I'm an Oprah fan. I admit it. Most weeks I check oprah.com to see what the topics are for the upcoming week's shows. This past week I was very disappointed. Most of the topics were depressing. Monday: terrorists and suicide bombers, Tuesday: the bird flu, Wednesday: a bankrobbing father. Stuff I would rather not think about.
I like Fun Oprah. You know, the decorating segments with Nate Berkus, the celebrity interviews, the shows about entertaining and food and fashion.
Well, Oprah made certainly trumped Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week with her show on Thursday. I wasn't expecting what I saw when she invited author James Frey back on her show. I didn't even know Mr. Frey was scheduled to be on, because the oprah.com site said TBA (To Be Announced) when I checked about Thursday's show earlier in the week.
Oprah gave the guy quite a tongue lashing. She was Pissed Off Oprah. And also a very Disappointed Oprah. I've never seen her like this. Frey looked like a kid who had been sent to the principal's office. By the end of the interview, he had his head down-- truly, truly ashamed. He didn't mind lying to Larry King, but when he talked to Oprah it was like going to confession. He confessed his sins.
Now I know the haters out there will say that Oprah only changed her tune about Frey because of the backlash she received when she called into King's show to support him. But I truly believe that she believed in this guy, believed in his book, and only thought he had changed a few minor points in the book for clarity's sake, or to protect the innocent.
When Frey admitted that Lily, one of the "characters" in A Million Little Pieces (Oprah also questioned why he referred to the people in his book as characters) didn't actually hang herself, Oprah looked as though she were about to cry. She had been touched by that scene in the book, had actually called friends to mourn over it, and now Frey tells her that things didn't actually happen that way.
I'm glad Oprah confronted James Frey. He may want to climb under a rock for a little while and that's okay. He should come out of this fine, once he tells the whole truth. Yes, he'll be okay and he'll probably go on to write another book and someone will publish it and this will be old news. People have survived worse scandals than this and have come out smelling like roses. And no one can dipsute that Frey is a talented (and imaginative) writer, so that will get him through this. We'll see James Frey again.
What I don't ever want to see again is Crushed Oprah. No, I'm ready for a week-long marathon of Nate Berkus decorating episodes...
I like Fun Oprah. You know, the decorating segments with Nate Berkus, the celebrity interviews, the shows about entertaining and food and fashion.
Well, Oprah made certainly trumped Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week with her show on Thursday. I wasn't expecting what I saw when she invited author James Frey back on her show. I didn't even know Mr. Frey was scheduled to be on, because the oprah.com site said TBA (To Be Announced) when I checked about Thursday's show earlier in the week.
Oprah gave the guy quite a tongue lashing. She was Pissed Off Oprah. And also a very Disappointed Oprah. I've never seen her like this. Frey looked like a kid who had been sent to the principal's office. By the end of the interview, he had his head down-- truly, truly ashamed. He didn't mind lying to Larry King, but when he talked to Oprah it was like going to confession. He confessed his sins.
Now I know the haters out there will say that Oprah only changed her tune about Frey because of the backlash she received when she called into King's show to support him. But I truly believe that she believed in this guy, believed in his book, and only thought he had changed a few minor points in the book for clarity's sake, or to protect the innocent.
When Frey admitted that Lily, one of the "characters" in A Million Little Pieces (Oprah also questioned why he referred to the people in his book as characters) didn't actually hang herself, Oprah looked as though she were about to cry. She had been touched by that scene in the book, had actually called friends to mourn over it, and now Frey tells her that things didn't actually happen that way.
I'm glad Oprah confronted James Frey. He may want to climb under a rock for a little while and that's okay. He should come out of this fine, once he tells the whole truth. Yes, he'll be okay and he'll probably go on to write another book and someone will publish it and this will be old news. People have survived worse scandals than this and have come out smelling like roses. And no one can dipsute that Frey is a talented (and imaginative) writer, so that will get him through this. We'll see James Frey again.
What I don't ever want to see again is Crushed Oprah. No, I'm ready for a week-long marathon of Nate Berkus decorating episodes...
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