Oprah Winfrey's talk show has come to an end

Posted by elena On Thursday, May 26th 2011 in Celebrity

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" officially came to an end on Wednesday, with the broadcast of the final episode recorded by the influential TV star. The popular talk show had been on air for the last 25 years and had a large worldwide audience. The last episode, titled "The Oprah Winfrey Finale", was pre-recorded on Tuesday, in front of a live audience of 400 people, and broadcast on Wednesday, May 25. Although no new episodes will be filmed, re-runs of the talk show will continue to air over the next few months.

Oprah Winfrey wanted to dedicate the final episode of her show to fans and the audience, and what they have meant to her over the years. As a result, there were no celebrity guests invited during the one-hour show, which the host described as a "love letter" to her audience. Winfrey kept everything simple during her last broadcast and chose to speak to her audience of the values she had always supported.

The last Winfrey broadcast was preceded by two other farewell episodes, which had a more glamorous atmosphere. The two shows, recorded at Chicago's United Centre, featured a plethora of stars, including Madonna, Aretha Franklin and Beyonce, paying tribute to Winfrey. The episodes, filmed in front of an audience of 13,000 people, were broadcast on Monday and Tuesday. Stars such as Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Stevie Wonder also appeared.

The 57-year old star has had an impressive career in television and is viewed as one of the most influential women in the world. She has revolutionised the talk show genre by introducing confessional elements and tackling subjects that were seen as taboo. Her talk show often featured highly publicised interviews with celebrities and politicians. In 1996, she started the Oprah Book Club, which currently has about two million members. Some of the less-known books recommended by Winfrey have become best-sellers. Recently, Winfrey lost the top spot on Forbes magazine's list of the most powerful celebrities in favour of Lady Gaga.

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" is syndicated all over the world (in no less than 145 countries). The show first aired in 1986 and had 25 seasons since. Winfrey announced her planned retirement from the show in November 2009. Apparently, she is now going to concentrate on her OWN cable channel (The Oprah Winfrey Network), which she launched at the beginning of this year.