Oprah to star in traveling talk show on own network

Superstar TV host Oprah Winfrey reassured anxious fans Thursday by announcing that far from quitting the talk show world, she is to launch a new, globe-trotting show called "Oprah's Next Chapter.

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The show is to start in 2011 on the Oprah Winfrey Network, dubbed OWN, which she co-owns with Discovery Communications and which debuts January 1.

The new program will take over from Winfrey's trend-setting "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which first aired in 1985 and is to shut down on September 9 next year.

The format will change in that Winfrey will now travel the world interviewing celebrities and other guests.

Another big change is that the queen of daytime television will reportedly be appearing in the evening.

"After 25 years and 28,000 guests, Oprah is saying goodbye to 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,' but NOT goodbye to what she loves to do," Discovery Communications said in a statement.

"In Oprah's Next Chapter, she'll have more riveting conversations with the people we all want to hear from, in some very unexpected places."

Those settings will range from the Taj Mahal and Great Wall of China to her own teahouse, the announcement said. "If she can dream it, she'll do it!"

Winfrey announced last November that she was ending her iconic daytime show.

"Twenty five years feels right in my bones and it feels right in my spirit. It's the perfect number," she said.

"The Oprah Winfrey Show," currently syndicated in 145 countries, has transformed Winfrey into a cultural phenomenon.

She is credited with changing the way people talk to each other, having popularized a confessional interview style that has coaxed secrets, revelations and often tears from guests of all stripes.

She is an almost uniquely influential tastemaker, whose recommendation of a book or product has instantaneous and enormous effect.