people to feel on guard when they come on my show or call in. I want them to know that even if they're going through something awkward, it's a safe place to have a discussion."
Her News Flash: "I have listeners who call my radio show and say, 'Gayle, you're the only place I get my news.' I want to give people some idea of what's going on in the world, but get your news someplace else, too!"
Her Message to the Audience: Come play! "I tell people, 'Put me on your speed dial, because I guarantee there will be something you'll want to weigh in on.' I want people to be engaged. I don't want to have a conversation by myself!"
The Rosie O'Donnell Show, premieres fall 2011
Nearly ten years after her talk show ended—and three years after her short-lived
stint on
The View—Rosie O'Donnell is stepping back into the spotlight. We
had a few questions about her life's "part two."
Read the interview
Oprah's Next Chapter, premieres fall 2011
"For
Oprah's Next Chapter, debuting later this year, I'm looking forward to getting
out and seeing the world, and to not being tethered to the chair anymore! I'll still do
interviews, but in interesting places—in front of the Pyramids, the Great Wall, or in a
village in Kenya. I know there are lots of people who will never be able to see the world,
and I'm hoping I can help them see it. I want to bring it to them—
like
Gayle and I did with Yosemite last fall. When we saw the famous tunnel view of all
those different mountains, I know many people were thinking, "I have now had the tunnel
experience." It was like they were there."
— Oprah
Finding Sarah, premieres spring 2011
The Duchess of York, star of the revealing docu-series Finding Sarah, explains how
an embarrassing lapse in judgment last spring—yes, we're talking about that video
of her selling access to her royal ex for $750,000—helped her reclaim her life.
"Last May, after the incident in Britain with the News of the World journalist, I
wanted to talk to Oprah because she's the only person in the media I trusted. I'm proud to
say she's now my friend. As I started to work on myself, I began writing to her every
day—a diary of how I felt. She asked me to do a show documenting my journey to
find the true Sarah. I'll be meeting an amazing group of people—Mark Nepo, Martha
Beck, Suze Orman, Eckhart Tolle, and many more—who will help give me the chance
to have a new life at 51. It's a scary thing to do, to let cameras into your therapy sessions,
but I feel courageous. Of course I have fears that the world will say, 'What's she doing
now?' And the British tabloids will kill me for doing it. They'll say, 'Why didn't she
go put her head in the sand?' But I think when you're on the public stage, you can't just go
away and live quietly. That's not who I am. I want to continue my charity work. I have
72 schools for children around the world. It's my hope that in doing this show I'll feel a
peace I haven't felt my whole life, free from my mind tormenting and judging and calling
me names. And if in healing myself I can help others learn from my journey, then I'm
very lucky to have this opportunity. Rather than waiting until I get cancer or get old to
wake up, as many do, I'm awake now, and I'm proud of that."
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Kidnapped by the Kids, premieres spring 2011
"I realized long ago that parents are spending a lot of time away from their kids so the kids
can have things the parents never had. But what kids really want is time with their
parents. Every child wants to see, 'Do your eyes light up when I walk into the room?' They
want to feel—F-E-E-L—your love. I wanted to create a show that
proves this, week after week, in a fun, entertaining way. I think it will be life-enhancing for
kids and parents." — Oprah
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Carson-Nation , premieres summer 2011
On his new show, makeover guru Carson Kressley will traverse the country with an
Airstream full of supplies, making over "families, bridal parties, class reunions,
stores...anyone or anything that really needs it," he explains. Kressley wanted to
call it Carson-Nation, although OWN execs preferred Carson Across
America. Oprah herself was the tiebreaker.
Visionaries: Inside the Creative Mind, premieres summer 2011
A star of OWN's Visionaries: Inside the Creative Mind, will.i.am wrote
the network's anthem, to boot.
When OWN chief creative officer Lisa Erspamer called her friend will.i.am, cofounder of the
Black Eyed Peas, to ask for help finding a great song for one of the network's shows, he
said, "Let me call you right back." Forty-five minutes later, he sent her "OWN It!," a sunny
track that became the theme song not only for
Your OWN Show but for the entire
network as well. "I work well under pressure," he explains. "I wrote 'I Gotta
Feeling'"—the Peas' 2009 smash-hit single, now tattooed onto the consciousness of
seemingly every sentient being on Earth—"in 30 minutes." On
Visionaries (which also features Lady Gaga, among others), OWN's cameras follow
will.i.am into the Louvre at 2 A.M., as he records tracks for a multimedia ode to
da Vinci's
Mona Lisa. "We're breaking apart that painting and just dreaming to it,"
he explains. "But it was crazy. Who records a song in the Louvre?"
Photo: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Cristina's Big Bowl of Love, premieres January 3rd
On Cristina's Big Bowl of Love, former Max Factor spokesmodel Cristina
Ferrare, who has published two books on style and entertaining, will help viewers tackle
easy weeknight meals, tasty Super Bowl party fare, and even what to make if Oprah drops
by for dinner—which Ferrare knows a thing or two about. Oprah fell in love with her
food after being invited to her home in Santa Barbara, where the pair are neighbors.
Photo: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Your OWN Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star premieres January 7th
The contestants on Your OWN Show —all vying for a hosting gig on
the network—will need to turn on the charisma to land the grand prize. We asked
the show's hosts, Nancy O'Dell and Carson Kressley, how to channel small-screen
magnetism in daily life.
1. Project Confidence.
Nancy:
"Speak with authority. A lot of times getting people to believe what you're saying is just about how you say it. Also, stand up tall!"
2. Avoid the Awkward Pause.
Carson:
"Do your homework. Some people say, 'Don't go to a party without reading the front page of
USA Today.' That way you'll have things to say beyond, 'I love your shoes!' Although sometimes that works, too."
3. Adjust Your Perspective.
Nancy:
"If you're positive, people will automatically want to be around you. Next time someone asks you about your day, say, 'I'm having the best day!' Not only will people look at you differently, but you actually
will have a great day."
4. Own Your Verbal Blunders.
Nancy:
"People appreciate honesty. Just bluntly say, 'I didn't mean for that to come out that way.' It's better to acknowledge or make fun of it than gloss over it."
Photo: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Ask Oprah's All-Stars, premieres January 2nd
On Ask Oprah's All-Stars, three powerhouses—Suze Orman, Dr. Phillip C.
McGraw, and Dr. Mehmet Oz—team up for the first time to help ordinary people get
their lives together—financially, emotionally, and physically. On each episode, their
guest will present his or her problems (credit card debt, a difficult boss, an unhealthy diet)
and the all-stars will weigh in with solutions. "I can't wait to see what the dynamic is like,"
says Suze, who proposed the idea to OWN execs. "If Dr. Oz tells someone to join a gym,
can I interrupt him to say, 'But they don't have any money'?"
Why Not?...with Shania Twain, premieres in April 2011
She's sold 75 million albums worldwide over her 17-year career, but when Twain
discovered in 2008 that her husband had been unfaithful—with her best
friend—no amount of success could ease the pain. This April, in the six-part
series Why Not?...with Shania Twain, the singer opens up about her
divorce, recovering her creative voice, and her plans for a new beginning.
Photo: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Our America with Lisa Ling, premieres February 2011
On
Our America with Lisa Ling, the unflinching journalist investigates subjects as
varied as religious faith healing, a heroin epidemic in a Midwest community, and the online
mail-order-bride business.
Read Lisa Ling's
Aha! Moment
The Judds, premieres summer 2011
The Judds provides an inside look at the famously successful—and
famously volatile—mother-daughter singing duo of Naomi and Wynonna Judd as
they board their tour buses for a triumphant 18-city reunion tour. "We're a work in
progress," reports Wynonna. "The important part is learning from your mistakes," adds
Naomi. Sparks are likely to fly, although they do agree on this: "We're each 100 percent
responsible for our 50 percent of the relationship," says Naomi.
Photo: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
In the Bedroom With Dr. Laura Berman, premieres January 3rd
The renowned sex guru and relationship expert makes house calls to help couples
overcome their carnal conundrums (look for one woman who can climax only with the help
of a laundry basket).
Photo: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Breaking Down the Bars, premieres spring 2011
On Breaking Down the Bars, eight convicts work with Stephanie Covington, PhD,
to rebuild their lives. Here, one prisoner shares her story.
Hannah, 20
Convicted of: Attempted robbery
Sentence: Ten years
"Besides truancy from school, I'd never been in any trouble. But then I was hanging around the wrong crowd, and I began using heroin. One day I walked into a hotel and demanded money. I was unarmed. They said no, so I left. That's a felony. They called the cops, I was arrested, and I got ten years—two to four years in prison, six years' probation. I came to Rockville [Correctional Facility, in Indiana] in September 2009. At first I just cried and cried. You don't know who's next to you, or what they've done. My mind raced—How did I get here? What do I need to do to fix this? But the structure has been good for me.
"Dr. Covington understood what I'd been through. She told us to make a Wall of Shame, where we wrote down everything we felt guilty about—each thing was one brick in the wall. As we worked through those things, we broke down the bricks. One brick was my heroin addiction. Another was the way I'd treated my parents. The first time they visited me here, I hadn't seen them in a long time. I knew it would be hard, because they would have a lot of questions. I had a panic attack on camera. But after I caught my breath, I told them I was sorry I hadn't been open with them. When I get out, I hope we can go to counseling. I want them to get the kind of help and comfort I got from Dr. Covington.
"I'm hoping to get my GED here—that's my main priority. I want to be a nurse, but I don't know if that's possible with my felony. I'm going to exhaust all my options before I give up. I've already dealt with all the bricks that were in that wall. There aren't any left. I'm looking forward to starting fresh."
Photo: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Miracle Detectives, premieres January 5th
The show Miracle Detectives will investigate enduring mysteries like the strange
rose-scented oil that continuously oozes from religious figurines inside Cora Lorenzo's
home in Union City, California, attracting flocks of true believers from around the world.
Lorenzo says the oil, thought by some to heal, started flowing in 1995 from a small artifact
she bought on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.
Photo: OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
Searching For, premieres summer 2011
The docu-series
Searching For follows investigative genealogist Pam Slaton as she
tracks down missing pieces of her clients' pasts, from birth parents to unknown siblings.
"Recently I connected a woman with her biological father, a famous musician," says Slaton."
Her birth mother had been a groupie, and my client had to jump through hoops to make
him believe she was his daughter. But eventually he did."
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