TV – Oprah Isn’t Like You, She’s Better

I'm better than you!

Last week for some strange reason I found myself watching The Oprah Winfrey Show.  Before I even started watching the show I loathed her.  I don’t think I’ve ever watched a whole episode in my life but I have been in front of the tv when she has been on.  My sister loves the show and my mom would watch it while making dinner.  The thing about Oprah is that I’ve always found her to be a phony.  I guess the more someone tells you that they are like you, the less they really are.  Oprah isn’t like us, she’s way better.  She feels more than we do, she cares more than we do and, I almost forgot, she’s worth about $2.7 billion.  I’m sure she can relate.  I don’t begrudge anyone being mega rich, I just wish they wouldn’t insult our intelligence by pretending to be like us.  Sure, Oprah grew up like so many of us but that’s long gone. 

What drove me to write this?  What was on that episode?  This is the best part.  I’m watching the show and it’s Oprah all teary eyed telling us about how her palatial mansion is threatened by the wildfires in California.  She also called her good friend, actor, Rob Lowe and they talked on the phone about how scary it is that their “houses” are in the area of the wildfires.  Then Oprah goes on to tell us a story about how she called her neighbor, producer and director, Ivan Reitman to see if he was ok.  What’s the problem with this?  I’m not saying that Oprah shouldn’t be emotional about this because it is real and scary but do you think it’s the right time to be going on television and telling us about these problems that we cannot relate to?  

The economy is getting worse every day and I believe the average Oprah viewer is an average middle to lower middle class housewife.  Do you really think that a housewife in Indiana cares about one of Oprah’s many houses?  Can she relate to Oprah’s plight when her husband may be losing his job, they can’t pay their mortgage and their future is uncertain?  I don’t think so.  I found Oprah’s show and her act to be highly inappropriate for the time we’re in now.  I would have had less of a problem with this episode last year or previous years but not now.  Oprah, know your audience and stick to interviewing your Hollywood friends about anything but this and keep on pretending that everything they say is interesting.  You’re not like us, you’re better, and we know it.