Oprah has owned the No. 1 talk show in the country for more than 10 years. Her movie debut in The Color Purple netted her an Oscar nomination. And she's thinner than you. The shows parade freaks in front of the viewing public. Ricki Lake and Jerry Springer have hiked their ratings by showcasing increasingly repulsive molesters, abusers, adulterers, and pederasts, all of them eager to tell the world about their loathsomeness.
Talk shows are the zenith of America's nauseating confessional culture.
But she doesn't belong. Two years ago, Oprah stopped booking freak guests. It was a huge ratings risk, but her audience stuck with her. Oprah is Oprah and, according to critics, this is the problem. She is indeed the leading practitioner of confessional television.