Director is working on English-language version of Reliance Big Pictures' "Kites."
Is Oprah Closer to Daytime TV Exit?
One of Oprah Winfrey's most trusted aides is headed west to serve as chief creative officer for OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network -- a move that's raising questions about whether Winfrey is planning to give up her syndicated daytime talkshow.
Lisa Erspamer, currently co-executive producer of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," will move from Chicago to Los Angeles in January for her new gig. Reporting to OWN chief executive officer Christina Norman, Erspamer will be charged with bringing "an injection of Oprah's DNA into OWN," Norman said.
But already, industry insiders are wondering if Erspamer's move could be an early hint of Winfrey's OWN next career move.
The talk queen has said she'll decide by year's end whether to continue her syndicated talk show beyond next season, when her deal with CBS expires.
But Erspamer is known to be one of Winfrey's most trusted producers. Shifting her to Los Angeles could be seen as a sign that Winfrey is getting ready to wind down her syndicated show -- and possibly shift her TV output to OWN.
Executives at Winfrey's OWN partner, Discovery Communications, have gotten into trouble for hinting that Winfrey might be close to giving up daytime for cable. But their remarks have led to speculation that Winfrey's long-term game plan is to put most of her TV energies -- including any type of regular Winfrey-hosted show -- into OWN.
Until Winfrey speaks, of course, this is mostly just rumor and supposition. Because she's not based in Hollywood, and since she keeps a very tight circle of advisers, it's difficult to find out just what Winfrey's plans are until she announces them.
Reps for Winfrey and her HARPO Prods. didn't respond to a call requesting comment Wednesday.
Meanwhile, what is known is that Erspamer will serve as Winfrey's eyes and ears at OWN, but without any extensive portfolio. She will not have any direct reports.
Instead, it's expected she'll be a creative guru for the channel, helping to bring Winfrey's vision to L.A. Another Oprah confidante, best bud Gayle King, serves a similar role at O: The Oprah Winfrey Magazine.
“Lisa has been a creative superstar," Winfrey said. "She’s brought fire and force to many of the incredible shows we’ve done over the years. I value her passion and sensibilities and trust her instincts and judgment. I know she’ll be a great fit with the OWN team."
Erspamer has been at Harpo for more than 15 years and was elevated to her current post in 2006.
Today's announcement comes a few weeks after TheWrap broke the news that Discovery vet Debbie Myers was joining OWN as interim general manager.
UPDATE: Oprah's camp responds. Click here for details.
Comments
Lynnie Says
...And it's interesting that all these rumors are percolating just while the November sweeps are underway and the talk show's syndie ratings are drastically down. O's even doing a rare interview tonight on CNN? Maybe she'll give Anderson a car.
Lynnie Says
This might not be as big a tragedy as it's being portrayed. Stations pay premium $$ for the talkshow but get among the fewest number of original weeks of episodes of any syndie strip series (a number of original weeks dwindling each renewal cycle). That's been a huge bone of contention between the syndicator and stations for years. One factor in the show's ratings decline is that the diehard viewers tune in and find...reruns. If you combine shrinking ratings, fewer episodes and still-high fees, that's a losing scenario. Wouldn't be surprised if Oprah's "big shocking decision to move to cable" came from lukewarm syndie renewal interest by stations as they're being quietly approached about another cycle.
At this point, cable's probably a much better fit for Oprah. Cable viewers are much more accepting of endless reruns of the same limited number of episodes. She could do the same number of original weeks currently being produced or even fewer. (Remember she had publicly committed to have her episodes rerun at length on Oxygen until it was pointed out that her King World contract prohibited that.) Production costs could be cut - again, cable viewers don't seem to mind lesser production values on non-scripted shows. And the cable episodes could be repurposed in a much cheaper syndication deal too. That means stations could still have the show but, since the business model had changed, it costs them less. And Oprah could keep her hand in the syndication arena. (One of the reasons she didn't stop the talk show each time the renewal window came up was that she certainly knew knew the importance of that syndication base for her other efforts).
Final point: unless the arrangement changed dramatically from King World to CBS, I don't recall the syndicator having the best revenue terms: Harpo owns the show, its ancillary rights, etc and the arrangement might be little more than a tiered distribution fee. Which, if station interest is diminishing, might make the idea of a next-cycle deal less appealing for both Harpo and CBS. CBS's interests are most likely to keep an open pipeline with Harpo for other syndicated shows it might want to develop - maybe a first-look or right of first refusal situation - and perhaps to be the guaranteed off-network syndicator for the Oprah cable talk show. And if that's the case, they will play along with however Harpo and Discovery want to spin this. Just saying.
Omy.... Says
What a mess. So many chiefs with conflicting points of view. It will be a miracle if OWN ever gets off the ground. Injecting more O into OWN is probably a good thing. Jamila Hunter is WAY over her head.
NEW COMMENT