Oprah's 'Give Big'

Oprah has a history of giving away lots of expensive things (cars for example) and large amounts of money on her show. But now she’s made a competitive reality show called “Oprah’s Big Give” to have other people do that for her. The show started March 2^nd and there will be eight episodes in total playing on the ABC network. Oprah makes the contestants work their hardest using their creativity and resources to create the best giveaway. And of course, whoever doesn’t do the best job, gets sent home. Oprah makes appearances as well as celebrities John Travolta and Jennifer Aniston. I watched a few clips on abc.com and so far, it looks like it could have somewhat of a steady following for it’s season. It appears to me that Oprah wants to jump on the reality TV bandwagon and finally catch up with those who already have. Who can argue against giving away money to organizations and people who need it? Well it turns out she isn’t getting all good reviews for this innovative idea. I did a search to find out what critics are saying about the show, and Hollywood Reporter gave me a good idea. It turns out a lot of critics have a hard time with all of the product placement that Oprah allows in the show. Also, many aren’t impressed with the genuine giving feeling that the show tries to put off, arguing that these contestants aren’t giving away their own money – it’s all Oprah’s. Also, it’s down 24% from it’s debut rating which drew 11.83 million showing that perhaps viewers are feeling the same way about Oprah’s “Giving Big”. After hearing the reviews, it doesn’t sound like people are impressed and perhaps this won’t be a big hit for Oprah despite her track record of dominating talk show television. I guess we will just have to see.