25 Years? How Did That Happen?

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.   

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?