Apple, Oprah Winfrey end content partnership

Oprah Winfrey’s big multi-year deal with Apple that she announced in 2018 is ending, and Apple isn’t renewing.

“The Oprah Conversation” is Oprah Winfrey’s newest series on Apple TV+, following “Oprah Talks COVID-19” and “Oprah’s Book Club.”
“The Oprah Conversation” is Oprah Winfrey’s latest series on Apple TV+, following “Oprah Talks COVID-19” and “Oprah’s Book Club.”

Matthew Belloni for Puck:

Apple confirmed the split to me but declined to comment, as did Winfrey’s rep.

The writing’s been on the wall for this one. If I asked you to name Oprah’s biggest moments over the past few years, you’d probably say the Harry and Meghan interview or the Adele special, both of which aired on CBS…

Apple TV+ programmers Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht probably would’ve loved the royals, and I’ve heard rumblings that they are disappointed with Oprah’s output for the streamer. But that’s the deal they made. And Apple at least got a perception boost out of signing Oprah back in 2018, when Netflix and Amazon both wanted her. She was key in vouching for the nascent Apple TV+ at that weird celebrity cattle call in Cupertino back in March 2019, months before the service launched. “They’re in a billion pockets, y’all. A billion pockets,” she said, instantly explaining why so many top artists would sign on to Apple sight unseen. That, and the fat checks Apple was writing.

MacDailyNews Take: Winfrey served her purpose for Apple: Attach a “name” for the Apple TV+ launch. The launch phase ended some time ago. (Apple did the same thing with Spielberg which ended up producing a whopping five hour-long episodes of the extremely-limited “Amazing Stories” reboot.) They sold Apple their brand names. They got paid. Apple got big names. Nobody who knew anything expected the next “E.T.” to debut on Apple TV+ at launch.

Apple TV+ is home to the biggest directors and top stars
In 2019, Apple billed Apple TV+ as “home to the biggest directors and top stars”

Bottom line: If viewers watched any of Winfrey’s content (The Oprah Conversation, The Me You Can’t See) on Apple TV+ in significant enough numbers, the deal would not be ending.

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16 Comments

  1. Touchy-feely, mindless, emotion-driven, stupid, America-hating garbage peddler.

    No wonder Tim Cook signed her.

    Fake news media and most politicians have become Oprah-ized, behaving as though feelings trump everything. For example, rather than honestly dealing with the negative consequences of illegals invading our country, leftists and politicians are most concerned with the emotional side of the issue. God forbid we hurt the feelings or harm the self-esteem of illegals who do not give a rat’s derrière about our country or assimilating.

    LLoyd Marcus, Jan 19, 2018

    1. So, basically anyone who disagrees with right-wing orthodoxy somehow “hates” America? Do you really think Oprah — a truly self-made billionaire — hates America? Seriously?

  2. Amazing Stories was a disaster. After the lesbian track episode with some of the worst over-acting I’ve ever seen I was out. I highly recommend that you don’t watch it. Spielberg clearly “produced” this show from 1000 miles away.

  3. The Augmented Future . . . For those who remember Pokemon Go, even though it was a first generation product, it demonstrated the concept that you could integrate the real world with the augmented virtual world — and get people out of the house . . . When Apple Glasses come out in the next year, we will see thousands of augmented apps that will change people’s behavior . . . I just don’t see the next generation of young people sitting around at home in front of 80 inch TV screens vegetating on endless Netflix style content . . . anyone who knows kids who are on Tik Tok all day, they don’t have the attention span to sit through a 1 hour show — and most teens would rather play video games than “watch TV” . . . so, while Apple may see Apple TV+ as a venue that they need to compete in today, fast forward 5 years, and the landscape may change from “media viewing” to more interactive fare . . . and companies will divert their billions of dollars to that new medium.

  4. Apple TV is nearly all leftist woke crap. Mdn covers for that for some reason. Only show that, so far, hasn’t turned to woke s*** is severance.

    Apple, Netflix, paramount and other partake in “car jack” wokeism though. They start a series that seems fun interesting, and not woke initially. They they slowly start turning up the woke, or just start it up when you’re many episodes in and invested, until it’s unwatchable crap. Now I dump the show at first sign of woke. Happened to stranger things, the new Star Trek series, for all man kind, etc. they try to pull you in and surprise car jack the show to woke.

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