The New York Post has reported that Dr. Anne Dranitsaris, a Toronto psychotherapist, could be in line to become Oprah's next media darling. If the tabloid is right, she's just the latest in a long line of professionals whose career has been made (or broken) by the talk-show dynamo
When it comes to The Oprah Winfrey Show, there is hardly a moment that passes where there isn’t a mention of body fat, weight loss or something fitness-related. So it’s no surprise that her personal trainer, Bob Greene, has built his own mini-empire around Ms. Winfrey’s well-publicized gains and losses. His first book, Make the Connection: Ten Steps To A Better Body — And A Better Life published in 1996, was co-authored with Oprah and unsurprisingly hit No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He published several more books and launched the Best Life Weight Loss Challenge with his mentor in 2007, urging a group of her viewers to sign up to drop the pounds. It worked for many of them, but when a 200-lb Oprah appeared on the January 2009 cover of O, The Oprah Magazine asking “How did I let this happen again?” it left some wondering where she and Bob had gone wrong.
Other talk-show hosts can make people famous, but sometimes only Oprah can make them stars. After producers of The Ellen DeGeneres Show saw a YouTube clip of the then 16-year old Charice Pempengco singing the Dreamgirls anthem “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” they flew her in from her native Philippines to perform. With Web clips of her concerts already a viral hit in Asia, Pempengco found herself on Oprah a few months later, where her rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” brought audience members to tears. That’s when the magic started: Oprah introduced the teenager to record producer David Foster, who helped put together her first U.S. single, “Note to God”; it debuted in May on the Billboard Top 50. Foster also added the starlet to the cast of his PBS special, Hitman: David Foster & Friends, alongside singers like Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion.
Pempengco, whom Oprah has dubbed the most talented girl in the world, will also play herself in next year’s Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel.
Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud” has died. He was 79.
As we prepare for the Game of Thrones finale, we recognize Joffrey and nine other baddies who showed us that terrible, horrible things can come in small packages
