Unlike Johnny Carson, who walked away from The Tonight Show in 1992 and made just a handful of public appearances afterwards (see here and here for two memorable examples), Oprah won't be going anywhere for long.
Not with her OWN network to hawk and her seemingly insatiable need for attention and adoration (what Alessandra Stanley calls her "messianic streak.")
I suspect we will see almost as much of her in the future as we do now.
In that way, she's more like Ed McMahon than Johnny Carson.
Starsearch, anyone?
Alpo?
Life insurance?
Oprah Magazine?
OWN?
What do you need?
It's all for sale.
All of it.
Oprah likes to play healer, prophet, political guru and The Christ all in one, but really, she was just another egocentric show biz personality with a ton of products to sell and a ready audience to buy them from her.
If you ask me, I prefer the way Carson walked away.
There was grandeur in it.
Thirty years on TV, then you never saw him again.
Oprah?
She may have left her show, but I saw her at the supermarket checkout line tonight on the cover of Oprah Magazine.
The difference is that Johnny had incredible talent. No sensationalism, just great material and terrific banter every night. Johnny's talent was letting others shine on his stage.
ReplyDeleteOprah thinks she is the source of light. Good riddance.
Great point about Carson letting other shine on his stage - he seemed to really enjoy playing straight man for whoever was sitting in the chair next to the desk.
ReplyDeleteI was going through You Tube, watching a lot of old clips of Carson. A lot of it is still pretty funny. Might have to post a clip or two in coming days to share them.
As for Oprah, yup, it is always about Oprah.
One of the few positive things that the ed deformer/Waiting for Superman-loving Oprah did was have her book club. I've enjoyed several books that "made" "her" book club.
ReplyDelete