The Magnificent Return of Oprah: Why Her Podcast is Scratching a Familiar Itch
Of course, Oprah didn't go anywhere.
In the 15 years since The Oprah Winfrey Show ended its historic 25-year run on daytime television, America's talk show supreme leader hasn't slacked off in any way whatsoever. She's always been around, a constant presence in the culture. From starting OWN from the ground up and brushing shoulders with the Obamas...to maintaining her influential book club and co-authoring self-help titles for the masses, Ms. Winfrey never went "into that good night."
However, a little over a year ago, the media mogul officially launched The Oprah Podcast, a series of curated conversations with thought leaders, industry titans, cultural icons, and the occasional celebrity. Each week, a new episode drops online, and because podcasts are now more visual than ever (thanks to YouTube, Netflix, and all of social media), a sizable audience joins Oprah in her circle-in-the-round studio, sometimes participating with questions or contributing stories that pertain to the topic at hand.
The Oprah Podcast has proven to be the closest thing we've had to a reboot of The Oprah Winfrey Show. It is undeniably a spiritual successor to the daily syndicated talk show that brought millions of Americans together from 1986 to 2011. No other podcast (that I'm familiar with) incorporates an audience like this.
And the topics are just as dynamic and worthy of a nuanced discourse. Oprah sat down with the founders of Claude AI and asked them about the social responsibility they're expected to carry. She discussed with psychotherapist Esther Perel the current state of sex, desire, and relationships in our "disembodied reality." And last winter, one episode struck a chord with over 5 million viewers who watched psychologists and audience members talk about the "silent epidemic" of people going #NoContact with their families.
For those of us who grew up coming home from school to watch The Oprah Winfrey Show on TV, this is a welcome nostalgic feeling. We can now come home from work (or step away from our home office) and log on to YouTube to see who Oprah will have on as a guest. That familiar dynamic, the way the podcast episodes are directed, takes us back to those days when Oprah was an afternoon staple in our lives, expertly interviewing subjects and broadening people's horizons with thoughtful discussions on societal issues.
The Oprah Podcast is also a reminder of how the format has been gradually pulling audiences away from traditional talk shows, turning them into an endangered species. With the recent end of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and both The Kelly Clarkson Show and Sherri shutting down their productions soon, many culture pundits wonder if the TV format is becoming a thing of the past.
The podcast space is clearly dominated by figures who are able to hold onto their audiences because of the very nature of the medium. It's nothing new to say the format allows for conversations to flow more freely, go deeper, and feel more candid and personal. There are less time restraints with podcasts. Guests don't have to limit their pre-planned chat to six minutes before plugging a project while Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel gushes over them.
So, is The Oprah Podcast a sign of things to come? Will other podcasters with large followings incorporate audiences into their tapings for a livelier vibe, for a more interactive component? Some have already jumped on the bandwagon. Pod Save America's Jon Lovett successfully hosted his own Lovett or Leave It at LA's Dynasty Typewriter in front of a live audience (although we don't see them) while others bring their shows on the road for live tapings from various venues.
If podcasts are the new talk show, where do they go from here? Do we still call them podcasts?
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