Gawker: defamer, oprahs big give

Oprah Sued For Not Properly Restraining Her Hysterical Following

Molly Friedman — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:43:08 EDT

Another day, another lawsuit against Lord Oprah. According to TMZ, an audience member who recently had her dreams come true by being allowed to sit among the teary-eyed, wild and crazy women who plunk themselves down in Winfrey's studio day after day, has been brutally trampled by her fellow Oprah-loving fans during a taping:

"Greenberg says that she, along with an 'excess number of patrons'...were told to enter the studio and sit 'where they wanted, causing a stampede. She says was pushed down a flight of stairs as the rabid fans 'rushed the gate' while pushing and shoving one another."

Perhaps Oprah should start instituting assigned seating? Women this Oprah-crazed anxiously awaiting their meet and greet with the master of ceremonies shouldn't be allowed in the same waiting room, let alone allowed to roam free through the studio decapitating each other and breaking limbs just to land that front row seat. But! Our worries ensue. With news that female fan favorite Jennifer Aniston will appear on the show's finale, unknown housewives getting trampled is the least of our worries. If these Oprah-loving ladies are vicious enough to throw each other down stairwells just to see the Queen, just how many stairwells will they push each other down in order to see the ex-Mrs. Pitt? We advise Jen to hire as many bodyguards as possible. Just as long as they're not Britney's.

Was Oprah Winfrey's 'Big Give' A Big Ol' Rip-Off?

Molly Friedman — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:23:24 EDT

In case you hadn't heard, Oprah's Big Give special, which aired on ABC March 2nd, was a hit in the smashiest hit kind of way. The debut attracted 15.7 million viewers, which HuffPo claims was the highest rated primetime show that week aside from American Idol. While it's no surprise that anything Oprah does is bound to reel in a massive audience, her latest profitable stunt may have been formulated under unethical circumstances. A Boston mother of four named Darlene Tracy is claiming Oprah stole the idea from a pitch she'd laid out for Oprah's producers, a nearly identical idea called The Philanthropist, "in which contestants are challenged to help the needy." And now she's taking legal action. But after reviewing the history behind these series of unfortunate events, we're putting on our thinking caps (boy were they hard to find!) to try and figure out whether or not Darlene has a case or not...

Although Darlene had no television experience to speak of, she managed to get a fully outlined pitch into the hands of Oprah producer Ellen Rakieten in early 2005, who then joined forces with another producer on the show to follow up with Darlene and "ask for more details." But four months later, Oprah's Harpo Production company decided to pass. Lo and behold, over a year later, the big (and sometimes small) O announced her plans to launch an altruism-themed show. Darlene immediately went into action, filing suit and attempting to halt production, but a judge sided with Oprah and her undoubtedly powerful legal guns.

But Darlene isn't finished fighting. She's since filed an appeal, which happens to coincide with Oprah's plans to release a Big Give book, and potential publisher Simon & Schuster is conflicted about putting out a book just as Oprah's team is under legal pressure. But aside from the drama and the details, is there really such a thing as "original" programming these days? Particularly in the daytime/reality show genre? Consider the Dance Doctor, who claimed ABC stole his idea for So You Think You Can Dance, the fashionistas who sued Brothers Weinstein and clueless Heidi Klum over Project Runway. Neither party had a chance up against the big guns at ABC and Bravo, and we fear Darlene is facing an even more daunting battle. Hell, Bill Clinton's been helping the poor kids in Harlem for years just by being there and throwing cash at every cause above 110th Street! Public philanthropy stunts performed by bold-faced names aren't the most unique "ideas" in TV executives' bags of tricks (as much as we secretly wish one of the little guys was finally capable of tripping Miss Winfrey's unstoppable gait). As usual, "developing..."

'THR' Review Takes Oprah's Name In Vain

Seth — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:38:53 EST

While we here at Defamer are perfectly happy recognizing Oprah Winfrey as the supreme deity that she is, her rare missteps (if you want to call Beloved a misstep—but personally, we loved it, O exalted one!) obviously part of some Bigger Oprah Picture that has yet to reveal itself to us, not all are as worshipful. In reviewing her 8-episode Oprah's Big Give reality show for ABC, THR's Ray Richmond gives Winfrey a knee-capping sure to cause a torrent of hellfire and substandard panini presses to rain down upon their offices. Some of the most sacrilegious highlights:

[T]here is nary a single genuine giving moment to be found during the opening hour.

It is instead a profoundly hyperkinetic and unwieldy adventure in product placement, in Oprah-as-Messiah hype and, ultimately, in what's so utterly fake and insidious about "reality" television itself. [...]
Shallow as a birdbath, the program would appear to exist less as a true philanthropic exercise than yet another self-aggrandizing vehicle in Oprah's divine quest to become synonymous with all that is virtuous and good on Earth.

We bid the reviewer a fond farewell, who's likely moments away from being snatched from his desk by her army of Ugg-booted flying Harpo monkeys and dropped into the nearest active volcano. THR, meanwhile, will shortly thereafter find itself absorbed into the talk show host's ever-expanding empire, reconfigured into RÖM, the official in-flight magazine of Oprah Airways.

Oprah's Big Give [THR]