Departing from the star-studded lineup that marked the last week of shows, the finale, which will air between 4 and 5 p.m. in most markets, features only Oprah.
According to audience members who attended the taping, Winfrey used her final hour to stage a quiet, teary goodbye and thank you to her fans, sans giveaways.
She closed the episode by kissing and hugging her partner of 25 years, Stedman Graham, and saying goodbye to her staff as she walked the halls of Harpo Studios cheering, “We did it! We did it!,” reports Amy Korin of Chicago, an audience member.
“It was just her the whole time, a recap of what she believed in, what we’ve given her as viewers and what she hopes she has given us,” says Nancy Evankoe of Hoffman Estates, IL.
And although this is the end of The Oprah Winfrey Show, it is not the end of Oprah, she was quick to remind the audience. “She said, `This isn’t goodbye. This is until we meet again,’” says Korin.
OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network
Now that the show has come to a close, Winfrey will turn her focus full-time to her other major media properties, namely the OWN network she launched earlier this year.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly earlier this month, Winfrey admitted that the network is “not where I want it to be.”
After disappointing ratings following its launch, the network overhauled its schedule and fired chief executive Christina Norman four months in.
“I wouldn’t even say 10 percent of my time is on OWN right now,” she said at the time, admitting that launching the network before her show finished was possibly a mistake. “But it will be. [After the show ends] I can st art to give my attention...
