Product Description

The Stars. The Stories. The Moments. An unprecedented six-disc collection celebrating the 20th Anniversary of THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW, one-on-one with Oprah Winfrey herself. See exclusive never-before-seen footage, never-before-heard thoughts and personal revelations, as Oprah takes a candid, open and look back at all the most memorable moments of 20 years of history-making television. Get the inside story on Oprah's all-time favorite guests, surprises, celebrities and the people that have touched Oprah's heart forever. Share Oprah's personal perspective on the stories that made headlines, the interviews she'll never forget and more! Plus, go on a personal tour of Oprah's home, watch never-before-seen footage from the beginning years of THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW and take an exclusive look behind the scenes of A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW! Twenty extraordinary years...from Oprah to you. Oprah Winfrey will donate 100% of Harpo's profits from the sale of this DVD Collection to Oprah's Angel Network.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5510 in DVD
• Brand: WINFREY,OPRAH
• Released on: 2005-11-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 1.15 pounds
• Running time: 60 minutes

Amazon.com
Behold the power of Oprah. Whether you hate her, worship her, or liked her better when she was overweight, no one can deny the influence Oprah Winfrey has had on television and pop culture at large. Now the two decades of moments have been condensed into a six-disc collection, to benefit her Oprah's Angel Network®. The set kicks off with Oprah's humble beginnings, her most tear-jerking guests, and episodes to equip others, such as defense strategies against attackers, sex offenders, and kidnappers. Each disc has a different set of montages: following her weight gain/loss/gain/loss; her Book Club® ; her serious interviews (Nelson Mandela, John F. Kennedy Jr.); home makeovers; and some of her now-regrettable "firsts" attempts, such as filming a music video and wearing a Tina Turner wig. Each disc also contains highlights of Oprah's celebrity interviews, from "friends" like John Travolta, Maria Shriver, and Julia Roberts, to a couch-jumping Tom Cruise (yes, it’s on there), and the interview with Elizabeth Taylor she calls her all-time worst. She's also very candid about her changing looks and how she handles the tears that flow during taping.

Twenty years have wrought many changes in Oprah's connection with her audience. She started as an effervescent reporter struggling to prove there was room on the talk-show circuit for a black Everywoman (incidentally, it was Roger Ebert who, during a dinner date, suggested she go for syndication). You can see over time how that dynamic changed: Oprah, who claims to shun fame (she always puts quotes around "celebrity" like she doesn't get it), starts wearing it like a badge when she's rolling with the A-listers, as if to let the audience know she can sit at the cool kids' table, but will also bend down to grace you from her pedestal. As a one-woman empire, she knows all too well that she's worshiped by many women in America, and often her guru ways can come off as self-congratulatory. Yet you can't deny her later-years role of fairy godmother has been the most fascinating. One of the only two full-length episodes in the collection involves her journey to South Africa, where she gave gifts to some 50,000 children. (Though oddly, this was paired with the other full-length episode, her opulent 50th birthday party.) She describes how she surprised each member of her studio audience with a brand-new car not because she wanted to shock some people, but because each audience member was selected specifically because they needed one. She rewards hardworking, giving people with lavish gifts they deserve--a home, a Porsche, a college scholarship. Even if you don't watch the show regularly, that aspect alone will pique your admiration. It's almost scary how much power Oprah has, but it's nice to see her using that power for good. --Ellen A. Kim

Customer Reviews

OPRAH GIVES IT UP!!!!!!
I was able to get a peek at an advance screening copy and I have to say no fan will be disappointed. Not only are all of the best moments included
but Oprah talks, reminisces, laughs and walks you through all of it. I heard things I've never heard before and found out what Oprah was thinking
during all the big shows I watched over the years.
This is so much more than a "best of" collection. Oprah gives it up!

Catch the whisper
On January 29, 1954 Oprah Gail Winfrey was born. Oprah had a mountain of obstacles already in front of her as a newborn baby... she was born to unwed teenage parents, female, she was black, and she was poor.. not just poor...po!

Oprah's mother was an eighteen-year-old housemaid named Vernita Lee. Her father was a twenty-year-old doing duty in the armed forces: his name - Vernon Winfrey.

For the first six years of her life, Oprah was raised on a Mississippi farm by her grandmother. Perhaps the first stroke of good luck for the young child. Oprah credits living with her grandmother probably saved her life.

At the age of six, her mother, Vernita Lee, decided that she could care for her young daughter and Oprah was sent to live with her in Milwaukee. From ages six to thirteen, Oprah stayed with her mother. She was raped by a cousin when she was nine years old and later molested by a male friend of her mother's and by an uncle. The young girl never told anyone about the abuse. Instead, she held her anger and pain inside and she rebelled. She repeatedly ran away and got into trouble.

Her mother decided to put her into a detention home. Fortunately for Oprah, she was denied admission to the home because there were no openings. So, in what may have been her second major stroke of good luck, she was sent to live with her father Vernon Winfrey in Nashville. Before she ceased her promiscuous and wild behavior, she became pregnant and gave birth to a stillborn baby boy when she was fourteen. The death of her baby devastated her and she vowed to turn her life around.

Oprah Winfrey began her career in 1973 in Nashville, Tennessee, as WTVF's youngest -- and first-ever African-American -- news anchor, before moving in 1976 to Baltimore's WJZ, where she took over the chat-fest People Are Talking in 1978.

In 1983, Winfrey moved to Chicago to host AM Chicago, which within three years would become The Oprah Winfrey Show, roll out nationally via syndication, to become what it is today.

On learning from life-- "And what I found is that every time you have to repeat the lesson, it gets worse. I call it God trying to get your attention. The universe trying to get your attention. "Sooo we didn't get your attention the first time. We are going to have to hit you a little harder this time." So I'm still doing it. I'm still learning.

And it seems worse because it gets worse. I say, the universe is always trying to get your attention. Sometimes it starts out -- any major problem you encounter -- as a whisper. By the time it gets to be a storm, you've had a pebble knock you upside the head; you've had a brick; you've had a brick wall; you've had a house fall down. And before you know it, you are in the eye of the storm.

But long before you are in the eye of the storm, you've had many warnings, like little clues. So now my goal in life is not to have to hit the eye of the storm, but to catch it in the whisper. To get it the first time. I think the thing, the one thing that has allowed me to certainly achieve both material success and spiritual success, is the ability to listen to my instinct. I call it my inner voice. It doesn't matter what you call it -- nature, instinct, higher power. It's the ability to understand the difference between what your heart is saying and what your head is saying. I now always go with the heart. Even when my head is saying, 'Oh, but this is the rational thing; this is really what you should do.' I always go with that little... feeling. The feeling. I am where I am today because I have allowed myself to listen to my feelings.

The six-disc collection follows her impressive career, starting with "The Beginning," which outlines the early days of her show; "Heartprints," offering her most emotionally affecting interviews; "Aha!," focusing on moments that provided lessons; and the "Stars, interviews with celebrities. Everything is a highlight.

Harpo Productions, will donate its full share of the net profits from this DVD's sales to Oprah's Angel Network.

If you were to find this review helpful, please click yes.

Oprah Reigns Supreme!
From her earlier beginnings as a field reporter, to the superstar and host of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," this
DVD set shows the incredible evolution Oprah Winfrey has gone through. It's packed with hours of footage, including some that never made it to air, of the past 20-years of Oprah's nationally syndicated show.

Some highlights include: Oprah talking about her role in "The Color Purple," non-celebrity guests who have left a deep impact on her life, her audition reel when she tried out for the Chicago news station, and the original theme song that played at the start of the show (an instrumental song composed of flutes or pipes--somehow I can't seem to get that song out of my head!).

Of course there's so much more on the set including celebrity interviews, behind the scenes footage, etc.

The one thing that I really liked about the dvds was Oprah setting up many of the clips--that viewers are about to watch-- which she explains what was going on in her mind during that time, how and why she reacted the way she did, how the audience reacted, why she chose to do that partcular story, and whether she learned anything from that segment.

I wish she did that with all of the segments, like on certain celebrities so we would learn what she thought of each one, but that would probably take way too long. For the most part, she does provide very poignant and honest commmentaries on the stories that seem to have impacted the American people.

I agree with another reviewer who wrote that one should be prepared to cry. Because there are many highlights on this box set that will move you to tears.

More than just a collection of pop culture-voyeuristic shows, "The Oprah Winfrey Show-20th Anniversary DVD Collection" is a reflection not just of the hostess herself, but also on American life. It exemplifies how far we have come from 1986, and in 2005, how much further we must still go.