Oprah Winfrey Says She Often Thinks 'If Only I Had' a Talk Show Again
The creator of OWN said she's now found a different way of telling stories.
— -- Oprah Winfrey said goodbye to her iconic talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show" five years ago, but the TV magnate admits at times she still wishes she was discussing the biggest news stories in front of a national audience.
"The first time that happened was with [Jerry] Sandusky," Winfrey told Entertainment Weekly, referring to the former Penn State assistant football coach who was sentenced in 2012 to 30 to 60 years in prison for the sexual abuse of 10 boys.
"I thought, 'If only I had a show, I would be able to [talk] about it,'" she continued. "Many times during this election, I thought, 'If only I had this show, I could explain what is happening.'"
Winfrey later clarified that she doesn't necessarily "miss" her old talk show.
"It holds a space with me that is me and will forever be me until my last breath and beyond. But 'miss' is not the word," she explained. "I cherish everything it represented."
Winfrey, 62, said producing shows for her OWN Network has replaced the void left by her talk show.
"I care about what happens to incarcerated men. Rather than do a show where you have former inmates sitting there talking about what it’s like, we can use the entire story line of Ralph Angel and tell the story," Winfrey explained.
Angel, a former inmate, is the subject of a new show "Queen Sugar" that premieres Sept. 6 on the OWN Network.
"Rather then tell the story of older women dating younger men," she added, "you can use ["Queen Sugar's"] Aunt Vi, and tell that story and show affection and tenderness. So it's a different way to share the same stories and themes."
Winfrey continued, "You want to tell stories that mean something to people so that at the end of the day they come away feeling it was worth their time and their engagement. That’s what’s going to happen with 'Sugar.'"