After I began my foray into housewifery last fall, I quickly
developed an afternoon habit. Each day, precisely at 4, I would stop what I was
doing and settle down with a cup of tea and some Oprah. It was … nice, this little break in my day. Sometimes
the shows were total duds, some were interesting, some were star-studded, and some
were a little heavy on the Oprah-as-Auntie Mame factor, but regardless, there I
was, watching faithfully. I am not an Oprah devotee per se, but I’m 32; good,
bad, or indifferent, her voice has been an afternoon fixture for the majority
of my life. Toward the end of the run of the show, I started watching Behind
the Scenes on OWN. It was really interesting to see how this behemoth of a
production really functioned, as well as to see Oprah in a slightly more candid
setting.
I have really missed my 4:00 dates with Oprah, so I was
excited to see that she had a new show starting. (You have to have seen the
media blitz for “Lifeclass” on OWN, no?) I set the DVR to record and even prevented
my Oprah-hating husband from cancelling the recording in order to watch a baseball
game. You can imagine my excitement when I sat down with my tea this afternoon,
ready to watch.
OH HO HO HO, silly girl, did you think this was going to be a
mere rehashing of the Oprah Show? Oprah 2:
Electric Boogaloo, if you will? AS IF.
No, this is Oprah’s Lifeclass. It is the college of life,
and Oprah is Dean. Much like her final episode of the Oprah Show, there is a
chair, there is Oprah, and there is her “class” of viewers. I was always more
of a fan of her interviews, whether it was delving into the lives of everyday
people, celebrities, or even total crackpots; my viewership waned in the “Live
Your Best Life” years. It works for some people, but it’s just not my thing.
Sure, I was disappointed to see that Oprah and I were not going back to our
4:00 dates anytime soon, but that was not what got to me.
What got to me was this—the subject of this first “class”
was EGO. It was a class about the false powers of ego and how to free yourself
from your ego, and where Oprah felt she had learned this lesson over the years.
I sat there, mouth agape, glued to the screen because it seems to have escaped Oprah
that the very act of creating a television show for herself, starring herself, on
a network she has named for herself, and in which she has fashioned herself a
professor of LIFE perhaps could be construed as the ultimate display of EGO.
The irony, oh how it buuuuurns.
Am I alone in this? Is this just the typical Oprah the
haters speak of, the one that I had always glossed over because I found her
show to be a fun escape?
Either way, Mark’s going to be THRILLED that I deleted it
from the DVR schedule.
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