The queen of daytime talk shows, Oprah Winfrey, plans to end her highly rated television show in 2011.
"Tomorrow, Oprah will announce live on The Oprah Winfrey Show that she has decided to end what is arguably one of the most popular, influential and enduring programs in television history," president of Harpo, Tim Bennett, says in a statement.
The show will air its last episode on September 9, 2011 -- nearly 25 years after its debut on September 8, 1986. The 'Oprah Winfrey Show' is currently the longest-running daytime television talk show in the United States and reaches about 7 million viewers a day.
Since its inception, when she chipped away at talk king Phil Donahue's dominance, Oprah has grown to be far more than your average daytime television show. Her empire -- which includes books, magazines, web sites and other TV productions, in addition to her own show -- can influence millions.
The 55-year-old is preparing to start her own cable channel (OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network), and it has been widely rumored that she plans on starting a new program on the channel.
"Why walk away and make the next season the last?," Oprah asked her audience rhetorically on Friday. "Here is the real reason -- I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it's time to say 'goodbye.'"
"Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and it feels right in my spirit. It's the perfect number, the exact right time. So I hope you will take this 18-month ride with me right through to the finale show."
Ellen DeGeneres, who shares the daytime space with Oprah, took a moment to talk to her talk show audience about what Winfrey meant to her.
"Right before I came out here, I got a call from Oprah and she told me that she is announcing that next year will be her last year," said DeGeneres. "I don't think I could be here without her."
"I think she has blazed a trail. She is an amazing woman. She will always be the queen of daytime television and she also said she is leaving me all of her money," she joked.
"I was like, thanks Oprah, thank you. So anyway, that is what you will hear but she is still going to do a lot of good work. She is an amazing woman. I love her and we've gotten very close over this ridiculous idea that I had of getting on the cover of O."
"A silly dream and now we talk all the time and she is fantastic and I love her and I wish her the best. She deserves to rest. She has worked really, really hard."
The queen of daytime talk shows, Oprah Winfrey, plans to end her highly rated television show in 2011.
