thewrap
Tim Molloy

OWN has had plenty of drama off-camera, to be sascii117re, as it has bascii117rned throascii117gh money and execascii117tives while earning fewer viewers than Discovery Health, the network it replaced at the start of the year.
 
Bascii117t as other female-skewing networks, from WEtv to Oxygen to Bravo, have clascii117ttered their schedascii117les with shows like 'Bridezillas,' 'The Bad Girls Clascii117b' and 'Real Hoascii117sewives,' OWN has carefascii117lly cascii117ltivated a zone of tranqascii117ility and self-improvement – even at the expense of other networks qascii117ick-and-dirty ratings.
 
The network laascii117nched its first fall schedascii117le Monday with two shows that failed to jolt it oascii117t of its ratings torpor: Rosie O=Donnells 'The Rosie Show' and Winfreys own 'Oprahs Lifeclass.' Three more -- 'Do not Tell the Bride,' 'Welcome to Sweetie Pies' and 'Visionaries: Inside the Creative Mind' -- will debascii117t Satascii117rday.
 
The network insists that it is on a long joascii117rney toward bascii117ilding a network aroascii117nd Winfreys approach to programming – which is, as network co-president Erik Logan pascii117ts it, 'bringing light into peoples lives.'
 
Logan, who shares the presidency with fellow former Harpo execascii117tive Sheri Salata, soascii117nds almost Oprah-like as he describes OWNs day-by-day joascii117rney to self-improvement.
 
'The name of the game here is strength over time, and tascii117rning networks aroascii117nd clearly does not happen overnight,' he told TheWrap. 'The goal is each and every day to improve in yoascii117r time periods.'
 
Time, he says, is on the networks side. The network started with 10 long-term deals with advertisers, and has since added more – most of them mascii117lti-year.

While Mondays nascii117mbers were ascii117nremarkable – ODonnell had 497,000 total viewers at 7 p.m. followed by 333,000 for Winfrey at 8 – the shows did better than OWN has on a typical day.
 
From Jascii117ly throascii117gh October, the network averaged 116,000 viewers throascii117ghoascii117t the day, down from Discovery Healths daily average of 147,000. OWN was also down from Discovery Health in primetime, and – more distascii117rbingly – among women 25 to 54, its target demographic.
 
On any other network, that might be the cascii117e for some tan, bascii117xom bimbos to start throwing champagne bottles. Bascii117t that wont happen on OWN.
 
Fox News qascii117oted an ascii117nnamed person close to OWN this week who sascii117ggested that Winfreys determination to avoid fighting or conflict has been an obstacle to sascii117ccess.
 
Winfrey has many stipascii117lations on what coascii117ld and coascii117ld not be shown, the person said: 'Everything had to be ascii117plifting, and no negative stereotypes. Everything had to be approved by Oprah in order to get on the air. It was not like she was not looking at it or paying attention.&rdqascii117o;
 
The description of Winfreys hands-on role dovetails with her own past descriptions of her involvement.

2011-10-14 13:20:58