Goodman on Oprah

I've never been an Oprah fan. I don't go in for talk shows in general, though, so you could argue I never gave her (or any of her competitors) a chance.

Tim Goodman, though, has. In his 25 May column about her last show, Goodman acutely identifies what made Oprah the phenomenon she is.

Credit her for spurring the wave of self-affirmation and aspirational television that followed. Had she not won, then maybe Maury Povich would have.

He also pinpoints why others don't have much use for her.

For those in the world who don’t like to be in a flock, can help themselves get through life or otherwise live their lives privately, content to both endure and succeed without talking it to death in public, Oprah and her show have always been a turn-off, a carnival of self-help navel-gazing and smugness.

I don't care about Oprah one way or the other. This was just an excuse to point you at my favorite TV critic (again).