By Rachel Krueger
Oprah Winfrey has announced that she is quitting while she’s ahead, and putting her immensely popular talk show to rest. For real this time. Not like in 1997, when she said she was done, but was just psyching us out. Or like in 2004, when she did it again. This time she’s finished for realz. Probably.
And even those who don’t spend their afternoons spellbound by the Queen of the Couch can’t deny the lady her influence. Oprah has been a staple of afternoon television for 25 years, preceding Dr. Phil by a long shot and outlasting Ricky Lake by miles. Her plush sofas have been soaked in more heartfelt tears than Jessica Simpson’s pillow.
So what do we do now? Who will tell us what to read? And how to decorate for fall? And how to be our healthiest us, while her own weight boomerangs? (Whazzat? Kirstie Alley is still around?)
Fear not, world. The Hand of Oprah will still guide us through her magazine, her website, her radio channel, and her television network, OWN. There is little chance of us being left alone. Ever.