As we wind down to the last few episodes, it feels like such a gift to have Oprah giving us access to her very last season on the air.  In her OWN Docu-Series, literally…this show has given back so much to those of us who have grown ourselves up over the years and always wondered what it would be like to…work for Oprah, prep for a show, be on a show and know what she’s thinking.  For the ultimate Oprah fan, this is yet another love letter to leave us with.  Tears.  This is a long one…but I don’t want to miss a piece of it…and I don’t want you to either.  Thanks for reading…Now, on with the show.

Tonight, the Obama’s are coming!  “And it’s the first time,” Sheri reminds us,” that a sitting president has been on the Oprah Winfrey Show.”  Oprah tells us that since she is also friends with the First Family, she has  a personal rule, “Don’t ask the President and First Lady for anything”  so when The President followed-up on a comment he had made about being on the show…Oprah and team were happily surprised.  Andrea Wishom is producing the show and gives us a little bit more…she used to be neighbors with the Obama’s.  Also on the producing team is Heather Aldride, who starts off with some questions that Oprah might want to ask…but Oprah’s been making some notes of her own…and she is nervous. “You just want everything to work,” Oprah says.   Interviewing friends can’t be that easy. 

For the next show featured this week, we have the  BTS look at the James Frey 2 day interview.  Our FULL Circle moment with Oprah for Season 25.  “I think one of the things that I am most proud of in the 25 year run is that what I have done in every interview I recall is enter the interview with open space for compassion and empathy,” Oprah tells us.  “Whether I’m talking to murders or child molesters…good people…bad people…let me just hear your story…except for one…James Frey.”  Sheri Salata gave her the book long before “The SHOW” and the nudge to read it. It’s a marvelous read. “Last time they came together it was a little rough,” Sheri reminds us.  Oprah was tough…and mad.  “For years I’ve heard I gave him an ‘ass whooping’ but I didn’t think I was,” Oprah says in a casual summer meeting about what shows to do for the last season.  So, when Sheri pitched the interview idea, Oprah was open.  “I personally thought you were harsh,” Sheri says. “I thought you were mad and angry and I knew what he had been told,” she continues,”….he knew he was coming on to answer questions, but it was in the context of forgiveness and redemption.”  Oprah sits for a few seconds quietly and says in the meeting, “THAT is is first time I’m hearing that…well, this is news to me…this is a big revelation here to me folks.”  “That’s the first time I felt really bad,” Oprah says with tears in her eyes to the Behind the Scenes camera,  “…because I thought ‘well, that is really unfair’…all these years what I thought is that he knew what he was walking into…what’s really unfair is that if you are told it is one thing and it becomes something else.” 

In August, we get the BTS notes scoop that Sheri called James Frey and she says “he was still working through some things” and after the conversation, they both agreed that maybe the time wasn’t right.  But in April…James emailed and said something like, “Life is too short for the perception to be that Oprah and I are enemies.”  Oprah is clearly moved…and not proud of the last show.  You can see it in her actions.  “I wonder if he’s learned as much from it as I have from it,” Oprah says.   We will find out…

For all of the right reasons, Sheri is the one talking to James…because she was the one who brought James to Oprah and know how fragile the situation is.  Also…I think that this is a bit of her OWN personal full circle moment too.  She clearly still feels very badly for James…and also, connected to the story.  This gives her a way to put closure on this just as much as it does for James and for Oprah.  So, she’s getting in the weeds and making sure that this works for both of them.  “I write books to change people’s lives,” James tells Sheri in a pre-phone meeting.  “I can say it was the worst thing that happened in my career; it was very difficult and frightening,” James shares.  Sheri is perceptive and notes that she wants James to feel safe…and to feel secure that nothing is going to happen like it did last time.  She’s being careful and heartful on this one.  Bravo Sheri for being connected…and the connection.

As the woman who does it all, Andrea Wishom is ALL OVER this week as she is producing BOTH of the shows that the Behind the Scenes footage has captured.  Both James Frey and the Obama’s. So, the day has come and the Obama’s are coming to talk and then, have a little lunch with Oprah at Harpo.  “This is my last studio show and it’s with the Obama’s.”  Andrea shares. “I’m so honored to be ending this way.  After 18 years, it’s like a dream come true.”  So, for a quick update, Obama released his “long form” birth certificate that very same day.  “I’m never nervous, but I’m nervous,” Oprah tells us.  “In the history of my career, this is only the second time I’ve ever been nervous.  First time, Michael Jackson 1993 live outside his home.  This would be the second time…”

Maybe everyone is a little nervous.  I mean POTUS is coming and just the secret service alone might make some people a little bit on edge.  “There is something about the Office of  President of the United States that sets you on your heals a little bit,” Sheri says.  Oprah’s nervous and Sheri needs to keep her on track. “You need to keep me calmed down,” Oprah tells Sheri.  But is just flows.  During a commercial break, Oprah shares with the Obama’s this personal note…and what it meant to her. “This is momumental, historical,” Oprah shares. “I was thinking about that this morning.  That my grandmother, who was only a maid her whole life – what she would be thinking of this day….I was thinking about all that this morning.”    Then later, she tells us on the BTS cameras, “What it looked like on television is one thing. It’s grand. It’s a fabulous thing that they showed up there. But what it meant to my own personal heart and being…I shall never forget that.” 

From The President, this was what she received back. “Oprah, you are a great friend of both of ours but I just want you to know that you have changed this country in unimaginable ways and you have got a big heart,” President Obama says. “and you share it with people and nobody knows how to connect better that you do and we are just blessed and grateful to have you in our lives.”  Mr. President….you took the words right out of my mouth.  So very blessed…so very thankful.  So…as the weekend passes…of course, it’s the very weekend that Osama Bin Laden is found and killed….but the show must go on…and with the tagline “previously recorded” the show went on.  What timing.  What a piece of history too…

As we wrap up this piece of the show, we move to the piece that is making me almost cry everytime it comes on….because I see how emotional it is for both Oprah and Sheri…and clearly we are all connected.  Soul sisters of sorts.  So…on we go to New York and James…

Two days before the interview, Oprah has a pre-meeting with Andrea and Sheri about what questions to ask.  And what was the catalyst for all of this?  Sara Palin and the whole drama on should she be on the show. In the shower, The Voice that Oprah is always telling us to listen for said to Oprah – “Do not make the same mistake as you did with James Frey…Do not be ruled by your ego,” Oprah shares. Wow. So even with all of the people in Oprah’s life discouraging her to do this interview, she knows its the right thing to do.  “I’m open to whatever happens, however it happens,” Oprah says the day of the interview.  When Oprah asks Sheri, “Were you friends with him?”  Sheri tells her, “At that time, I talked to him every day for 3 1/2 months…”  Sheri is nervous…and tells us that this is hard for her…but she is the calm in the room…for everyone. 

From the Soho Grand Hotel, Oprah and James sit down.  “The fact that he would have the courage to trust me again,” Oprah says.  “I mean, why would he do that again? Why would you put yourself through that again?  And he did….”  The interview WAS AMAZING.  Both days.  I wondered why the show would give it two whole days of coveted Oprah Show time…but after watching it…it was two of the BEST HOURS of the show this season…with the best lessons.  Watch it…then watch it again.  I digress…James says, “Thanks for letting me come say this…it feels nice.”    “I felt something so special and so connected with him in that interview,” Oprah says to the BTS cameras.  “I realize that his courage to be present in that moment was just absolute perfection – not between an interviewer and a guest but between two human beings.” 

“Something special happened…something unique and transformative happened in that room,” Sheri tells us.  And it transformed everyone who watched the show.  The lesson…listen with an open heart…and never let your ego rule your intentions.  Open hearts… amazing show…amazing BTS…amazing love letters to us, the viewers.  Tissue please…