What Oprah Taught Us: Four Decades of Intention, Influence, and Format Change

The useful part

Oprah Winfrey Reflects on Her 40-Year Legacy Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission. Everywhere I go in the world, there isn't a place where somebody hasn't told me that they watched, were moved, were stirred to do something differently in their life." Photo: King World Productions/Everett Collection During my sophomore year of college, my roommate and I chose our classes based on an unnegotiable criterion:

How it works

• Later, when my roommate learned how to make apple martinis, we had something to elevate our viewings.
• By then, The Oprah Winfrey Show had become a shared cultural experience, something people made time to watch every weekday.
• Over 25 seasons, Winfrey steadily expanded the boundaries of what daytime television, and the people watching it, could talk about: abuse, grief, racism, mental illness, books, bras.
• Thanks, Oprah!) She moved effortlessly between the devastating and the delightfully mundane, and millions followed.
• Though her recommendations could send books up best-seller lists and products off shelves, Winfrey says the show's deeper influence was found in quieter moments.

What to take from it

I remember in the early days when people would ask, "Why are people always crying on your show?" Well, people were crying because nobody had ever asked them how they felt about anything. This was the that awakened people, that really stimulated enough concern and outrage that things started to change — "things" meaning research for postpartum depression and psychosis. Why aren't you calling us monsters?" And I said, "Because I recognize that everybody has pain, and this is what you did with yours." I pride myself on my ability and capacity to hear and be able to listen to both sides.

Example or evidence

• The true impact, she believes, was in the viewer who came to understand that alcoholism was a disease, the viewer who went back to school, the viewer who decided to live another day, and many more.
• You gave people remarkable expectations for what could happen on an ordinary day.
• Certainly by the 2000s, I understood that it was a vehicle for being a force in people's lives to show them the best of themselves, even when you were hearing stories that demonstrated the worst in other...
• As for the impact — and this isn't bragging, this is just what I know to be true:

Details worth keeping

"This isn't bragging, this is just what I know to be true: We had to be home in time to watch The Oprah Winfrey Show. We weren't alone in organizing our days around Oprah.

Related coverage

• Psychologytoday: Dolly Parton's voice, defiance, and sassy authenticity resonated with millions and made people feel less alone.
• Realitytea: Oprah Winfrey has opened up about the major sacrifice she made to land her role as Sofia in The Color Purple.
• Buzzfeed: "It's an opportunity to immerse yourself," Oprah said. View Entire Post ›