Over the past month I can’t even begin to count how many articles I have deleted from my in-box all about how Oprah is losing her influence, OWN is struggling or some other shock and awe story. I figured the average person was smart enough to see through all the smoke and understood the real dynamics. BUT with so many stories popping up lately, I wanted to get this off my chest. I’ll do my best to make it quick. 

• The Oprah Show set an end date – lots of chatter, lots of hype, lots of tears
• The Oprah Show began the countdown – lots of talk, major buzz, many people praying they’d get a spot on one of her last shows, everyone talking about who the next Oprah would be
• Final days of The Oprah Show- floods of tears coming from Harpo and fans, actual term for the depression people were feeling, “Empty Oprah Syndrome” was coined, despite the state of our country, it seemed that Oprah was all people were talking about

 As soon as her feet left the building, the steady stream of good stories vanished. No more feel good “Oprah” stories. You could occasionally find an upbeat article about the start of the OWN network, but in general the hangover after the party had hit. 

Now to what I thought everyone could easily see…the Oprah Winfrey Network is just in it’s infancy. No baby has ever come out running or playing concertos. Before OWN even got its footing, people were burying it. All of the microscopes came out like kids watching for the instant growth of Sea Monkeys. Nothing grows fast enough for them. Show ideas will come and go. Concepts may shift or OWN may find some aren’t a good fit. It is the process and always has been. Just remember, a quality network takes time to build. Solid shows take time to create. People just need to chill and have patience.

 I will admit there are a few areas OWN needs to tweak for us but that is a story that thedailyOWN has already written so I won’t go there. However, I have no doubts that in time everything will come together. OWN was created with good intentions and has a good heart. Their audience is just hungry for “help me live my best life” programming. Something that makes us think, grow and even laugh at times. Hunger can make people a little crazy. My suggestion…get a snack, do some meditation and all good things will come. Just be patient and don’t believe the hype.