Has Oprah lost her small screen lustre?

New York: Oprah Winfrey’s show has recently recorded the lowest ever ratings, raising doubts whether the talk-show queen has lost her lustre. The ratings for ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ during the week ending July 5 were the lowest since the talk show`s debut in 1983, averaging only a 3.2 household rating, according to Medialifemagazine.com.

And it is believed that the dip in viewers was because it was a holiday weekend during the peak of cable coverage of Michael Jackson`s death. In addition, the Wimbledon tennis tournament was on the air, and ‘Oprah’ has been in repeats all summer. However, the slip in rating was not a sudden nosedive, because viewership has actually been declining for months. The week before, the show received a 3.6 rating, matching its previous all-time low approximately a year ago. The media mogul`s talk show is still the No 1 in TV and was the No 2 show in syndication for the week. But the big concern for Oprah is whether this dip in ratings is just a temporary trend, or an indication that Winfrey`s dominance is coming to an end. ‘Oprah’ has earlier dealt with occasional ratings drop over its 23-year run, including in October 2008, when it was alleged that viewers drifted away because of her outspoken support of Barack Obama`s presidential campaign. Daily Telegraph reported that critics claimed that a large proportion of the talk show`s viewers are white, middle-aged women who likely supported Hillary Clinton or voted Republican. But, it is still early to say Oprah`s show is on its last legs. TVweek has speculated that ‘Oprah`s Summer Giveaway’, a 3-month-long watch-and-win promotional contest, may lure viewers to tune into the show`s syndicated episodes before the new season premiers on Sept. 14. ANI