Oprah Who?

Friends of Oprah (Harpo spelled backwards) are filling a 13,000-seat coliseum in Chicago this week for the last-ever shows of Oprah (Harpo spelled backwards) Winfrey on network television before she goes completely cable at OWN, the Oprah (Harpo spelled backwards) Winfrey Network, which I predict will be watched only by Oprah (Harpo spelled backwards) Winfrey Network gluttons. In the first of her last two coliseum appearances, aired yesterday, we have already been treated to Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Josh Groban, Patti LaBelle, Halle Berry, Diane Sawyer, Madonna, Beyoncé, and The Night Of At Least A Thousand Stars. All it needed was Jerry Lewis singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Only God and possibly Harold Camping know what heights (or depths) her remaining shows might reach.

Call me crazy, but I prefer goodbyes of the quieter, gentler, sweeter, more intimate sort.

Like this one, from 1992, in three parts:

Part 1 (6:44)

Part 2 (7:37)

Part 3 (4:44)

And here is a lagniappe (a little something extra) (2:55).