Oprah offers Fergie her own show
OPRAH OFFERS DEBT-RIDDEN SARAH FERGUSON HER OWN TV SHOW, by Catherine Lawson
CHICAGO – Debt-ridden Sarah Ferguson may have found a way out of her current financial predicament, and her savior is reported to be none other than the Queen of U.S. TV, Oprah Winfrey. According to ‘The Daily Mail’, Oprah called Fergie to offer her a prime time chat show on the new cable network OWN, which is debuting in January. Oprah and Ferguson have known each other for some time and Ferguson appeared on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ back in May to explain herself after her recent “cash-for-access” scandal.
A source close to Ferguson said: “Oprah has always been impressed by Sarah’s ability to pick herself up and reinvent herself. … She feels Sarah will be someone viewers of her new channel will be able to relate to on many levels — she’s a divorcée, a working mother, someone who has made some very public mistakes and a woman who, like Oprah, constantly battles with her weight.”
Ferguson was caught by a British tabloid offering to sell access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and she was videotaped accepting a $40,000 “down-payment” from a reporter posing as a businessman. (Prince Andrew knew nothing of his ex-wife’s plan.) In a statement released after the video was made public Ferguson said: “It’s true that my financial situation is under stress. However, that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment.” She told Oprah that she’d been drunk, and “I was not in the right place. I haven’t faced the devil in the face because I was in the gutter at that moment.”
OWN is a joint venture between Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Networks. Due to launch January 1, 2011, it will replace the current Discovery Health Channel and will concentrate on issues related to health, relationships and personal development and fulfillment. In addition to new makeover shows from Carson Kressley and Cat Cora, OWN has commissioned the pilot of a mediation show, ‘Confrontation: The Conversation’, from executive producer Tom Forman (’Breakthrough With Tony Robbins’).
This article was written by Catherine Lawson of TVSquad.com.