Oprah’s new talk show Oprah’s Next Chapter debuts on Sunday night to lackluster ratings as her OWN network continues to stumble since debuting in mid-2011.
The show still managed to pull in the second highest ratings of any show on the OWN network but fell well short of the 6.5 million viewers who tuned in on average for the last season of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Those lackluster ratings came as Oprah visited the lakefront New Hampshire home of Aerosmith frontman and American Idol judge Steven Tyler. The show is expected to include more visits to remote locations as Oprah interviews her guests in their homes and other areas, forgoing the studio for more intimate settings.
Putting that number in comparison Piers Morgan when he took over for Larry King only managed a 2.1 million viewership which was still considered abysmal. On the other hand Pawn Stars regularly attracts more than 5 million viewers per episode.
The OWN network no doubt has a long way to go, in fact Oprah Winfrey had to step in as the companies chief executive recently in order to steady the ship. As one analyst tells the Wall Street Journal :
“With her coming on, now is the time they will really be judged,” and “This is where they will have to prove that an Oprah network is a feasible idea.”
Perhaps Oprah needs her studio to thrive, it was always that setting that brought out the enthusiasm in her guests and showed just how good she could be when taping live.
Did you want the first episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter ? If you did what did you think?
