I like the shows I've seen -- Peter Walsh's "Enough Already," the Dr. Phil/Dr. Oz/Suzie Orman panel show, the behind-the-scenes of the Oprah show. I like Gayle King (since the time she was a TV news broadcaster back in Hartford, Connecticut), so I'm Tivo-ing her show. One of the funniest things I've seen on the behind-the-scenes shows is before she goes on stage, she calls out, "I need my shoes! Where are my shoes?" It cracks me up to think there's an assistant whose job responsibilities include carrying her shoes! I'm not an Oprah-is-God person, but it's good TV. (And we certainly don't want to go back to those talk shows of "Sisters Who Married Their Brothers," "I'm Having an Affair With My Father-in-Law" and "Whose the Baby-Daddy?"!) A good thing is that she doesn't think she needs to be on every new show on her network. The giveaways are not all coming out of her pocket--it's pure tax-deductible advertising for many of those gift providers--GM donated all those new Pontiacs a few seasons back (let's not get into the tax hullabaloo). So it's not like she's choosing to give audience members a cashmere sweater INSTEAD of donating money to charities. And who really knows what Oprah gives back? We see certain things on TV, like the school in Africa, but I'm sure there are a lot of other community projects closer to home that she helps, but only her tax adviser knows for sure!

I was somewhat torn between Dr. Phil and Rachael Ray. I'm much more familiar with Phil (so to speak), and used to enjoy his showÂalthough I found Robin irritating. But his show has gotten so sleazy! The couple of times I've seen Rachael Ray I've been puzzled at her popularity. Her food is way too unhealthy to appeal to me, although I can understand most of America liking it. But that voice! She seems like a nice person, but that never made someone a celebrity. So I voted for (against?) Dr. Phil. I like Nate a lot. I like Dr. Oz, perhaps to a lesser degree, but agree with the writer about the scrubs. What's with that? Suze Orman can be a bit much, but I wasn't aware that she had any connection to Oprah. I like Jean Chatzky, but thought she became popular on the Today Show. Gayle can be funny. I have Rosie's cookbook because my mother gave it to me as a gift. I can't stand Marianne Williamson. I'm familiar with some of the other names, but not the people themselves. Some, like Peter Walsh and Stacy London, I'd never heard of.

Oprah has given away a lot of money and done many things for others. I will remember setting my VCR for 4 pm as long as I live. She started out like Jerry Springer with lesbian nuns on (really.) The kind of stuff that is none of our business and I don't believe nuns would come forward and wish they wouldn't. But it got attention which she needed to compete with Phil Donahue. Then she had a revelation and cleaned up her act. She is a wonderful actress. A natural in great movies that tell real stories. Rosie is not a nice person in my opinion though she had that reputation for a while when she had her own show. Queen of nice. We all have seen her other side and I remember when she left The View she had a blog online and she looked skaggy and ranted everyday to people who agreed with her. Maybe she was off her medication but I doubt I will ever watch her again. She has never revealed why she acted so badly and I don't care. Oprah has a lot of thinking to do. I don't know what shows she could do that would appeal to me. I guess I have seen it all at this age. And with 8 commercials at a time (I thought that was illegal) then I fold. With all of the repeats and commercials it sounds like she is stalling and building money to finance her show in the future. Everybody is replaceable and I will probably let her go and watch the history shows as those are teaching me something.

I saw some of this on the news. So sad. She is a classy lady who has lived so much of her life in the public eye. I did not know she was divorced, twice divorced, or an abused wife. My heart goes out to anyone in that situation and breaks for a mom whose son committed suicide. She is a real beauty, and I think it is a real shame that she had her upper lip done. It looks so very odd when she turns her face at any angle. This week I spotted Cher on David Letterman. Now that woman has ruined her looks with too much plastic surgery. Nothing moves right. I wish someone would talk to these beautiful stars and tell them that they don't need poofy lips or huge chests. They are turning themselves into freaks. I loved how cute Melanie Griffith was, and she too has gone too far with plastic surgery.