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Oprah finale end of an era

So May 21 wasn’t quite the apocalypse as promised. But really, Harold Camping was only off by a few days. Wednesday, May 25 – maybe not quite the apocalypse, but certainly close. The end of Oprah. And for others, The Rapture.
So May 21 wasn’t quite the apocalypse as promised. But really, Harold Camping was only off by a few days. 

Wednesday, May 25 – maybe not quite the apocalypse, but certainly close. The end of Oprah. And for others, The Rapture.

Oprah has spent her farewell season ­look­ing back and giving viewers closure with updates on the people and issues that touched them most.

If you love Oprah, it was a gift. 

If not, it was a tortuous rehashing of all the things you hate about her.

I can understand the love/hate with Oprah. Everything is so over-the-top with her. She doesn’t just get excited.  She throws her arms wide, drops her voice an octave and belts out her words like a frustrated male opera singer. 

She parrots her guests’ words like a child in school, smiling with the knowledge that she got an A.  In fact, many episodes felt like she was teaching a class.

You got the feeling that Mama Oprah knew all and was always one step ahead of you.

But for all her quirks, she has a recognizable need to reach out to others. She’s given away millions in gifts from her “friends” at Target, Lowe’s, Sears and the like. 

Of course, friends or not, who would say no to Oprah? 

After all, if she has friends in every corporation in ­A­mer­i­ca, she probably has a buddy or two at the IRS.

She’s also personally sent tens of thousands of kids to school. And during her second last show, more than 400 men from Morehouse College thanked her for paying for their education and paid it forward by pledging over $300,000 to future scholarship funds. 

She built a boarding school in South Africa so that girls could become more than the uneducated baby factories they have traditionally been. 

She promoted reading. (Crazy broad put William Faulkner on her summer book club!)  She introduced historical events to the masses such as the Freedom Riders. And she gave individuals a safe place to speak openly about some of the most unspeakable topics in the hopes of helping others. 

Her “answers” to life’s problems were sometimes too pat. Made to be digestible to the simple-minded masses, they were not always realistic. But she tried, she cared and she believed in us.
Surprisingly, she also acknowledged her numerous mistakes. She cried and hugged and spoke personally about her guests so we knew this was more than just a job. 

Oprah often reminds me of the song How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? from The Sound of Music.  “She’d out-pester any pest / drive a hornet from its nest / She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl / She is gentle! She is wild! / She’s a riddle! She’s a child! / She’s a headache! She’s an angel! / She’s a girl!”

She’s also done with The Oprah Show. And love her or hate her, she did something good here. And television wouldn’t be the same without her. 




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