Health & Fitness
25 Years? How Did That Happen?
Did I really just spend 25 years watching Oprah? And what will I do nightly at 5 p.m. now?
I was not quite 11 years old when the first national Oprah Show was broadcast. I have a theory as to why I tuned in that day. If you're my age or older and have lived in Connecticut for a long time, you probably remember Gayle King delivering the news on Channel 3. My mom liked Gayle–I expect for the same reasons I do–she's smart, funny, down-to-earth, and I can imagine her sitting at my kitchen table. If you don't know who Gayle is or her relationship to Oprah, you probably wouldn't have clicked on this post. I bet Gayle talked about the show on the news and little 11-year-old me thought that would be an interesting thing to see.
Or it could have been something else entirely, but I watched nearly daily all through middle school, high school, and college. Once I started working I couldn't watch, but when I bought a VCR that I could program (How many of you remember having a VCR that no one could program?), I taped the show and watched it when I got home from work daily. And when DVRs arrived, well let's just say that I rarely missed an episode. Though increasingly I found myself fast-forwarding or skipping a whole show entirely.
Which is not to say that I always enjoyed watching Oprah. I hated the dumbing down and constant heavy-handed preaching under the guise of education. There were many episodes that I fast-forwarded through or skipped altogether. And as a Hillary Clinton supporter during the primaries I still feel a little like Oprah hijacked the nomination for President Obama.
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But I still watched. It was a habit and a deeply ingrained one. I don't know what I will do tomorrow at 5 p.m. or everyday after. How will I rest my brain for 40 minutes? Will you be going through Oprah withdrawal with me?