O Well

Last Friday, Oprah announced she would end her 25-year run as the Queen of Daytime Talk Show Television in September 2011. Seeing she films her show in Chicago, the reaction might have been a little more significant here than it was elsewhere in the country. If anything, the number of puns involving the letter 'O' significantly increased. Here are a few headlines I recall gracing the front pages of Saturday's newspapers:
Photo: AP/ Harpo Productions


"O-revoir"

"O-No"

"Goodbye Chicag-O"


I think I've done a good job thus far of trying to block out the intense media coverage of this story. While it seems to have died down since the announcement, separate conversations will undoubtedly linger like the smell of rotten garbage after they empty those sidewalk trash barrels. Now we'll have to hear about this for the next two years, until the show actually ends. The news is still obsessed with predicting the financial effect of her end and the collapse of Chicago's revenue stream as soon as her show no longer draws in the tourists. This might be a little bit of an exaggeration-- I visited this city like six times before I moved here and not once did I come to see Oprah. She isn't the only draw for people to come to this fine city. She'll probably run off to NYC or head for the Hills of LA (not the same ones as Lauren Conrad) in 2011 leaving Chicago behind. I wonder if she'll let me move into her penthouse which allegedly happens to be in my favorite looking building in the city.

I just became a member of Oprah.com in order to reserve tickets to a taping. Hey, a girl can try!

UPDATE: My roommate just read me a paragraph from the Red Eye daily newslet, in which Oprah's agent has publicly assured Chicagoans that the TV mogul will not be leaving the city. Looks like Harpo and the Big O will continue to grace the Second City with their presence beyond 2011. I won't hold my breath, they also denied she was ending her show in 2011 a few days before the announcement was made that she was. Damn... guess there goes my shot at living in her penthouse now.

UPDATE 2: They reshowed the clip of Oprah crying again. And now they're polling people on who should be her final guest. It's going to be a long two years.