Photo: www.oprah.com -- Oprah says good-bye to her millions of fans on the finale of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which aired May 25, 2011

 ”The Oprah Winfrey Show”  finale was huge — in true Oprah style. On Wednesday, Oprah’s talk show wrapped up 25 years with a tribute to her fans, who stuck with her year after year. That show scored its biggest overnight rating for Oprah’s talker in 17 years,  according to the website TV by the Numbers.

If you missed the big episode, click over to the Oprah.com website and share some of the finale highlights. Here is some of what the queen of talk shows had to say to her fans.

Oprah:

“After deliberating for some time, we decided to do what we do best, and that is a show about and with everyday people. This show always allows people, hopefully, to understand the power they have to change their own lives. If there’s one thread running through each show we do, it is the message that you are not alone. Twenty-five years and I’m still saying thank you, America. Thank you so much. There are no words to match this moment. Every word I’ve ever spoken from this stage of The Oprah Show for 4,561 days of my life is what this moment is all about.”

More of Oprah’s love letter to the fans here. Also, check out Oprah’s farewell season in videos, photos, and articles on the Oprah website.

A new year. A new beginning …

Logo courtesy PR Newswire

Some heavyweight stars have signed on to produce a series of two-hour documentaries with OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, scheduled to debut next January.

Julia Roberts, Forest Whitaker, and Goldie Hawn will be joined by Gabriel Byrne and Mariel Hemingway in this venture.  The subjects range from:  a look inside a hospice at the Louisiana maximum security prison in Angola, to Hemingway’s exploration of her family’s legacy of suicide to an in depth report on extraordinary mothers and their desire to make a better world for all children.

“All of these documentaries fundamentally explore human interaction, relationships and emotions,” said Lisa Erspamer, chief creative officer, OWN, in a PR Newswire press release today. ”We’re excited to provide viewers with new perspectives and new ways of looking at core themes that shape and affect their lives.”

The Oprah Winfrey Network is set to go on the air January 1, 2011, to approximately 80 millions homes, on what is now the Discovery Health Channel.

Look who’s talking? Oprah interviewed Jay Leno yesterday about the much debated “Tonight Show” debacle. NBC executives jerked around both Leno and fellow talk show host Conan O’Brien. Last Friday, O’Brien gave up “The Tonight Show” rather than see it compromised. Oh, O’Brien walked away with a huge chunk of money and a ton of favorable publicity as well.

On the other hand, Leno did not come out the clear winner, either. He gets to host ”The Tonight Show” again, but has become the target of bad press and dissing from fans for not being a real stand-up guy. The reason: he didn’t call out the NBC executives over that tacky plan to shift “The Tonight Show” from its traditional 11:35 p.m. time period to 12:05 a.m., which would have allowed a half-hour version of “The Jay Leno Show” to start in the 11:35 p.m. slot.

In the interview on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Leno answered some tough questions, and in doing so, smoothed out a few dents in his public image. I encountered the comedian a number of times when I  worked as a news writer at NBC and on occasion, in the local Burbank community. I once bumped into Leno, with a staffer, making a food run for “The Tonight Show” crew at a McDonald’s in Burbank. Each time I met Leno, he came across as a great guy. Also, I’m a fan. However, I was quite disappointed with the way Leno handled himself in “The Tonight Show” mess.

After reading the transcript of his interview with Oprah on Nikki Finke’s Deadline.com/Hollywood site, I better understand Leno’s position and perspective.

Leno admits NBC “broke his heart” when they told him in 2004, that despite being number one, he would get the boot from “The Tonight Show” five years down the road.

“…I was devastated. This is the job that I always wanted and it was the only job that ever mattered in show business to me. It’s the job every comic aspires to. And it was just like, “What’s–why–what is it?” “Well, we’re getting pressure here and Conan’s people want to make this announcement and to make sure you do leave we want to announce it right now, you know, prior to the five years.” And I said, “Can we at least wait and as I said the other night on my show, couldn’t we wait until I’m number two and then say, okay, he dropped to number two, that’s the reason we’re moving you.”

How did Leno feel when his prime time show failed?

“… I felt bad for everybody on the show and I felt bad for our affiliates. A couple weeks ago I called the head of the affiliate board and I said listen, they’re the ones that canceled us, and I said, “I’m sorry I let you guys down. I mean, you guys supported us, you went along with the decision. I’m sorry our show wasn’t successful for you.”

 Leno says that notorious late night talk show plan was a surprise to him, too.

“I never expected this to happen. People think you’re behind the scenes pulling strings. There’s no strings to pull. I have a show that’s been canceled. So why would I have any power to go, oh, I want that? What happened was NBC came to me and they said, “Look, your show was down 14%, Conan’s show was down 49%. We have a plan. We want to keep you both.”

 Why did he agree to return to “The Tonight Show?”

“You know, if you’re a gunfighter, you like to die in the street.”

Do you think you’re robbing O’Brien of his shot at the big time?

“No, because again, this is an affiliate decision. The affiliates felt the ratings were low. This was the first time in the 60-year history of “The Tonight Show” that “The Tonight Show” would have lost money and that’s what it comes down to. It’s really just a matter of dollars and cents. If the numbers had been there, they wouldn’t have asked me. And they only asked me after Conan turned down moving it back half an hour.”

What does Leno think about the way NBC handled the situation?

“Anything they did would have been better than this. Anything. Anything they did. If they’d come in and shot everybody, I mean, it would have been people murdered, but at least it would have been a two-day story. I mean, yes. NBC could not have handled it worse, from 2004 onward, this whole thing was a huge, a huge mess, yeah.”

Despite all that has happened, Leno thinks he can revive “The Tonight Show.”

“I hope so. I think so. Yeah. And I hope Conan gets a job somewhere else. I hope he gets on at Fox or somewhere and we all compete together. “Ooh, Conan’s back on,” and it raises the level of interest. And you know what happens? The best one wins. Maybe I’ll get my butt kicked, maybe we’ll win.”

If you didn’t get a chance to catch the interview on TV, check out the transcript on Finke’s site, it is well worth the read. Also, Talk Show Diva, Oprah, has more on the controversy on her website, too.

Comic/ radio D.J. and now best-selling author, Steve Harvey, is getting mucho attention on his promotional tour for his relationship book, “Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, And Commitment.” Women everywhere are talking about this book.

Harvey was on “Oprah” Monday, March 23, his second appearance in less than a month. If you missed the TV show, you can get a taste of Harvey’s book and love advice on Oprah’s website. Like most of these advice and self-help books, Harvey’s take on how women should deal with men isn’t really new. It’s the witty, straight-on way Harvey dishes out his recommendations that’s fresh and interesting.

For example, he says the four words that strike fear into men are, “we need to talk.” According to Harvey’s book: “No man wants to sit around gabbing with you like we’re one of your girlfriends. Ever. It’s just not in our DNA to lounge around, sip coffee, and dab at our eyes with tissue as if we’re in an AA meeting or on some psychologist’s couch trying to get things off our chest. When men are talking, and especially when they’re listening, it’s with purpose.”  Hmm, I prefer to cut to the chase myself and I’m of the female persuasion. No matter, Harvey is telling it like it is from the male perspective and women are loving it.

“Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man” debuted at the top of the New York Times Hardcover Advice Book List the week of February 9, 2009. Several weeks later, Harvey’s book is still smoking at number one on that list. Over at the Barnes & Noble website today, “Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man” is number three; it’s number two on Amazon.

Harvey has been kicking around the entertainment biz as a comedian for some time. He toured as a member of   “Kings of Comedy” and later appeared in the Spike Lee movie, “The Original Kings of Comedy” (2000). Right now, Harvey is getting a lot of kudos for his popular nationally syndicated “The Steve Harvey Morning Show.” It reportedly has almost seven million listeners weekly on more than 60 stations nationwide. In the Southland, the Hip Hop and R&B station The Beat, at 93.5 FM in Redondo Beach, carries “The Steve Harvey Morning Show” from 6 AM to 10 AM.  

In these troubled and shaky financial times who doesn’t need some professional advice on money matters. Along that line, talk show host and mega-successful entrepreneur, Oprah Winfrey, is offering one of the best bargains around.

Right now, at www.oprah.com readers can download a free copy of “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan.” Orman is a top notch finance guru and the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers. A lot of folks are buying Orman’s latest book as well. Today “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan” is number one on the Barnes & Noble website. Orman’s book of tips and plans for weathering the turbulent financial scene in 2009 is ranked number 5 over on Amazon’s bestseller list.

The Oprah free download of Orman’s book ends next Thursday, January 15. Also on that date, Orman will be answering money questions in a live webcast — details on the Oprah website.