the last episode of Oprah Winfrey’s show airs today

Have I ever watched a single episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show? I don’t think so... maybe accidentally, some day in 1993 when I was home sick from work and lolling on the sofa and too miserable to change the TV channel. But her show ends today, and this might be the last hurrah for TV that inspired the U.S. on a fairly widespread, crosscultural basis. This is like the last episode of M*A*S*H all over again, and we’ll probably never see its like -- in terms of influence and impact -- again.

Apparently the topic of the episode is top secret, says TheWrap. John Sellers at TheWrap also says, in his piece entitled “I Hate Oprah (But I'll Be There for Her Finale)”:

[L]et’s face it, we’ll all be there. Whether we tune in to the actual program as it airs, save it for later viewing on our DVR, or just follow the news via the snarky comments of our friends on Twitter, this is too massive a cultural moment to ignore completely -- even for non-converts like me.

I suppose I am curious to know what Oprah has to say for her signoff... though I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if it’s a combination of self-congratulation and schmaltzy indulgence of mass-consumerism, accompanied by the adoring squeals of her rabid audience. You know, like the rest of her two-and-a-half decades on the air were.