Oprah Winfrey will leave behind a few tears and many indelible memories when she concludes her syndicated show Wednesday (locally 4-5 p.m. on KCNC-Channel 4) after 25 years of steamroller ratings, 47 Emmy Awards and a lifetime of culture-changing talk. Among the high points . . .
1. Weight loss, 1988, (that indelible photo of her pulling 68 pounds worth of fat in a little red wagon).
2. Empathy central. For abuse, humiliation, hurt of every variety, she’s the nation’s hand-holder. According to O, Oprah’s monthly magazine, she’s cried on camera 79 times.
3. Car giveaway, 2004. Great moments in cross-promotion. The beneficent host bestows $7 million worth of vehicles. “Everybody gets a car!”
4. Her feud with David Letterman, 2005, parlayed into a seriously cute Super Bowl commercial featuring them snuggling on the couch.
5. Oprah’s Book Club, a victory for literacy. The artistic merits of her picks are debatable, but the country is better off with more people reading.
6.Hail to the Schmoozer-in-Chief: Oprah endorsed Barack Obama in 2008. When he and Michelle Obama visited this month, he was the first sitting president to appear on her show; five U.S. presidents have had an audience with Herself at one time or another.
7. Heart surgeon Mehmet Oz joined Oprah’s show in 2004; launched his own show, “Dr. Oz,” in 2009.
8. With a splash of spirituality. Encouraging viewers to “live your best life,” she draws on Eckhart Tolle, Marianne Williamson and other seers.
9. Starmaking machinery: Dr. Phil. With the nurturing and shaping of this emerging star, her ability as TV talent scout is unparalleled.
10. Rachel Ray, Nate Berkus, further adventures in starmaking. Plus Art Smith, her personal chef.
11. That little jaunt to Australia, with audience.
12. Her surprise 50th birthday party, thrown by Gayle King and John Travolta.
13. Veggie burgers all around. Her beef with the beef industry over mad cow disease; the production relocated to Amarillo, Texas, during the 1998 trial. (She won the libel lawsuit against cattle interests who said her remarks depressed beef prices.)
14. Most frequent guest, not counting Gayle, was Celine Dion, booked 27 times.
15. Her ginormous checkbook opened to the Denver School of Science and Technology, and she dropped a cool $1 million on it in 2010.
16. Stedman Graham, the engagement, the couple that is or almost was.
17. Oh, and the Gayle King rumors that won’t die.
18. James Frey brouhaha: After she championed his book “A Million Little Pieces,” it was revealed to be largely fiction. Talking redemption, she got more shows out of it.
19. Tom Cruise couch freakout. Who cares what got him jumping? It’s the 2005 visual we’ll remember. Associated Press file
20. Imagine whirled peas. Nobel Peace Prize winners have appeared on the show, but fans mounted a campaign to put Oprah herself in nomination for the prize in 2005.
21. Weight gain, with flashbacks to that damn fat in the red wagon.
22. Philanthropy, Oprah style: “The Big Give,” short-lived ABC reality-game show from Harpo Productions, hosted by Berkus, offered those who gave away the most money a chance to win $1 million.
23. The 2010 launch of OWN, after months of hype, was a fizzle. Expect to see more of Winfrey on OWN, in reruns and otherwise, in the future. Her signature show, “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” has been delayed until January 2012.
24. Filming for posterity: “Oprah Behind the Scenes,” a “documentary” of the talk-show’s last season, is the most popular series on OWN.
25. The May 25 “Farewell Spectacular” with Maria Shriver, Madonna, Michael Jordan, Will and Jada Smith, and other pals. Commercial time is selling for $1 million per spot in the finale. The truth is, she’s still keeping us guessing.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
After Oprah
After Wednesday’s finale, KCNC will carry “Oprah” reruns before debuting a 4 p.m. newscast in June. (The start date for “CBS4 at 4” isn’t fixed, pending contractual obligations with Harpo. Assume it will happen after the May ratings sweeps.) Co-anchors Karen Leigh and Michelle Griego and weather guy Ed Greene are in rehearsals for a “harder-edged” news program. “There won’t be a crockpot on the set,” says CBS4 boss Walt de Haven.
