On September 8, 1986, 32-year-old Oprah Winfrey debuted her nationally syndicated daytime talk show. The Oprah Winfrey Show went on to run for 25 years, and during that time Ms. Winfrey became one of the most influential women in entertainment.

Before the show's debut, Oprah was not a complete unknown on the national stage. That same year she secured an Oscar-nomination for her role as Sofia in The Color Purple.  

But the talk show deal was months before the film's premiere. She signed a deal to expand her local morning show with a $1 million signing bonus just two years after its launch.
A promo for the show's premiere teases a typically formatted talk show that explored inoffensive topics like relationships.


The first show was about relationships titled "How to Marry the Man/Woman of Your Choice.”

She often went up against veteran talk show host Phil Donahue whom the New York Daily News referred to as her "archrival"

At the show's 20th anniversary, Ms. Winfrey reflected on her first day as a national tv host. She read from her journal an excerpt that said, "Maybe going national was to help me realize that I have important work or that this work is important."

In a December 1986 interview with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes, Oprah explains that her hopes for her life are not wrapped up in the success of the show. "I think we are defined by the way we treat ourselves and the way we treat other people, she said.

"It would be wonderful to be acclaimed as this talk show host whose made it. That would be wonderful, but if that doesn't happen there are other important things in my life."


It seems she's achieved more than she could have imagined. During the show's run, 4,500 episodes aired. The show won 15 Daytime Emmys. She took home 7 as host. That number likely would have been much higher, but in 1999, she removed herself from consideration as host after being presented a lifetime achievement award.



The last episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show aired May 25, 2011. She now runs the Oprah Winfrey Network that's experiencing record ratings with its newest shows.

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Insecure, Issa Rae's long-awaited HBO comedy, will premiere on October 9. In the newly released trailer, watch Issa try to find her way while navigating the last year of her 20s.

Rae collaborates with director Melina Matsoukas (aka the woman who brought "Formation" to life) and executive producer Prentice Penny to create a very specific. She's been adamant that this she is not "trying to tell every black woman’s story," and she doesn't need to. From the first glimpses we've seen, it will give us everything we need.

Watch below.

Melissa Harris-Perry is coming back to television.

BET confirmed in a tweet that the Wake Forest professor will join its News team as a special correspondent.

BET is excited to welcome @MHarrisPerry as our NEW @BETNews Special Correspondent! https://t.co/oyoNUSewVY

— BET (@BET) July 11, 2016

For the network, she will contribute to their programming and develop hour-long specials, the first of which airs July 24.
Deadline reports that MHP will utilize her background in political science scholarship to cover the national conventions of the major parties.

Her first assignment will be to co-anchor election coverage for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions along with with BET News correspondent Marc Lamont Hill. The cable net will air an hourlong recap special on the GOP confab at 11 AM Sunday, July 24. It will include the convention’s most talked-about highlights along with exclusive interviews with newsmakers and celebrities.

The former host of Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC's weekend lineup exited the show in March citing a lack of network support and communication.  Joy-Ann Reid now has a show in that timeslot.

In April, she joined Elle.com as editor-at-large.



Photo by Jerod Harris/BET/Getty Images for BET

By most standards, Mara Brock Akil is one of the most successful women in Hollywood. She's created three hit television shows (Girlfriends, The Game, Being Mary Jane) and broken countless barriers in the process. But the veteran showrunner says she doesn't get the respect she deserves from her industry peers.

"I am very successful," she said at the Chicago Ideas Festival. "But I am not seen as successful."
In the conversation, Akil recalls not being invited to some of the entertainment industry's biggest events because the people who make decisions don't respect her work or the audiences she serves. But Akil knows that she is on the cutting edge, "what they don't even realize is "the edge" is becoming the middle, and we're all American."

Akil has long provided platforms for the telling of Black women's stories, but she diverges from much of her audience in a fundamental way.

"My core audience loves the term "positive images." I actually do not. I don't believe in positive images just as I do not believe in negative images. I think they can actually be just as damaging as negative images."

Akil is pursuing new things as she departs her hit series, Being Mary Jane. She says, "I want to get into sci-fi. I want to do action heroes."

Sounds incredible. Watch the full interview below.

Photo: YouTube

Fox News host Harris Faulkner was showing up her signature peach cobbler recipe during a Thanksgiving segment when host Brian Kilmeade asked her if she served Kool-Aid with her meals.

Tamar Braxton is a standout on this season of Dancing with the Stars. The youngest Braxton has already paid tribute to her sisters in dance and now she's celebrating an icon with a jazz routine inspired by Janet Jackson's 1989 hit, "Rhythm Nation."

The 2015 Critics' Choice Awards proved to be an exciting night for actors and actresses in film and television. We were even more excited to see Taraji P. Henson, Lorraine Toussaint, and HBO's "Bessie" awarded for outstanding performances.

 After witnessing how long it took to convince Tamera to finally give husband, Adam Housley the "okay," one would think we would never find out what they were having, but we did!!

Viola Davis, star of ABC's How to Get Away with Murder, sat down with Ellen to talk about her role as Annalise Keating.  The role is a departure from the most visible characters we've seen Viola play.

"Annalise Keating is all over the place," says the woman behind her on screen, Oscar nominee Viola Davis. "I'm concerned with my health. She just wants power. She wears a heavy duty mask every day, which must be exhausting. I couldn't do it."

We're four episodes in and Black-ish is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows. The writing is smart and authentic.

Oscar-Winning Actress Halle Berry now stars in the sci-fi thriller Extant which airs Wednesday at 9PM on CBS. Berry portrays Molly Wood, an infertile astronaut, who returns home from an assignment in space pregnant. The show looks pretty great. The show premiered this week. Watch a preview of episode 2 below:

A new series starring Halle Berry and produced by Steven Spielberg premieres on CBS July 9.

Extant is a sci-fi drama about Molly Wood who returns from a 13 month mission to space pregnant.

Watch the teaser below:

Kerry Washington is a master of keeping herself hidden until she's good and ready to be seen. Yesterday she emerged for an live interview with the LA Times about her character Olivia Pope. Of course the interviewer tried to through in a couple of audience questions about Kerry's new baby Isabella Amarachi, but Kerry dodged them with polite, vague answers.

When a fan asked her how she likes going back to work as the mom of an infant, she replied: “So tricky because you know I don’t talk about this stuff…But I will say I feel really, really blessed. I just feel really blessed that I’m kind of living extraordinary dreams come true in my work life and in my personal life.”

That's all you're going to get from Ms. Washington. Enjoy the interview below:

A new family comedy, "Black-ish" is coming to ABC this Fall. Anthony Anderson will star along with Tracee Ellis Ross and Laurence Fishburne.

Here's the description:

Andre Johnson has a great job, a beautiful wife, Rainbow, four kids, and a colonial home in the 'burbs. But has success brought too much assimilation for this black family? With a little help from his dad, Dre sets out to establish a sense of cultural identity for his family that honors their past while embracing the future.

I can say that this will be the first network comedy I'll be tuning into in years. The previews look hilarious. Take a look.

This Fall, Shonda Rhimes will be bringing another series starring a brilliant Black actress to ABC. 'How to Get Away With Murder' is being billed as a "suspense-driven legal thriller" and stars Oscar-nominee Viola Davis as Professor Annalise Keating.

The show will air on Thursdays at 10/9C. Take a look.

As a Black woman, Nichelle Nichols role as Uhura in the futuristic 60s television show Star Trek was pivotal. Nichelle sat down with Janelle Monae to share a couple of fascinating behind-the-scenes stories. In the first clip, she talks about convincing the creators to create her character Uhura. In the second, she recalls how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. convinced her not to quit the show.

Watch below.

Season 2 of Orange is the New Black is coming to Netflix June 6. The trailer for the new season has arrived, and we're excited to see Lorraine Toussaint added to the cast.

Watch below.

A new season of "T.I. The Family Hustle" will begin next Monday March 31, and the family of 8 are on the promo trail.

Tip and the whole gang — his wife Tiny, their sons King, Major, Domani and Messiah, and their daughters Deyjah and Zonnique (aka Niq Niq) – pay homage to the “Cosby Show” by re-enacting the sitcom’s famous jazz intro.

Mark your calendars! Season two of Orange Is the New Black finally has a premiere date -- June 6, 2014.