A lot of people are criticizing Oprah Winfrey's new network for it's lack of diversity. Did we expect anything different from Oprah? For the last several years, Oprah's brand has been about as mainstream as you can get. So why are people surprised that she hasn't included more black programming on her network? Were people expecting OWN to be the second coming of BET? Were people expecting Oprah to abandon her core audience? Oprah is doing what she has always done, made herself appealing to everybody. Plus, Oprah has probably figured out that she can't please everybody. When she started a school for girls in Africa, many people were complaining because she didn't do it here in America.
People are also criticizing Oprah for not demanding that her new network be moved to basic cable. That's funny to me considering the fact that Bravo, you know, the station RHOA comes on, is not offered on basic cable either in most markets. Yet, that station has huge ratings in the African American community.
I'm convinced that people are throwing darts at Oprah because she's black. Unfortunately, the dart throwers are black too, which is probably why Oprah has postioned herself the way she has. Oprah realized a long time ago, that she can't win with some people, but the people she can win with, she can win BIG!
Excellent point about BRAVO. So true!
ReplyDeleteI was never a fan of Oprah's show, but I'm a huge fan of her network and all of the upcoming programs. Problems and situations are universal. The only exception is that races deal differently. The Black community does not need another BET. They've done enough damage already. One thing about it is that regardless of money, fame or power Oprah is still a BLACK woman. There will always be "haters" from all races.