TV/ OPRAH SAYS FAREWELL TO HER TALK SHOW: After 25 years on the air, veteran talk show host Oprah Winfrey's broadcast her final program today. The 57 year old pre-recorded the show on Tuesday in Chicago. Winfrey was seen alone on stage, telling viewers how much they mean to her. The finale follows a 2 day star studded special farewell show at the United Center in Chicago, which was taped last week. Fans in the audience for the final show said Winfrey had tears in her eyes as she bid farewell one last time. "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which is syndicated in 145 countries, redefined the talk show genre and made Winfrey one of the most influential women in the US as well as the wealthiest black woman in the world. The star, who recently relinquished her position as Forbes magazine's most powerful celebrity to Lady Gaga, announced in November 2009 she would be leaving. At the time she told audience members the final season would "knock your socks off". On her 25th and final series she was filmed dancing on stage with John Travolta and took an entire audience to film in Australia. Other season highlights included interviews with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W Bush and Michael Jackson's family. In January, Winfrey launched her own TV network, OWN, or the Oprah Winfrey Network. Winfrey has said that with her talk show ending, she will now devote her time to developing OWN into a more significant network.
After protracted negotiations, Chris Meloni will exit "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" this fall. The Emmy-nomated actor, who has co-starred opposite Mariska Hargitay since the show's inception in 1999, will not return for the show's 13th season. The decision comes a week after NBC's new boss said Meloni's deal was "nearly done." At their upfront presentation for advertisers in New York, the NBC head added that the network had plans to "reset the tone" of the series. For her part, Hargitay will be scaling back her commitment to the show after adopting a baby girl with her husband, Peter Hermann, in April. Former "Ghost Whisperer" star Jennifer Love Hewitt is among the leading female candidates to fill out the show's cast next season. With Meloni's departure, the network, along with franchise creator Dick Wolf, will now have to find a leading male as well.
TV/ HINES WARD WINS "DANCING": Hines Ward and his partner Kym Johnson, pictured at center, were named winners of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" on Tuesday night. The Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver beat out Kirstie Alley and Chelsea Kane to take home the disco-ball trophy on Season 12 of ABC's dancing competition. Alley came in 2nd, with Kane 3rd. Kane had widely been considered a front-runner throughout the competition. After Monday night's show, Ward and Kane were tied with a total of 59 out of 60 points apiece, followed by Alley with 54. Each celebrity also performed another dance on Tuesday night's show, with all 3 couples earning perfect 30 scores. Judges scores' are combined with viewer votes to determine the winner. Previous winners include Jennifer Grey, Kristi Yamaguchi, Apolo Ohno, Emmit Smith and Helio Castraneves. Season 12 of "Dancing" had averaged 22.5 million total viewers, up 4% compared with the 11th season, according to the Nielsen Co. The show ranks #2 behind "American Idol" for the season.
Columbia Pictures has picked up the US distribution rights to Kathryn Bigelow, pictured, and Mark Boal’s project regarding Navy Seal Team 6 and its hunt for Osama Bin Laden. The duo behind the Oscar-winning thriller "The Hurt Locker" have been working on the project for some time and were eyeing a summer start when real life events, Bin Laden’s killing by the black ops team, overtook the planned project. Boal is now incorporating the latest developments into the script. Production is slated to begin in the late summer. The film will be released in the US in the 4th quarter of 2012, according to the studio.
FILM/ "OZ" PREQUEL SET FOR RELEASE IN MARCH 2013: Disney has set a release date for its new 3D event pic "Oz
: The Great and Powerful". The film will be released on March 8, 2013. Directed by Sam Raimi, "Oz" is the prequel to the classic movie "The Wizard of Oz". The movie will reportedly tell the story of the wizard’s arrival in Oz. James Franco is set to play the role of the young wizard, who is fleeing from a traveling circus when his hot air balloon is swept up by a tornado and transported to Oz, which is the control of 2 witches.
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