{alltv} Oprah still deciding whether to go live for finale

Monday, May 16, 2011

{alltv} Oprah still deciding whether to go live for finale

While there has been much speculation about what's planned for the final Oprah Winfrey Show, airing May 25, the truth is: It's not done yet.

"I'm in pajamas working on that now," Winfrey told USA TODAY in a phone interview Monday.

"We're still talking about whether it will be live. Depends on whether that will give me too much anxiety," she said. "So it could be live or we could tape it the day before."

As for what she hopes to accomplish in the final episode, Winfrey said, "I really can't answer that right now. I'm still formulating for myself what it is. I can tell you this: It's not about any person other than the viewers for me. How do I encapsulate everything I feel for them and their support for the last 25 years? That's really what's it's about."

When USA TODAY asked Gayle King last week about the final episode, her response was: "People ask me every day who should be the last guest. Whoever the last guest is stays with you forever. Remember Bette Midler on Johnny Carson's last show? We still remember that."

King mentioned that Oprah always liked the ending of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977 when Mary looked around the newsroom, smiled, turned out the lights and shut the door.

Said King: "You just have to know that whatever you do on that last show will really go down in the history books."

Before the finale, Winfrey will be front and center at Chicago's United Center for the taping of the penultimate episodes, airing May 23 and 24. The night is being billed as a surprise for Winfrey, a woman who doesn't like surprises, so Oprah executive producer Sheri Salata sat Winfrey down to to have "a long talk," says Winfrey.

"She told me: 'Eliminate the word 'surprise' from your vocabulary. Experience it as a delight. Listen, everybody's working hard. It's maybe not going to be the way you would have done it. But we're offering you our love. Please accept it.'

"So," says Winfrey, "I'm looking forward to being delighted."