Williamson, West Virginia
A small town in West Virginia went into a panic when a local man with AIDS jumped into a local swimming pool.
Read what happened when The Oprah Show visited in 1987
And that's not the end of the story.
Find out if anything in the town had changed when Oprah came back in 2010
Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
What better way to get 4,000 people to swap their Southern fried chicken for skinless baked chicken breasts than to challenge their civic pride! That's exactly what The Oprah Show did in 1988, when they started a diet war between North Carolina neighbors Raleigh and Durham.
New York City, 1989
In 1989, The Oprah Show spent a week taping shows in the Big Apple at the Equitable Center Auditorium. Show topics ran the gamut from racial violence and crimes against women to New York's most eligible bachelors and Bill Cosby.
Los Angeles, 1989
After a successful week in New York, The Oprah Show flipped coasts and taped for a week in sunny Los Angeles, and the shows were pure Hollywood—hunks, home tours and housewives-turned-comics.
Los Angeles, 1992
In 1992, a jury acquitted four LAPD officers on charges of police brutality in the arrest of Rodney King, even after amateur video showed those white officers beating the African-American King more than 50 times with batons.
Oprah was in L.A. for the verdict and the chaos that followed, and provided a dialogue for the residents of a city torn apart.
Union, South Carolina
Susan Smith made headlines—first for pleading with the man she said abducted her two young sons Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months, to bring them home, then for confessing she had killed them by pushing the family car into a lake with the boys inside. In 1994, Oprah traveled to the scene of the crime to find out how something so horrific could happen.
Read what happened when Oprah interviewed Susan Smith's husband, David, in 2009
Disney World
Oprah—with a little help from Mickey and Minnie—surprised a studio audience with a "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" weekend at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, in 1996.
Houston
In 1997, Oprah made her own wildest dream come true by hitting the road with
Tina Turner and performing with the music legend in Houston.
Amarillo, Texas
When Oprah returned to Texas in 1998, it may have been wild, but it was no dream. She had been, as she says, accused of "defaming a burger" during a 1996 show on mad cow disease, and was sued by the beef industry. The month-long trial kept The Oprah Show taping in Amarillo from late January to early March 1998. In the end, Oprah won the case against her.
Atlantis Resort, Bahamas
In 1999, The Oprah Show fled the winter doldrums of Chicago for a week in paradise at the Atlantis Resort, Bahamas, with shows including a "sexiest island men contest" and Tyra Banks.
Set of Friends
In 2003, Oprah visited the set of Friends to help Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and Ross say goodbye during their final season.
Fort Campbell, Kentucky
In 2004, Oprah and some celebrity friends—including Cindy Crawford, Ben Affleck, Elle Macpherson, Kenny Chesney and Sharon Stone—surprised new mothers at Fort Campbell with the world's biggest baby shower.
Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles
Starting in 2005, Oprah's After-Oscar® Party from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles has been the must-see event where the year's Academy Award winners show off their new trophies.
New York City, 2007
Start spreading the news!
Oprah began her 22nd season in New York City at Madison Square Garden with an interview with
Late Show host David Letterman.
Macon, Georgia
Oprah used her Favorite Things show in 2007 to thank her biggest fans—the people of
Macon, Georgia. At 4 p.m. every day in 2007, 45 percent of the televisions on in Macon were tuned to
The Oprah Winfrey Show!
Millennium Park, Chicago
Oprah kicked off her 23rd season by welcoming home
Team USA from the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a party in Chicago's Millennium Park.
Washington, D.C.
In January 2009,
The Oprah Show celebrated
Barack Obama's historic inauguration with a pair of shows in Washington, D.C.
Michigan Avenue, Chicago
For Oprah's 24th season kickoff party, she didn't travel far—just a couple of miles from Harpo Studios to Chicago's famed Michigan Avenue shopping district. But who will ever forget the party that started with a
Black Eyed Peas flash mob?
Dallas
In 2009, Oprah and Gayle hitched up their wagon and headed to the
State Fair of Texas in Dallas. They even taste-tested the best recipes in the Lone Star State.
Australia
It was such a big trip, it lasted for four shows!
Oprah took 302 Ultimate Viewers on a trip around the world to visit the beautiful landscape and warm people of Australia.
