Oprah's departure presents problem for TV stations

CHICAGO – For more than two decades, Oprah Winfrey has been the inspirational, change-your-life champion who reigned over daytime television much like Johnny Carson once ruled late night.

Now she's ready to say goodbye, leaving a huge void for broadcast TV even as she raises the possibility of more Oprah than ever when she starts her own cable network.

Winfrey told viewers Friday that she will dim the lights on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" at the close of its 25th season in late 2011.

"I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it's time to say goodbye," she said, holding back tears. "Twenty-five years feels right in my bones, and it feels right in my spirit. It's the perfect number, the exact right time."

For the hundreds of network affiliates who depended on Winfrey to deliver millions of viewers every day, Friday's announcement starts an 18-month clock to find a way to fill the space left behind after the end of the most successful daytime talk show in television history.

Winfrey's show "is one of daytime television's very foundations," said Larry Gerbrandt, an analyst for the firm Media Valuation Partners in Los Angeles. "You could, and stations did, build their schedules around her. They gave it the best time period, leading into their news, and used it to promote other shows."

Winfrey cautioned viewers that they would hear "a lot of speculation in the press about why I am making this decision," warning them not to listen to the "conjecture." But she offered no specifics about her plans for the future, except to say that she intended to produce the best possible shows during the final two years.

"I just wanted to say whether you've been here with me from the beginning or you came on board last week, I want you all to know that my relationship with you is one that I hold very dear," she said. "Your trust in me, the sharing of your precious time every day with me has brought me the greatest joy I have ever known."

It has also brought her a fortune estimated at $2.7 billion. As a newcomer, she chipped away at the dominance of Phil Donahue. She flirted with a tabloid format for a time, but gradually reinvented her show to focus on themes of inspiration, hope and the power of positive thinking.

"She's made such an imprint in today's society. She's just part of everyone's lives," said Yasmeen Elhaj, a 19-year-old student from Chicago who was in the studio for Friday's announcement. "People talk about Oprah like that's her friend. So that's why everyone is sad to see her go because she's just a giving person, feels like she's your home girl."

The show has a breadth that no other has been able to match. A serious hour on domestic abuse could be followed the next day by a rollicking party with the Black Eyed Peas.

When Whitney Houston and Sarah Palin wanted to talk this fall, Winfrey's show was their first stop. An endorsement by Winfrey for her book club is a make-or-break opportunity for authors.

But even Winfrey was not immune to the dips in ratings that have plagued broadcasters as viewers flock to specialty programming on cable. Her average audience — easily the largest of daytime talk shows — fell from 12.6 million in 1991-92 to 6.2 million in 2008-2009.

This season, boosted by blockbuster interviews with Palin, Houston and others, the show is doing better, averaging 7.2 million viewers a day.

The decline in audience numbers has long argued for a move to cable, where audiences are increasingly able to finding niche programming.

Winfrey, 55, is widely expected to start up a new talk show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc. that was first announced last year. It will replace the Discovery Health Channel and debut in some 80 million homes.

Discovery is pouring resources into OWN to prepare for its January 2011 launch. Chief Financial Officer Brad Singer told analysts this month that Discovery plans to invest $30 million to $40 million in 2009 on programming, staffing and other costs.

Discovery also is lending the venture $100 million, and OWN hired "Oprah" co-executive producer Lisa Erspamer this month as its chief creative officer. Erspamer is expected to move from Chicago to Los Angeles in January.

Winfrey's move to cable leaves a gap in the afternoon programming at many TV stations, where it leads into the local evening news and is popular with advertisers. At the peak of her ratings in the 1990s, Oprah could almost single-handedly prop up the newscast on WFAA-TV in Dallas, an ABC affiliate, because her fans stayed with the station, said Mike Devlin, the station's president and general manager.

"I hate to see her go. I'm an Oprah fan," Devlin said. "But all things end."

There are other syndicated shows available — "Live with Regis and Kelly," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," "Rachael Ray Show," "Dr. Phil" and "The Tyra Show" — but none has the reach or influence of "Oprah."

And it's not easy to come up with a winning formula. Magic Johnson, Megan Mullally, Queen Latifah, Tony Danza, Lauren Hutton, Sinbad and Keenen Ivory Wayans are just some of the people who have tried to launch talk shows with abysmal results.

"There's always cycles in the television business," said Emily Barr, the president and general manager at WLS-TV in Chicago. "We are thrilled to have had this long association with Oprah and we will miss her, but we will also move on and see what else is out there."

New mom Heidi Klum returns to the runway at Victoria's Secret show

NEW YORK - Heidi Klum and her post-baby body led the parade at the annual Victoria's Secret fashion show, which returned to New York with some fresh faces after four years on the road.

The lingerie retailer inducted five more women into its "Angel" ranks - a designation reserved for top models - in front of a packed house Thursday night at the Lexington Avenue Armory. They are Emanuela de Paula, Chanel Iman, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Lindsay Ellingson and Candice Swanepoel.

But Klum, who gave birth to a daughter five weeks ago, was the audience favourite in her purple corset covered with a half gown with poufs of tulle. She emerged from the huge, castlelike set to applause.

Musical guest The Black Eyed Peas - especially Fergie, its only female member, who wore a black, jeweled bodysuit - was another crowd-pleaser. Fergie came out later in a green corset gown.

Of course, fashion really is secondary here. Victoria's Secret always puts on an elaborate production (this time with a choir, acrobatic dancers and a giant polka-dot dog balloon) and fuels hype about its models. An online model search started earlier this month and is now down to two contestants, one of whom will be chosen by the public to appear in the televised version of the fashion show that CBS will air Dec. 1.

"I could watch this online, but it's a fun scene," said Russell Simmons from his front row seat. "This show is always fun and a great production."

"It's always a spectacular," agreed costume designer Patricia Field. "Victoria's Secret does that extra thing I like."

Klum, who normally wears the most elaborate outfits, only appeared once, so it was former Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover girl Marissa Miller who had the honour of wearing a $3 million, diamond-encrusted bra.

Splashy jewels, it seemed, were one of the themes of the show with many models dripping in diamonds, crystals and other bling. Others wore faux fur stoles over their bras and panties. Thigh-high boots were the other must-have accessory.

Outfits fell into one of four themes: Star Trooper with breast plates and body armour; Pink Planet, which had a hippie vibe; the ethereal Enchanted Forest; and Romantic Journey that featured a lot of lace.

Compared to previous years, the overall collection didn't seem as skimpy, although Miranda Kerr wore an itsy-bitsy black thong get-up that might have to be edited out of the TV show.

Nicole Richie is hospitalized for pneumonia

LOS ANGELES – Nicole Richie has been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital and is being treated for pneumonia. Her representative says she's doing well.

Publicist Nicole Perna said Wednesday the 28-year-old actress checked herself into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Richie was in a Los Angeles courtroom earlier this week after asking for a restraining order against two celebrity photographers. A judge granted that request.

Richie costarred with Paris Hilton on the television show "The Simple Life" and is the daughter of singer Lionel Richie. She has since become a fashion and jewelry designer and occasional actress.

Richie gave birth to a son, Sparrow James Midnight Madden, in September. She and her partner, rocker Joel Madden, have a daughter, Harlow, who turns 2 in January.

A model dancer gone: 3 stars advance to finals

LOS ANGELES – Model Joanna Krupa is leaving "Dancing With the Stars."

The Poland-born beauty was eliminated from the hit ABC show Tuesday.

She and professional partner Derek Hough scored an impressive 81 out of 90 points for their performances on Monday's episode of the hit ABC show, but fans failed to keep the couple afloat with their votes.

Viewer votes are combined with judges' scores to determine which contestant is eliminated each week.

Head judge Len Goodman said Krupa and Hough were the "most consistent of all of our couples" throughout the season, regularly landing near the top of the leaderboard.

Singer Mya, reality star Kelly Osbourne and entertainer Donny Osmond will compete for the show's title and accompanying mirrorball trophy next week.

Court officers keep journalists in Las Vegas courtroom after Michael Jackson doctor hearing

LAS VEGAS - A court officer briefly detained a group of journalists inside a Las Vegas courtroom Monday following a hearing involving Michael Jackson's former personal physician.

Reporters, videographers and producers from The Associated Press and several other media outlets were stopped from leaving the courtroom for several minutes while Dr. Conrad Murray and his attorneys left the Clark County Family Court building.

Senior Clark County District Judge Gerald Hardcastle had left the bench when an armed, uniformed court marshal, Dennis Curran, politely declined several requests by journalists to let them leave.

Curran said he was following orders. His supervisor, Sgt. Steve Rushfield, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Clark County courts spokesman Michael Sommermeyer was among the people prevented from leaving. He said later he didn't know why a court officer blocked the courtroom exit, but said it might have been to maintain safety and decorum.

"They're police officers," he said. "I guess they can deem what is necessary for public safety."

A lawyer for the AP said the government can't block journalists from lawfully pursuing a story.

"Whoever ordered this improper and possibly unlawful detention has some explaining to do," AP associate general counsel Dave Tomlin said.

Murray is the focus of an investigation into Jackson's death but has not been charged in that case.

He appeared in the Las Vegas court to explain the details of an agreement he made with a California woman over $15,000 in back child support payments. Murray had faced a contempt-of-court arrest on allegations that he failed to pay and failed to appear for previous hearings.

He was shielded from reporters and did not answer any questions when he arrived for the child support hearing.

"Education" star Carey Mulligan enjoying spotlight

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – It takes a lot to frighten Carey Mulligan, the British actress who delivered a fearless performance as a 1960s schoolgirl seduced by an older man in "An Education."

Not even a recent screening of "Paranormal Activity," the low-budget horror of the moment could do it, which was a disappointment.

"I really wanted to be scared -- I like to be scared. But I wasn't," she recalls.

She's equally fearless when it comes to tackling the media firestorm that has accompanied her newfound stardom.

"Shia (LaBeouf) tells me to enjoy it," she says, referring to her "Wall Street 2" co-star and the man she is reportedly dating -- though she's careful to dodge questions about him. "He says I can get upset about the photographers, but by the end of the day 98% of it should be positive."

It certainly is positive compared to the vagabond life the actress knew growing up, as she, her mother and older brother followed her father, a hotel executive, from London to Germany and back.

"My life was kind of weird," she reflects. "My mother would cook, but we would get looked after by lots of maids. It felt like we lived in these big, enormous houses with lots of guests."

When the family returned to London for good, her father became the manager of the Mayfair Hotel -- where, coincidentally, Mulligan did many promotional interviews for "An Education."

She started acting in school plays when she was 6 and appeared in everything from "The King and I" to "Sweet Charity." But when it came time to apply to university, she went against family tradition. While her brother went to Oxford, Mulligan refused to go to college -- the pivotal struggle of Jenny, the 16-year-old character she plays in "An Education."

Says Mulligan: "My parents were completely against it. They wanted me to go to a university. They didn't know any actors; no one in my family was an actor. They were scared."

There's that word again. It seems to be an emotion she doesn't feel, or, if she does, she never lets on. In many ways, she is as defiant and rebellious as Jenny, but much smarter about choosing her path.

Mulligan took her first step toward a career in acting by writing to actor Julian Fellowes (the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "Gosford Park") who had spoken at her school. "I was 17," she recalls. "I wrote to him and said, 'You are the only actor I have ever met. How do I get into drama school?' He took me out to dinner with his wife and they gave me the phone number of a casting agent, Maggie Lunn. And she got me an audition for 'Pride & Prejudice.'"

That 2005 film was her first big break, and she has since become good friends with the movie's star, Keira Knightley. Remembering it still thrills her. "My generation tends to play it cool these days," she says. "But there is no room for cool. You have got to be irritating and desperate, and if you are not it is terribly boring."

She was anything but boring in Chekhov's "The Seagull," in which she starred on Broadway. "It was just enormous for me," she says. "When I was growing up, that was the dream: I had those cliches about lightbulbs around your mirror. That is what I wanted. I came to see plays here in New York with my mom at 14, and one of them was 'Proof' at the Walter Kerr Theater. Standing on that same stage on opening night was as big as anything. Every night I would climb up the fire escape and look at the tall buildings, and as much as I have been wowed by this year, last year was the same."

Life hasn't always been this exciting, though. Mulligan has had to deal with a grandmother who suffers from Alzheimer's, something that stamped her so much, she says, that if she ever does go to university, she'll study psychology.

She also had to deal with an anguishing year-and-a-half wait between her first audition for "An Education" (when the movie was still titled "The Time of Her Life") to the point when it got the green light.

"I loved it, loved everything Nick Hornby has written," she says of the author who adapted Lynn Barber's memoir for the screen. "I auditioned with Peter Sarsgaard (her on-screen lover) and then it just went away. The director changed, it lost its financing."

To pay her bills along the way, Mulligan worked in a pub. Was she ever tempted, like her character, to have an affair with an older man?

"There were older men who used to come in," she remembers. "One guy had a red Ferrari, and one night, when I gave him his check, he signed it 'Dinner?' I freaked out!" She pauses. "I was definitely not Jenny; she was bolder than I was. She had more to escape from."

She also took a job as a runner at a studio, though she admits she took it purely in the hope of being discovered. The closest she got was watching Al Pacino pull up in a car and walk into the building where he was rehearsing "The Merchant of Venice."

She laughs at her own naiveté and how far she has come from then. "I thought, 'Wow! That's why I am here! One day Al Pacino is going to ask me for a cup of tea and notice my potential. And then I am going to skyrocket!'"

Czechs celebrate 20 years since Velvet Revolution

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Former Czech President Vaclav Havel opened the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Velvet Revolution with a concert attended by celebrities.

Underground rocker Lou Reed, soprano Renee Fleming and folk singer Joan Baez performed to a crowd of about 500 gathered at 13th-century church in downtown Prague.

Baez performed "We Shall Overcome" in both Czech and English to massive applause by an audience that included former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was born in Prague. Fleming sang "Rusalka" by Antonin Dvorak and "Ave Maria" by Franz Schubert, and was then joined by Reed on his song "Perfect Day."

Video messages from President Barack Obama, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were broadcast along with greetings from rock stars Mick Jagger and Bono during the nationally televised concert.

"Your spirit, your courage inspired the world," Obama said, while Gorbachev praised the peaceful nature of the Velvet Revolution.

Earlier Saturday, Havel had harsh words for Russia's current regime while engaging students in a political debate at the Charles University's Faculty of Arts.

"The era of dictatorships and totalitarian systems has not ended at all. It may have ended in a traditional form as we know it from the 20th century, but new, far more sophisticated ways of controlling society are being born," Havel was quoted by the CTK news agency as saying.

He said Russia had developed a special, sophisticated way of general manipulation, and while displaying the attributes of democracy, its practice was limited to a level that would not harm the current regime.

At the concert, Havel also called for international solidarity with the oppressed people around the world from North Korea to Venezuela.

Havel, now 73, was co-author of the Charter 77 human rights manifesto and spent several years in Communist prisons before becoming Czechoslovakia's first president after the peaceful 1989 revolution toppled the Communist regime. Czechoslovakia split in 1993 to form the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which today refers to the 1989 events as the Gentle Revolution.

Havel, also a playwright and essayist, is known for mixing politics with the arts.

"Thank you for coming to remember the fall of the Iron Curtain," he said at the end of Saturday's concert.

The celebrations are expected to peak on Tuesday with music and rallies throughout the country. In Prague, students are expected to re-enact the protest march that led to clashes with the police triggering nationwide protests that ended 40 year of Communist rule.

DJ AM' Goldstein estate sues for wrongful death

LOS ANGELES - Court documents say the estate of Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein is suing several defendants for wrongful death.

Goldstein sustained serious injuries in a plane crash in September 2008 in South Carolina and later died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs and cocaine in August in New York.

Before his death, Goldstein filed a negligence and breach of contract lawsuit.

The amended complaint filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court names several defendants, including Clay Lacy Aviation and Learjet Inc.

The 26-year-old Goldstein was known for his disc jockey skills and his relationships with actress-singer Mandy Moore and reality TV star Nicole Richie.

Attorneys for Clay Lacy Aviation did not respond to a request for comment. A message left with a lawyer for Learjet was not immediately returned.

The Who to perform at SuperBowl: report

NEW YORK (Billboard) - The Who will perform at Superbowl XLIV, marking the British band's first performance in North America since 2008.

According to a report on SI.com, the Sports Illustrated website, the veteran band will take the stage during the halftime show of the 2010 National Football League championship game, scheduled for February 7 in Miami.

The NFL has yet to officially confirm the report, saying, "When we have something to announce, we'll announce it."

During a recent stop on his "Use It or Lose It" solo tour, frontman Roger Daltrey told Billboard.com that he and bandmate/composer Pete Townshend were working on new material for the Who's followup to 2006's "Endless Wire."

"Hopefully if this tour has done it's job, I'll be in really good form as a vocalist," said Daltrey. "And who knows, we might make our best work."

Townshend has acknowledged working on two projects -- a new musical called "Floss" and the Who's next album, which he has said will include some pieces from the "Floss" project.

Harvey Keitel cast in "Little Fockers"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Harvey Keitel has joined the cast of the "Meet the Fockers" sequel.

Regulars Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Robert De Niro, Blythe Danner and Owen Wilson are returning, along with newcomers Jessica Alba and Laura Dern.

Paul Weitz ("In Good Company") is directing the Universal Pictures film, which has the working title of "Little Fockers" because it focuses on the central couple's children. Keitel will play a contractor employed by Stiller's character.

Jane Rosenthal and Jay Roach, who directed the first two films in the franchise, beginning with "Meet the Parents," are producing. John Hamburg, who co-wrote the first two pictures, rewrote the original script by Larry Stuckey.

Keitel most recently appeared in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." He has starred in "Mean Streets," "Reservoir Dogs," "Bad Lieutenant," "Pulp Fiction" and "The Piano" and next will be seen in the indie feature "A Beginner's Guide to Endings."