Comments on: Oprah, I am your father.

Oprah, I am your father.

adrober — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 15:43:20 -0800

How Ebert Gave Oprah Her Start. "Yes, it is true, I persuaded Oprah to become the most successful and famous woman in the world. I was also the person who suggested that Jerry Springer not go into syndication, for which I have received too little credit."

By: panoptican

panoptican — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:25:49 -0800

Roger Ebert has been on dates with women? And Oprah? The world becomes increasingly mysterious every day.

By: jba

jba — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:26:54 -0800

HAH. I laughed at that too, panoptican. Cute story, thanks adrober.

By: JeffL

JeffL — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:35:30 -0800

He's married, even.

By: furtive

furtive — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:35:43 -0800

I have a lot of respect for Oprah, but as of late when the gf watches it all I notice is that the audience is screaming non-stop, like it was a game show. Anyone care to shed some light on this phenomenon?

By: maudlin

maudlin — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:35:47 -0800

I do believe Ebert is even married to a woman. Let me work on my shocked and surprised look a bit. Or not.

By: Potsy

Potsy — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:39:01 -0800

Being famous helps.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:42:34 -0800

Thar she blows, Orpah the Killer Whale! So its all Ebert's fault, eh? I'm glad Ernie didn't have any hand in it or I'd be pissed at him and his duckie too. Potsy, that's pretty much what Danny Bonaduce said about being on the Patridge Family and looking like him, he still got chicks (mostly David Cassidy's castoffs but he wasn't complaining).

By: telstar

telstar — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 16:43:43 -0800

Is this one of those things you have to have VD to understand?

By: snsranch

snsranch — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:41:20 -0800

I don't understand her current "rock star" status, but this movie was pretty good.

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:57:02 -0800

I don't have the time to read the article, but that quote is priceless. thanks. A similar one could be if Siskel had once said, "I tried to convince Ebert not to write Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, for which I receive too little credit."

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:59:03 -0800

"Anyone care to shed some light on this phenomenon?" YOU'RE GETTING A CAR! YOU'RE GETTING A CAR! YOU'RE GETTING A CAR! EVERYONE'S GETTING A CAR!

By: xyzzy

xyzzy — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:06:00 -0800

When Oprah explained the Ebert connection to her career, she could barely even *say* that she went on a date with Ebert. She was that embarrassed. Which? Lowered my opinion of her about 4 notches. Bitch, the man won a Pulitzer. A little class, please.

By: surferboy

surferboy — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:14:31 -0800

His comment was tongue in cheek. The article was very funny. I gotta defend the guy, he rocks.

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:15:40 -0800

Does Oprah really credit Ebert? I got the sense Ebert's claim was tongue in cheek. Hard to believe Oprah couldn't figure out on her own what Ebert says he told her. Also: Oprah, Ebert. Ebert, Oprah.

By: xyzzy

xyzzy — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:16:29 -0800

Yes, she explained "how it all started" on her 20 year anniversary show.

By: ericb

ericb — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 18:26:49 -0800

By: DawnSimulator

DawnSimulator — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 19:07:25 -0800

When I questioned Ebert as to whether there were any after-date shenanigans, he smiled and said, "Well, I gave her two thumbs up." (Groan.)

By: I Foody

I Foody — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 20:19:40 -0800

Ebert is easily my favorite critic, he's not the best to find out which movies I will like, but he is the best to find out why I like movies.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:51:30 -0800

furtive writes "I have a lot of respect for Oprah, but as of late when the gf watches it" Suuuure. Your girlfriend... Right... Do you read Playboy for the articles, too?

By: tsarfan

tsarfan — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 00:42:10 -0800

I still dont see how she's so rich. She has a show which until recently was only aired in the afternoons and seen by a few million people a day, now it's re-run at night for a few hundred thousand. And yes she helped launch Dr. Phil. But no one watches her tv network and less read her magazine. Bill O'Reilly of all people reach more viewers and listeners than Oprah, but you dont hear anyone saying how powerful or rich he is. Which means that maybe Howard Stern, who is also syndicated, but during a much more popular time-period, perhaps is worth the $200-$500 million that Sirius is paying him.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 03:57:22 -0800

tsarfan: Oprah is broadcast worldwide (she has a cult like following here in SA and managed to launch her magazine O here as well). I have yet to see Bill O'Reilly pollute our airwaves, and I doubt he gets much play outside the US either. Also she owns her show, that is she owns the production company that makes it (Harpo Studios) so she gets hefty hefy syndication fees etc. I'm not sure if O'Reilly owns his.

By: craniac

craniac — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 06:20:26 -0800

When I questioned Ebert as to whether there were any after-date shenanigans, he smiled and said, "Well, I gave her two thumbs up." hahahahahaha! Upon reflection, he probably has about 28 "thumbs up" one-liners. The only time my faith in Ebert was challenged was when he and Siskel did a special episode on Schwarzenegger films and they started discussing Predator. That was just painful to watch.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 08:18:53 -0800

Don't forget her book club...there've been lots of articles about how books by unknown authors have rocketed up the bestseller lists after being mentioned on her show.

By: Peter H

Peter H — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 08:25:53 -0800

but this movie was pretty good. I saw Jim Jarmusch talk a year or two ago and someone asked him about personal vision as a director, versus being false for commercial gain, or something like that - somehow Spielberg comes up - Jarmusch quietly zings, "I like that one film of his, what's it called, 'The Colored People' "

By: xammerboy

xammerboy — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 09:31:52 -0800

No one's going to do the math?

By: Peter H

Peter H — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 09:44:54 -0800

> Wife > Oprah Roger Ebert does care about black women.

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:44:02 -0800

"and they started discussing Predator" And well they should. Arnie's best film.

By: Paris Hilton

Paris Hilton — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 14:39:57 -0800

I have it on good authority that arnie has a very small penis.

By: raedyn

raedyn — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 14:44:05 -0800

Her production company has a lot to do with her wealth. She produced Rosie O'Donnell's show, for instance.

By: quite unimportant

quite unimportant — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 15:08:39 -0800

Roger Ebert is out of control. Meanwhile, Oprah and her millions of clucking hen zombies keep me awake at night.

By: spira

spira — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 15:17:36 -0800

tsarfan - Oprah's show has way higher ratings than Bill O'Reilly or any other show on cable (with the exception of the NFL and new Sopranos episodes). Oprah attracts about 8 million viewers each day, while O'Reilly attracts between 2 and 2.5 million viewers per day - about the same as Maury Povich.

By: bonheur

bonheur — Sat, 19 Nov 2005 15:41:23 -0800

The screaming audience is because they book the audience to the topic. For instance, for a show about Robin Williams, Oprah.com will have a link entitled "Are You Robin Williams' Biggest Fan? Has Robin Williams Changed Your Life?" And then you can click the link and write in about your life-changing Robin Williams experience. If you sound enthusiastic enough about it, someone from the Harpo audience department will call you on the phone and give you tickets to the Robin Williams episode of Oprah. That way every single person in the audience is wildly enthusiastic about the topic of the day. This is different from, say, Jenny Jones, where the topic is a surprise and they have to hold up those "applause!" signs.

By: panoptican

panoptican — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:32:19 -0800

quite unimportant: That was freaking hilarious.