On tonight's episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter," Oprah interviews family members of the late pop star Whitney Houston, including Whitney's daughter with Bobby Brown, Bobbi Kristina.
Oprah also talks to Whitney’s brother, Gary, and sister-in-law, Patricia. Check out the preview below.
The show airs tonight at 9 p.m. on OWN.
"The Pastor's Wife" (8 tonight, Lifetime) is a good old-fashioned Lifetime movie -- a woman in peril, a crime, tears, a trial. The good stuff!
And it's based on a true story too. In 2006, in small-town Tennessee, timid Mary Winkler killed her husband, a popular local minister, with a shotgun. It seemed impossible; the couple, who had three children, seemed the perfect happy family. But later, during the trial, Mary says Matthew was an abusive tyrant.
The structure of the story helps make it interesting; it starts with the body and has town residents speak to the camera, documentary style. We see one version of the family's life that shows a strict, but loving Matthew and a couple with severe financial problems. Later, those same scenes are revisited, adding Mary's revelation; that her husband smacked her around and forced her to dress up like a hooker for freaky sex.
Although I like everyone in the cast of "Up All Night," (NBC, 10 tonight) I was kind of 'meh' on the concept. I'm too exhausted from raising my kid to get excited about a show about exhaustion from raising a kid. But I think I love this show.
We meet wild and carefree couple Christina Applegate and Will Arnett just as they find out she's pregnant. Fast-forward, and she's back to work as a TV producer; he becomes a stay-at-home dad. Maya Rudolph, plays Ava, the host of the TV show Applegate works on. If Oprah wasn't her highest self, maybe was proud of her druggie past, she'd be Ava.
Everybody is great as the show explores what you gain and what you give up with life's choices; it can be a painful, depressing, revelatory and funny experience.
Yep, I love this show.
A reader emailed me wondering why he was having such a hard time finding canned pumpkin in the grocery store.
"I recall buying canned pumpkin in the summer months before because I bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies a few times each year," Don Sauer of Raleigh wrote.
Sauer remembered the pumpkin shortage of 2009 and wondered what was going on this year in the pumpkin world.
Coolest thing about Oprah's final show: She gave me her email address!
That's right. I can send a note to oprah@oprah.com and I might get a personal message from Oprah and she might read my email. At Happiness, we thought this opened up a lot of possibilites.
SUBJECT LINE: HEY
Hey, Oprah! What's up?
Other than that, Oprah's final show was, she said, a love letter to us, her viewers. But it was also our final lesson from a teacher who was also taught by us in the world's biggest classroom. And it was kind of a review session to make sure we got the major points of our 25 year-long course. For those reluctantly enrolled in O University, the final show was easy to mock. Those with an O graduate degree, earned credits toward a PhD.
Can you pay tribute to O too many times?
Perhaps. But at Happiness we're nothing if we're not exuberant!
So we turned to Gigi Karmous-Edwards, a Raleigh resident and Oprah FAN!!, who designs the Uvo bag collection, to share what O has meant to her:
"I am having a hard time imagining life without watching the Oprah show everyday at 4 o’clock. She has had an incredible impact on my life in every way possible, and I look up to her and what she has done for so many people.
As Oprah Winfrey ends her afternoon talk show today, much has been written about her impact on American culture, books, television, women's lives, and more.
But O's departure means something else to me. It marks the end of my mom's dream of being on Oprah.
When you're a writer, you always get the writing assignments in the family (obits, wedding speeches, graduation speeches) and mom just knew I would write THE letter that would tell her story so poignantly that Oprah would fly her out and sit her on the couch.
Katie Couric bid us adieu last week. The bye-byes to Oprah start today, and culminate Wednesday.
And tonight marks the final appearance of Mary Hart on "Entertainment Tonight."
Hart has been with the show since 1982, and will replaced by a younger blonde, former "Access Hollywood" host Nancy O'Dell.
According to TVSpy, during the final show taped yesterday, Hart's former co-hosts Bob Goen, Rob Weller and NC State grad (and WTVD alum) John Tesh, surprised her.
"ET" and Mary helped turn pop culture and, more pointedly, celebrity culture into mainstream news. (You may not want to thank her for that, but it is what it is.) She's also famous for her gams; her legs were once insured for $1 million each.
In a couple of weeks, we'll be waving to the Today show's Meredith Viera too. Sigh.
Good luck, Mary!
One of the most brutal hours of TV I've ever seen didn't happen on cable; it was when Oprah Winfrey dismantle James Frey for the fabrications in his best-selling memoir, "A Million Little Pieces" in 2006.
The message was clear: Do not make Oprah feel stupid or she will take you OUT.
Well, get set for what could be some more interesting TV. According to the New York Post, Winfrey has invited Frey to be among her final guests next month as her daytime TV show comes to an end.
Medium (8pm, CBS) - Allison's dreams cause to suspiciously scrutinize the newfound success of her brother, played by her real life brother David Arquette. Also, Devalos' new campaign manager becomes interested in Bridgette's abilities.
Your OWN Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star (9pm, OWN) - Ten hopefuls vie for a chance at their own talk show in this new reality competition show. In tonight's first episode, the finalists (selected by online voting) are introduced to Oprah and must produce talk show segments under the watchful eye of Dr. Phil. Carson Kressley and Nancy O'Dell are the hosts, and Mark Burnett ("Survivor" "Apprentice") is the executive producer. Someone will be eliminated each week till Oprah has a new employee.
Unlikely Animal Friends 2 (9pm, National Geographic Channel) - A look at surprising animal friendships between rival species. Included: a lion, a tiger and a bear live together in perfect harmony at a wildlife rehabilitation center near Atlanta.
Merlin (10pm, Syfy) - In the first part of a two-part Season 3 premiere, Arthur and Merlin discover the long-missing Morgana and return her to Camelot. Shortly after her return, Uther's mind begins to fray and Merlin suspects it's due to someone's magic and puts himself in danger investigating the source.
