Oprah: "Glib".
If you looked up the word 'glib' in the dictionary you would find the definition: adj 1: marked by lack of intellectual depth; 2: having only superficial plausibility; 3: artfully persuasive in speech. But if you looked 'glib' up on one of those symbolic picture dictionaries that they always have on TV you would probably find a picture of annoyingingly omniprescent American talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
Yes. Oprah is glib, the very definition of trite, uninspired and middle-of-the-road. But of course, being a little bit shit, never stopped anyone from becoming really really popular, just ask Bono from U2. And Oprah is pretty damned popular, beloved by just about everyone from white upper middle class republican house wives who cite their high opinion of Oprah as proof that they're probably not racists to the CEOs of General Motors who use Oprah to shill Pontiacs.
Much in the same way that movie stars are elevated above normal people despite the fact their job description is pretty much just "saying words in a funny voice", Oprah has practically been granted sainthood mostly for not being gay with best friend Gayle, introducing Dr. Phil to the world and providing Tom Cruise a platform in which to scare people away from seeing his movies. As someone once said, "there's no accounting for popular taste" or, as someone else probably once said "people are fucking idiots."
Sidenote: Did you know Oprah Winfrey dated chubby film critic Roger Ebert? Well she did. For reals!
A few years ago she took time out of her busy Roger Ebert dating and non-Gayle dating social life to produce the most glib thing I've ever seen on TV. She had the cast of Friends on the show because their show was ending and she played this god-awful word association game where everyone had to say the first thing that came into their head for all the other cast members. The terrifying over-use of such words and phrases as warm-hearted, kind, lovable, generous etc. was so saccharine I had to watch Schindler's List several times just to balance out my blood-sugar level. Of course, it's not all bad. When she later tried to pull this shtick on Hugh Grant he looked repulsed for a few seconds then proceeded to tell Oprah that Julia Roberts has a gross oversized mouth. Ha ha. Top work Hugh but Mickey Blue Eyes is still a really shit movie. Sorry.
Hugh Grant isn't the only person to get me to enjoy the Oprah Winfrey Show. This week, Oprah gave her entire audience $1000 dollars. Then, after waiting long enough for the audience of upper middle class bints who probably didn't actually need the money to decide what they would spend it on, she told them they had to give the money to charity. Hilarious! Maybe Oprah isn't so shit after all, I thought. Of course then she spent the next ten minutes waffling on about how she loves giving away her things to charity and how everyone should do the same thing, forgetting that not everyone is a billionaire media personality who owns three extremely large mansions and their own successful magazine and TV show.
Realizing that this whole post makes it look like I've actually watched quite a number of episodes of Oprah, I'll add the disclaimer that those few episodes mentioned are probably the only ones I've ever watched. Honest.
Yes. Oprah is glib, the very definition of trite, uninspired and middle-of-the-road. But of course, being a little bit shit, never stopped anyone from becoming really really popular, just ask Bono from U2. And Oprah is pretty damned popular, beloved by just about everyone from white upper middle class republican house wives who cite their high opinion of Oprah as proof that they're probably not racists to the CEOs of General Motors who use Oprah to shill Pontiacs.
Much in the same way that movie stars are elevated above normal people despite the fact their job description is pretty much just "saying words in a funny voice", Oprah has practically been granted sainthood mostly for not being gay with best friend Gayle, introducing Dr. Phil to the world and providing Tom Cruise a platform in which to scare people away from seeing his movies. As someone once said, "there's no accounting for popular taste" or, as someone else probably once said "people are fucking idiots."
Sidenote: Did you know Oprah Winfrey dated chubby film critic Roger Ebert? Well she did. For reals!
A few years ago she took time out of her busy Roger Ebert dating and non-Gayle dating social life to produce the most glib thing I've ever seen on TV. She had the cast of Friends on the show because their show was ending and she played this god-awful word association game where everyone had to say the first thing that came into their head for all the other cast members. The terrifying over-use of such words and phrases as warm-hearted, kind, lovable, generous etc. was so saccharine I had to watch Schindler's List several times just to balance out my blood-sugar level. Of course, it's not all bad. When she later tried to pull this shtick on Hugh Grant he looked repulsed for a few seconds then proceeded to tell Oprah that Julia Roberts has a gross oversized mouth. Ha ha. Top work Hugh but Mickey Blue Eyes is still a really shit movie. Sorry.
Hugh Grant isn't the only person to get me to enjoy the Oprah Winfrey Show. This week, Oprah gave her entire audience $1000 dollars. Then, after waiting long enough for the audience of upper middle class bints who probably didn't actually need the money to decide what they would spend it on, she told them they had to give the money to charity. Hilarious! Maybe Oprah isn't so shit after all, I thought. Of course then she spent the next ten minutes waffling on about how she loves giving away her things to charity and how everyone should do the same thing, forgetting that not everyone is a billionaire media personality who owns three extremely large mansions and their own successful magazine and TV show.
Realizing that this whole post makes it look like I've actually watched quite a number of episodes of Oprah, I'll add the disclaimer that those few episodes mentioned are probably the only ones I've ever watched. Honest.
No comments:
Post a Comment