First Martha, Now Oprah?

[Midpack]

Shouldn't have given up the day job? Though I'm guessing they're both FI...

More bad news for Oprah Winfrey's OWN. The network announced it has let go 30 employees — one-fifth of it's work force — from their New York and Los Angeles offices today.

“It is difficult to make tough business decisions that affect people’s lives,” said Winfrey in a statement. “But the economics of a start-up cable network just don’t work with the cost structure that was in place. As CEO, I have a responsibility to chart the course for long-term success for the network. To wholly achieve that long-term success, this was a necessary next step.”

Not even Oprah's pal Rosie O'Donnell was spared a pink slip. The media mogul and chief executive of OWN canceled The Rosie Show, which was meant to revive the struggling network, after six months of "humiliating ratings," according to the Daily Beast.

The news comes after weeks of speculation about O'Donnell moving her show from Chicago's Harpo Studios, former home of The Oprah Winfrey Show, to her native New York.

According to the Daily Beast, O'Donnell was courted by Winfrey and turned down offers from major networks to join the OWN family, but ultimately couldn't get her viewers to follow her. The comedian once pulled in five million viewers on her daytime talk show, but sunk to an all-time low of 60,000 on OWN. Changes in the show's format and its evening time slot are partly to blame, say insiders.

Staff members revealed that O'Donnell "frequently lost her temper" as her ratings slipped. Her time at OWN was a "disaster" according to another insider.

The news isn't doing much to silence those who predict the network's demise is imminent.

 

[jimnjana]

I feel sorry for the "little" people who lost their jobs. Too bad it appears Oprah realized she was responsible for the network, after she hired Rosie. Perhaps if she looked at hiring Rosie as a CEO vs a Friend, she wouldn't have made the mistake in the first place.

 

[mb]

Does anyone know how Martha is doing? She was one of my favorite posters.

 

[Nords]

Does anyone know how Martha is doing? She was one of my favorite posters.

Hopefully you're not saying that Martha Stewart reminds you of this board's poster Martha!

Our poster Martha is doing fine-- vagabonding in her RV with limited bandwidth and a cranky laptop computer. She checks the board once in a while-- you could send her a PM.

 

[Midpack]

Does anyone know how Martha is doing? She was one of my favorite posters.

I miss her contributions as well, I learned a lot from her views on health care among other topics. I hope she's enjoying the RV life...

 

[ER Fireball]

Oprah had a TV show? Who's Rosie?

 

[mickeyd]

Oprah Winfrey's OWN. The network announced it has let go 30 employees

Even billionaires like Oprah have to make a profit. No profit~no job.

 

[mb]

Hopefully you're not saying that Martha Stewart reminds you of this board's poster Martha!

Our poster Martha is doing fine-- vagabonding in her RV with limited bandwidth and a cranky laptop computer. She checks the board once in a while-- you could send her a PM.

Thanks, I just skimmed the article and had not idea that the post was alluding to Martha Stewart. But "our" Martha immediately popped into my mind. The only connection I could think of to the article was that Martha doesn't hasn't posted much recently.

 

[audreyh1]

Our poster Martha is doing fine-- vagabonding in her RV with limited bandwidth and a cranky laptop computer. She checks the board once in a while-- you could send her a PM.

I saw her in person about a month ago. She looks great! Very fit and outside exercising a lot. She might have gotten board fatigue - it happens!

Audrey

 

[REWahoo]

I predict we will hear from Martha in the not too distant future - and that's a good thing.