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'Oprah Winfrey Show' ends, but Oprah's legacy lives on

With the finale of 鈥楾he Oprah Winfrey Show鈥� on Wednesday, critics are debating the real legacy of the woman who transformed the daily talk show from a tabloid sideshow into a national self-help platform.

Oprah Winfrey winds up her role as daily TV host Wednesday, but she is not so much leaving a job as reinventing herself 鈥� again. For while her syndicated show is ending its 25-year run, the billionaire media mogul is already up to her eyeballs in her next venture, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), the cable channel that launched in January.

Fans are mourning the loss of their daily 鈥淥prah Winfrey Show鈥� fix, while critics are debating the real legacy of the woman who transformed the daily talk show from a tabloid sideshow into a national self-help platform.

Ms. Winfrey herself is busy showing what has turned the impoverished young girl from Mississippi into a classic, American icon. 鈥淪he is the great American story,鈥� says Robert Thompson, founder of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University in New York. 鈥淥prah鈥檚 story is the traditional, rags-to-riches journey full of supersized hyperbole,鈥� he says, adding that America is steeped in the mythology of the makeover.

This is a country with a huge psychological and physical appetite for self-redefinition, 鈥渁nd Oprah fits right into that story line,鈥� Mr. Thompson says.

Winfrey's show and success is the black female version of author Horatio Alger, says David Canton, director of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity at Connecticut College in New London. 鈥淎n African-American woman captured the hearts and minds of middle- and upper-middle-class whites,鈥� he says via e-mail. 鈥淔ocusing on common themes that affect all people, whites were able to 鈥榣ook beyond鈥� her race.鈥�

Mr. Canton adds, 鈥淥prah has donated millions to charity and has provided employment opportunities for many.鈥�

The daytime diva鈥檚 devotion to showing viewers how to be their best selves inspired millions of women 鈥� and men 鈥� to make changes in their lives. But she鈥檚 also demonstrated what real media power means in the 21st century, says Leonard Shyles, communications professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

鈥淸Media personalities] all want to own their own fiefdom,鈥� he says, adding, 鈥淭his is the real lesson Oprah has taught us: She refused to sell her show to the people who syndicated it, and she became a billionaire.鈥�

Her influence extends well beyond her daily talk show, says Kathleen Rooney, author of 鈥淩eading With Oprah: The Book Club That Changed America.鈥�

鈥淸Oprah鈥檚 Book Club] certainly changed publishing in that it vastly increased the cultural capital of serious mid-list fiction. And although it's hard to quantify, I think there's evidence to suggest that it changed the reading habits of many Americans, including Americans who didn't particularly care about 鈥楾he Oprah Winfrey Show,鈥� 鈥� she says via e-mail. 鈥淚t got people talking about and recommending to friends particular books and kinds of books that wouldn't have been otherwise.鈥�

Not everyone is sad to see the last of Winfrey on the daily broadcast airwaves. "The end of Oprah is only the start of the era she began of unabashed self-obsession and public confession of 'private' sorrows, traumas, and failures,鈥� says David Greven, a professor at Connecticut College who specializes in film, television, and pop culture.

鈥淲hile she is to be commended for her promotion of reading and tolerance, her chief legacy is the era of self-promotion,鈥� he says in an e-mail.

But Winfrey is a rare breed, says Robbie Blinkoff, anthropologist and founder of Context-Based Research Group in Baltimore.

鈥淪he is what I call a creative, social spirit,鈥� he says, 鈥渟omeone who inspires hope and change.鈥� As audiences for media messages continue to splinter as they look for increasingly niche content, he says, these sorts of high-profile individuals will be less and less likely to emerge.

鈥淧eople don鈥檛 realize how much she has touched our culture, how intimate and personal her impact has been and how much it will be missed when her daily show is gone,鈥� Mr. Blinkoff says. On the other hand, he adds, 鈥渟he isn鈥檛 retiring; she is just moving into a new venture.鈥�