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| Name | G4 |
|---|---|
| Logofile | G4.svg |
| Logosize | 100px |
| Launch | April 24, 2002 |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV)1080i (HDTV) |
| Owner | G4 Media (a majority-owned subsidiary of Comcast) |
| Slogan | TV That's Plugged In |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Former names | G4techTV |
| Replaced names | TechTVZDTV |
| Sister names | G4 CanadaE!Style NetworkGolf ChannelVersusComcast SportsNet |
| Web | http://www.g4tv.com |
| Sat serv 1 | Dish Network |
| Sat chan 1 | Channel 191 (SD/HD) |
| Cable serv 1 | Available on many cable systems |
| Cable chan 1 | Check local listings for channel numbers |
| Iptv serv 1 | Verizon FiOS |
| Iptv chan 1 | 191 |
| Iptv serv 2 | AT&T; U-Verse |
| Iptv chan 2 | 149 (SD)1149 (HD) |
Launched on April 24, 2002, G4 is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States, and owned by G4 Media, a majority-owned subsidiary of Comcast.
The launch shows consisted of:
G4 was originally led by Charles Hirschhorn, a former president of Walt Disney Television and Television Animation. He expected video game creators themselves to eventually produce programming for the network. He envisioned that G4 could follow in the footsteps of MTV which in his opinion provided music video producers with a venue for non-traditional television programming. Hirschhorn intended G4 to become a vehicle for unconventional advertising. In 2002, G4 offered advertisers wide latitude to place their products on G4's programs, and even allowing their commercials to appear as if they're a part of the program. G4 also offered what was called a "2 minute unit" which was an advertising package played as if it were part of a G4 program that was long enough to run an entire movie trailer. G4 also offered to sell the right to have a game showcased on the show Pulse. Days before the announced sale, Comcast made plans to close the original TechTV production facilities and workforce located in San Francisco, and offered new network headquarters in Los Angeles with openings for 80-100 of the TechTV employees available if they were willing to relocate. Hirschhorn headed the combined entity. Networks carrying both channels shut down the TechTV channel post-merger, while G4 enjoyed expansion onto systems carrying only TechTV and not G4 as a result of the merger.
On February 15, 2005, less than a year after the merger, the letters, "TechTV", were officially dropped from the channel's name in the U.S. and the channel became known again as G4. However, on the network's affiliate in Canada, the "TechTV" letters remained a part of the name until mid-2009, when the channel was renamed G4 Canada. The only remaining TechTV originated show on G4 is X-Play, which also features Adam Sessler, who has been a part of TechTV since its creation in 1998 as ZDTV.
On May 6, 2006, Variety, the entertainment-trade magazine, reported,
"Now, under the aegis of Comcast and new president Neal Tiles, G4 is evolving into a lifestyle channel, peppered with videogame culture, as opposed to wall-to-wall games." 'We're going through a change. Guys like to play games, but not necessarily watch a bunch of shows with games on the screen,' Tiles says. 'So what we're doing now is expanding G4 from a network solely defined by videogames to one inspired by them.'"
In 2007, G4, in association with Earth911, launched an electronic- waste-recycling campaign called Gcycle.
In June 2008, G4 launched G4 Rewind. This block showed older episodes of X-Play, Judgment Day, Cheat, G4tv.com, Arena, Portal, G4's Training Camp and GameMakers. G4 Rewind left the schedule when the summer was over and returned for Daytime reruns for older episodes of X-Play in June 2009 until January 2010. In May 2009, G4's website was completely redesigned with a more prominent role of gaming as the intended purpose. Since the redesign of the website, G4's blog, TheFeed, has been overhauled as well. On July 31 a new web video game discussion series, TheFeed: Nightcap debuted. On August 28, 2009 TheFeed Nightcap debuted as Feedback. It was announced during Comic-Con 2010 that G4 would be the exclusive broadcaster of Marvel Anime which is scheduled to air in 2011. During the week of July 26, 2010 - August 1, 2010 G4 changed its logo to 4G as a promotion for Sprint Nextel's next generation wireless internet service.
Harbert gave his opinion at the time that the focus of the channel on "gaming has been demonstrated as being too narrow." He also gave assurances that while G4 might change, it would not become extinct. Design Studios Onesize and yU+Co teamed up to rebrand the G4 network as part of the transition.
On October 30 2010, Attack of the Show! host Kevin Pereira echoed Comcast's sentiments about the decision, "G4 has tried to make this same deal for over 3 years but DirecTV has rejected this [time], claiming that they do not see the value in G4."
Category:American television networks Category:Comcast Corporation Category:G4 (television) Category:Television channels and stations established in 2002 Category:English-language television stations in the United States Category:Television programs about video games Category:X-Play Category:Companies based in Los Angeles, California
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Smosh |
|---|---|
| 360px | |
| Birth date | Anthony Padilla: September 16, 1987 Ian Hecox: November 30, 1987 |
| Nationality | American |
| Home town | Sacramento, California |
| Occupation | YouTube comedy duo |
| Years active | 2005-present |
| Image http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q | tbn:ANd9GcT33hyWHodqF1EoPJF1DeXoPG5yUqY7TJRMZUTfLgwTwEhTX8vz7g |
| Influenced | Other Youtubers. |
| Website | smosh.com |
Smosh is a web-based comedy duo consisting of Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla. They first began posting videos to YouTube in the autumn of 2005, and have become one of the most popular channels on that site, with over 2 million subscribers. Until 2008, Smosh was the most subscribed-to YouTube account.
4 Smosh related channels exist on Youtube. There is the base "Smosh" channel, where both Ian and Anthony post their skits, and other videos, Ian's channel "IanH" which at first was for vlogs and other non scripted videos, but now is used for posting their new side series "Ian is Bored" and "Lunchtime with Smosh". Their third channel is Anthony's channel called "AnthonyPadilla" where Anthony would post random videos. Their last channel called "AskCharlie" is based on the popular Smosh character Charlie the Drunk Guinea Pig.
One of Smosh's earliest videos, "Pokémon Theme Music Video," was released in November 2005 and by April 2006 held the title of "Most Viewed Video of all Time (Time referring to the existence of YouTube as an internet website)" on YouTube with over 24 million views, a title it held for at least six months. The video features the duo lip-synching the original English theme song for the Pokémon anime. However, it has since been removed by YouTube after the website received a notice from Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., indicating copyright infringement, after hitting 25 million views. In 2008 they said as an April's Fools joke that the Pokémon company were suing them for 20 million dollars because of copyright infringement, as an advertisement for the smosh store.
Nevertheless, the success of their Pokémon video and other videos led Smosh to be featured in the "Person of the Year: You" issue of Time Magazine, published December 13, 2006. In 2007, a user named Andii2000 relaunched the video.
Recently Smosh created the "Shut Up App" for Android phones as part of a Google sponsorship; it eventually made its way to the iTunes app store.
Currently, they are the 5th most subscribed channel on YouTube.
Category:Living people Category:YouTube video producers Category:American comedians Category:Comedy duos
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Shane Dawson |
|---|---|
| Size | 175px |
| Caption | |
| Birth name | Shane Yaw |
| Birthdate | July 19, 1988 |
| Birthplace | Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | YouTube video maker (actor, comedian) |
| Yearsactive | 2008–present |
| Known for | Sketch Comedy, vlogging |
| Website | http://youtube.com/shanedawsontv http://twitter.com/shanedawson |
In November 2009, he was featured on Attack of the Show! In 2010, Forbes magazine named him their 25th most famous web celebrity.
In August 2010, he announced that he was going to write a TV pilot and post it on his main channel, featuring himself and his characters from previous videos, about him in high school.
}}
Category:American Internet personalities Category:YouTube video producers Category:Living people Category:1988 births Category:People from Long Beach, California
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Oprah Winfrey |
|---|---|
| Caption | Winfrey at her 50th birthday party at Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles, in 2004 |
| Birth name | Orpah Gail Winfrey |
| Birth date | January 29, 1954 |
| Birth place | Kosciusko, Mississippi, United States |
| Occupation | Talk show host, media proprietor, actress |
| Residence | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Years active | 1983–Present |
| Party | Democratic Party |
| Website | www.Oprah.com |
| Partner | Stedman Graham |
| Signature | Oprah Winfrey Signature.svg |
Oprah Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television host, actress, producer, and philanthropist, best known for her self-titled, multi-award winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and was once the world's only black billionaire. She is also, according to , the most influential woman in the world.
Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood, including being raped at the age of nine and becoming pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. she is thought to have popularized and revolutionized By the mid 1990s, she had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. Though criticized for unleashing confession culture and promoting controversial self-help aids, she is often praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others. From 2006 to 2008, her support of Barack Obama, by one estimate, delivered over a million votes in the close 2008 Democratic primary race.
Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi to unmarried teenage parents. She later said that her conception was due to a single sexual encounter and the couple broke up not long after. Her mother, Vernita Lee (born c. 1935) was a housemaid. Winfrey had believed that her biological father was Vernon Winfrey (born 1933), a coal miner turned barber turned city councilman who had been in the Armed Forces when she was born. Decades later, Mississippi farmer and World War II veteran Noah Robinson Sr. (born c. 1925) claimed to be her biological father. Winfrey had her DNA tested for the 2006 PBS program African American Lives. The genetic test determined that her maternal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, in the area that today is Liberia. Her genetic make up was determined to be 89 percent Sub-Saharan African, 8% Native American, and 3% East Asian however the East Asian may actually be Native American markers however due to the limitations of genetic testing this is unsure. After her birth, Winfrey's mother traveled north and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee (April 15, 1900 - February 27, 1963), who was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, for which the local children made fun of her. Her grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. When Winfrey was a child, her grandmother would take a switch and would hit her with it when she didn't do chores or if she misbehaved in any way. At age six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been, due in large part to the long hours Vernita Lee worked as a maid. Winfrey has stated that she was molested by her cousin, her uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old, something she first revealed to her viewers on a 1986 episode of her TV show, when sexual abuse was being discussed. She once commented that she had chosen not to be a mother because she had not been mothered well.
At 13, after suffering years of abuse, Winfrey ran away from home. When she was 14, she became pregnant, her son dying shortly after birth. She later said she felt betrayed by her family member who had sold the story to the National Enquirer in 1990. She began high school at Lincoln High School; but after early success in the Upward Bound program was transferred to the affluent suburban Nicolet High School, where her poverty was constantly rubbed into her face as she rode the bus to school with fellow African-Americans, some of whom were servants of her classmates' families. She began to steal money from her mother in an effort to keep up with her free-spending peers, to lie to and argue with her mother, and to go out with older boys.
Her frustrated mother sent her to live with Vernon in Nashville, Tennessee. Vernon was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, placing second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. Her first job as a teenager was working at a local grocery store. At age 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time. Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV. She moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the six o'clock news. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars there as well.
In 1983, Winfrey relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's low-rated half-hour morning talk show, AM Chicago. The first episode aired on January 2, 1984. Within months after Winfrey took over, the show went from last place in the ratings to overtaking Donahue as the highest rated talk show in Chicago. The movie critic Roger Ebert persuaded her to sign a syndication deal with King World. Ebert predicted that she would generate 40 times as much revenue as his television show, At the Movies. It was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show, expanded to a full hour, and broadcast nationally beginning September 8, 1986. Winfrey's syndicated show brought in double Donahue's national audience, displacing Donahue as the number one day-time talk show in America. Their much publicized contest was the subject of enormous scrutiny. Time magazine wrote, "Few people would have bet on Oprah Winfrey's swift rise to host of the most popular talk show on TV. In a field dominated by white males, she is a black female of ample bulk. As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue [...] What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye [...] They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session." TV columnist Howard Rosenberg said, "She's a roundhouse, a full course meal, big, brassy, loud, aggressive, hyper, laughable, lovable, soulful, tender, low-down, earthy and hungry. And she may know the way to Phil Donahue's jugular." Newsday's Les Payne observed, "Oprah Winfrey is sharper than Donahue, wittier, more genuine, and far better attuned to her audience, if not the world" In addition to her talk show, Winfrey also produced and co-starred in the 1989 drama miniseries The Women of Brewster Place, as well as a short-lived spin-off, Brewster Place. As well as hosting and appearing on television shows, Winfrey co-founded the women's cable television network Oxygen. She is also the president of Harpo Productions (Oprah spelled backwards). On January 15, 2008, Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans to change Discovery Health Channel into a new channel called . It was scheduled to launch in 2009, but was delayed, and actually launched on January 1, 2011.
In 2006, rappers Ludacris, 50 Cent and Ice Cube criticized Winfrey for what they perceived as an anti-hip hop bias. In an interview with GQ magazine, Ludacris said that Winfrey gave him a "hard time" about his lyrics, and edited comments he made during an appearance on her show with the cast of the film Crash. He also claimed that he wasn't initially invited on the show with the rest of the cast. Winfrey responded by saying that she's opposed to rap lyrics that "marginalize women", but enjoys some artists, including Kanye West, who appeared on her show. She said she spoke with Ludacris backstage after his appearance to explain her position, and said she understood that his music was for entertainment purposes, but that some of his listeners might take it literally. In September 2008, Winfrey received criticism after Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report reported that Winfrey refused to have Sarah Palin on her show allegedly due to Winfrey's support for Barack Obama. Winfrey denied the report, maintaining that there never was a discussion regarding Palin appearing on her show. Critics have also suggested that Winfrey is not tough enough when questioning celebrity guests or politicians that she appears to like. Lisa de Moraes, a media columnist for The Washington Post, stated, "Oprah doesn't do follow-up questions unless you're an author who's embarrassed her by fabricating portions of a supposed memoir she's plugged for her book club."
In late 2008, Winfrey's company Harpo Films signed an exclusive output pact to develop and produce scripted series, documentaries and movies for HBO. Oprah voiced Gussie the goose for Charlotte's Web (2006) and the voice of Judge Bumbleden in Bee Movie (2007) co-starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger. In 2009, Winfrey provided the voice for the character of Eudora, the mother of Princess Tiana, in Disney's The Princess and the Frog and in 2010, narrated the US version of the BBC nature program Life for Discovery.
Winfrey publishes two magazines: O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home. In 2002 Fortune called O, the Oprah Magazine the most successful start-up ever in the industry. Although its circulation had declined by more than 10 percent (to 2.4 million) from 2005 to 2008, the January 2009 issue was the best selling issue since 2006. The audience for her magazine is considerably more upscale than for her TV show, the average reader earning US $63,000 a year (well above the median for U.S. women).
In the 1970s, Winfrey had a romantic relationship with John Tesh. Biographer Kitty Kelley claims that Tesh split with Winfrey over the pressure of having an interracial relationship. In 1997, former boyfriend named Randoph Cook tried to sue Winfrey for $20 million for allegedly blocking a tell-all book where he claimed they lived together for several months in 1985 and did drugs. Cook's claims mark the second time reports surfaced about Winfrey's involvement in a drug related love affair. In 1995 Winfrey herself confessed to smoking crack cocaine. "And I've often said over the years...in my attempts to come out and say it, I've said many times I did things in my 20s that I was ashamed of, I did things I felt guilty about, but that is my life's great big secret that's always been held over my head", she explained on her show. "I always felt that the drug itself is not the problem but that I was addicted to the man." She added: "I can't think of anything I wouldn't have done for that man."
When WJZ-TV management criticized Winfrey for crying on the air while reporting tragedies and were unhappy with her physical appearance (especially when her hair fell out as the result of a bad perm), Winfrey turned to reporter Lloyd Kramer for comfort. "Lloyd was just the best", Winfrey would later recall. "That man loved me even when I was bald! He was wonderful. He stuck with me through the whole demoralizing experience. That man was the most fun romance I ever had." According to Mair, when Kramer moved to NBC in New York Winfrey had a love affair with a married man who had no intention of leaving his wife. Winfrey would later recall: "I'd had a relationship with a man for four years. I wasn't living with him. I'd never lived with anyone—and I thought I was worthless without him. The more he rejected me, the more I wanted him. I felt depleted, powerless. At the end I was down on the floor on my knees groveling and pleading with him". "That suicide note had been much overplayed" Winfrey told Ms. magazine's Joan Barthel. "I couldn't kill myself. I would be afraid the minute I did it; something really good would happen and I'd miss it." Winfrey also dated movie critic Roger Ebert, whom she credits with advising her to take her show into syndication. According to Winfrey, her emotional turmoil gradually led to a weight problem: "The reason I gained so much weight in the first place and the reason I had such a sorry history of abusive relationships with men was I just needed approval so much. I needed everyone to like me, because I didn't like myself much. So I'd end up with these cruel self-absorbed guys who'd tell me how selfish I was, and I'd say 'Oh thank you, you're so right' and be grateful to them. Because I had no sense that I deserved anything else. Which is also why I gained so much weight later on. It was the perfect way of cushioning myself against the world's disapproval." "I've told nearly everything there is to tell. All my stuff is out there. People think I'd be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn't admit it? Oh, please." Winfrey considers Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings her mentor and close friend; she calls Angelou her "mother-sister-friend" Winfrey hosted a week-long Caribbean cruise for Angelou and 150 guests for Angelou's 70th birthday in 1998, and in 2008, threw her "an extravagant 80th birthday celebration" at Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Forbes' international rich list has listed Winfrey as the world's only black billionaire from 2004 to 2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in world history. and has overtaken former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America.
At the end of the 20th century Life listed Winfrey as both the most influential woman and the most influential black person of her generation, and in a cover story profile the magazine called her "America's most powerful woman". In 2007 USA Today ranked Winfrey as the most influential woman and most influential black person of the previous quarter century. Ladies Home Journal also ranked Winfrey number one in their list of the most powerful women in America and senator Barack Obama has said she "may be the most influential woman in the country". In 1998 Winfrey became the first woman and first African-American to top Entertainment Weekly
Columnist Maureen Dowd seems to agree with such assessments: "She is the top alpha female in this country. She has more credibility than the president. Other successful women, such as Hillary Clinton and Martha Stewart, had to be publicly slapped down before they could move forward. Even Condi has had to play the protegé with Bush. None of this happened to Oprah — she is a straight ahead success story. Vanity Fair wrote: "Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope. Bill O'Reilly said: "this is a woman that came from nothing to rise up to be the most powerful woman, I think, in the world. I think Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in the world, not just in America. That's — anybody who goes on her program immediately benefits through the roof. I mean, she has a loyal following; she has credibility; she has talent; and she's done it on her own to become fabulously wealthy and fabulously powerful. Biographer Kitty Kelley states that she has always been fascinated by Winfrey: "As a woman, she has wielded an unprecedented amount of influence over the American culture and psyche,...There has been no other person in the 20th Century whose convictions and values have impacted the American public in such a significant way.... I see her as probably the most powerful woman in our society. I think Oprah has influenced every medium that she's touched.
In 2005 Winfrey was named the greatest woman in American history as part of a public poll as part of The Greatest American. She was ranked #9 overall on the list of greatest Americans, however polls estimating Winfrey's personal popularity have been inconsistent. A November 2003 Gallup poll estimated that 73% of American adults had a favorable view of Winfrey. Another Gallup poll in January 2007 estimated the figure at 74%, although it dropped to 66% when Gallup conducted the same poll in October 2007. A December 2007 Fox News poll put the figure at 55%. According to Gallup's annual most admired poll, Americans consistently rank Winfrey as one of the most admired women in the world. Her highest rating came in 2007 when she was statistically tied with Hillary Clinton for first place. In a list compiled by the British magazine New Statesman in September 2010, She was voted 38th in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".
Observers have also noted the "Oprahfication" of politics such as "Oprah-style debates" and Bill Clinton's empathetic speaking style. Columnist Maureen Dowd commented on the symbolism of Bill Clinton seeking an "Oprah-style" talk show when he left the presidency, "There is a delicious symmetry in Clinton's exploring the idea of a daytime syndicated talk show: the man who brought Oprah-style psychobabble and misty confessions to politics taking the next step and actually transmogrifying into Oprah." Newsweek stated: "Every time a politician lets his lip quiver or a cable anchor 'emotes' on TV, they nod to the cult of confession that Oprah helped create. Winfrey's disclosures about her weight (which peaked at 108 kg (238 lb)) also paved the way for other plus-sized women in media such as Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell and Star Jones. The November 1988 Ms. magazine observed that "in a society where fat is taboo, she made it in a medium that worships thin and celebrates a bland, white-bread prettiness of body and personality [...] But Winfrey made fat sexy, elegant — damned near gorgeous — with her drop-dead wardrobe, easy body language, and cheerful sensuality."
During a show in the 1980s, members of the studio audience stood up one by one, gave their name and announced that they were gay. Also in the 1980s Winfrey took her show to West Virginia to confront a town gripped by AIDS paranoia because a gay man living in the town had HIV. Winfrey interviewed the man who had become a social outcast, the town's mayor who drained a swimming pool in which the man had gone swimming, and debated with the town's hostile residents. "But I hear this is a God fearing town", Winfrey scolded the homophobic studio audience; "where's all that Christian love and understanding?" During a show on gay marriage in the 1990s, a woman in Winfrey's audience stood up to complain that gays were constantly flaunting their sex lives and she announced that she was tired of it. "You know what I'm tired of", replied Winfrey, "heterosexual males raping and sodomizing young girls. That's what I'm tired of." Her rebuttal inspired a screaming standing ovation from that show's studio audience. Winfrey promotes openly gay celebrities on her show, such as her hairdresser Andre Walker, makeup artist Reggie Wells, and decorator Nate Berkus, who inspired an outpouring of sympathy from middle America after grieving the loss of his partner in the 2004 tsunami on the show. In April 1997, Winfrey played the therapist on the sitcom Ellen to whom the character (and the real-life Ellen DeGeneres) said she was a lesbian. In 1998, Mark Steyn in the National Review wrote of Winfrey "Today, no truly epochal moment in the history of the Republic occurs unless it is validated by her presence. When Ellen said, 'Yep! I'm gay,' Oprah was by her side, guesting on the sitcom as (what else?) the star's therapist."
When author Jonathan Franzen's book was selected for the Book Club, he reportedly "cringed" and said selected books tend to be "schmatzy",. After James Frey's A Million Little Pieces was found to contain fabrications in 2006, Winfrey confronted him on her show over the breach of trust. In 2009, Winfrey apologized to Frey for the public confrontation. During a show about mad cow disease with Howard Lyman (aired on April 16, 1996), Winfrey exclaimed, "It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!" Texas cattlemen sued her and Lyman in early 1998 for "false defamation of perishable food" and "business disparagement", claiming that Winfrey's remarks sent cattle prices tumbling, costing beef producers $12 million. On February 26, after a two month trial in an Amarillo, Texas court, a jury found Winfrey and Lyman were not liable for damages. After the trial, she received a postcard from Roseanne Barr reading, "Congratulations, you beat the meat!" During the lawsuit, Winfrey hired Phil McGraw's company Courtroom Sciences, Inc. to help her analyze and read the jury. Dr. Phil made such an impression on Winfrey that she invited him to appear on her show. He accepted the invitation and was a resounding success. McGraw appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show for several years before launching his own show, Dr. Phil, in 2002, which was created by Winfrey's production company, Harpo Productions, in partnership with CBS Paramount, which produced the show. Winfrey's ability to launch other successful talk shows such as Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Rachael Ray has also been cited as examples of "The Oprah Effect". and Michelle Obama on the campaign trail (December 10, 2007).]]
Winfrey endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, testing the power of the 'Oprah Effect' in politics. This is the first time she publicly made such an endorsement. Winfrey held a fundraiser for Obama on September 8, 2007, at her Santa Barbara estate. In December 2007, Winfrey joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The Columbia, South Carolina event on December 9, 2007, drew a crowd of nearly 30,000, the largest for any political event of 2007. An analysis by two economists at the University of Maryland, College Park estimated that Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for between 423,123 and 1,596,995 votes for Obama in the Democratic primary alone, based on a sample of states that did not include Texas, Michigan, North Dakota, Kansas, or Alaska. The results suggest that in the sampled states, Oprah's endorsement was responsible for the difference in the popular vote between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, reported being so impressed by Winfrey's endorsement that he considered offering Winfrey Obama's vacant senate seat describing Winfrey as "the most instrumental person in electing Barack Obama president", with "a voice larger than all 100 senators combined". Winfrey responded by stating that although she was absolutely not interested, she did feel she could be a senator.
On the season premier of Winfrey's 13th season Roseanne Barr told Winfrey "you're the African Mother Goddess of us all" inspiring much enthusiasm from the studio audience. The animated series Futurama alluded to her spiritual influence by suggesting that "Oprahism" is a mainstream religion in 3000 AD. Twelve days after the September 11th attacks, New York mayor Rudy Guliani asked Winfrey to serve as host of a Prayer for America service at New York city’s Yankee stadium which was attended by former president Bill Clinton and New York senator Hillary Clinton. Leading up to the U.S.-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, less than a month after the September 11 attacks Winfrey aired a controversial show called “Islam 101” in which she portrayed Islam as a religion of peace, calling it “the most misunderstood of the three major religions". In 2002, George W. Bush invited Winfrey to join a US delegation that included adviser Karen Hughes and Condoleezza Rice, planning to go to Afghanistan to celebrate the return of Afghan girls to school. The 'Oprah strategy' was designed to portray the war on terror in a positive light, however when Winfrey refused to participate, the trip was postponed.
Leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Winfrey's show received criticism for allegedly having an anti-war bias. Ben Shapiro of Townhall.com wrote: "Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in America. She decides what makes the New York Times best-seller lists. Her touchy-feely style sucks in audiences at the rate of 14 million viewers per day. But Oprah is far more than a cultural force, she's a dangerous political force as well, a woman with unpredictable and mercurial attitudes toward the major issues of the day." In 2006, Winfrey recalled such controversies: "I once did a show titled Is War the Only Answer? In the history of my career, I've never received more hate mail - like 'Go back to Africa' hate mail. I was accused of being un-American for even raising the question." Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore came to Winfrey's defence, praising her for showing antiwar footage no other media would show and begging her to run for president. A February 2003 series, in which Winfrey showed clips from people all over the world asking America not to go to war was interrupted in several east coast markets by network broadcasts of a press conference in which President George W. Bush and Colin Powell summarized the case for war.
In 2007, Winfrey began to endorse the self-help program The Secret. The Secret claims that people can change their lives through positive thoughts, which will then cause vibrations that result in good things happening to them. Peter Birkenhead of Salon magazine argued that this idea is pseudoscience and psychologically damaging, as it trivializes important decisions and promotes a quick-fix material culture, and suggest Winfrey's promotion of it is irresponsible given her influence. In 2007, skeptic and magician James Randi accused Winfrey of being deliberately deceptive and uncritical in how she handles paranormal claims on her show. In 2008 Winfrey endorsed author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle and his book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, which sold several million copies after being selected for her book club. During a Webinar class, in which she promoted the book, Winfrey stated "God is a feeling experience and not a believing experience. If your religion is a believing experience [...] then that's not truly God." Frank Pastore, a Christian radio talk show host on KKLA, was among the many Christian leaders who criticized Winfrey's views, saying "if she's a Christian, she's an ignorant one, because Christianity is incompatible with New Age thought." Winfrey also refuses to wear fur or feature it in her magazine. In 2009 Winfrey filmed a series of interviews in Denmark highlighting its citizens as the happiest people in the world. In 2010 Bill O'Reilly of Fox News criticised these shows for promoting a left-wing society.
Outside the U.S., Winfrey has become increasingly popular in the Arab world. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2007 that MBC 4, an Arab satellite channel, centered its entire programming around reruns of her show because it was drawing record numbers of female viewers in Saudi Arabia. In 2008 the New York Times reported that The Oprah Winfrey Show, with Arabic subtitles, was broadcast twice each weekday on MBC 4. Winfrey's modest dress, combined with her triumph over adversity and abuse has caused some women in Saudi Arabia to idealize her.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Oprah created the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry which raised more than $11 million for relief efforts. Winfrey personally gave $10 million to the cause. Homes were built in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama before the one year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Winfrey has also helped 250 African-American men continue or complete their education at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Winfrey was the recipient of the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 2002 Emmy Awards for services to television and film. To celebrate two decades on national TV, and to thank her employees for their hard work, Winfrey took her staff and their families (1065 people in total) on vacation to Hawaii in the summer of 2006.
Winfrey, who has no surviving biological children, described maternal feelings towards the girls at Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls: I never had children, never even thought I would have children. Now I have 152 daughters; expecting 75 more next year. That is some type of gestation period! [...] I said to the mothers, the family members, the aunts, the grannies — because most of these girls have lost their families, their parents — I said to them, 'Your daughters are now my daughters and I promise you I'm going to take care of your daughters. I promise you.' " Winfrey teaches a class at the school via satellite.
Category:1954 births Category:African American actors Category:African American television personalities Category:African American writers Category:American billionaires Category:American Christians Category:Tennessee State University alumni Category:American Congregationalists Category:American magazine publishers (people) Category:American mass media owners Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American philanthropists Category:American self-help writers Category:American television producers Category:American television talk show hosts Category:Baltimore, Maryland television anchors Category:Chicago, Illinois television anchors Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Female billionaires Category:Living people Category:Native American writers Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from Kosciusko, Mississippi Category:Spingarn Medal winners Category:Miss Black America delegates Category:American people of Liberian descent
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| Name | Olivia Munn |
|---|---|
| Caption | Olivia Munn at the 2007 Comic-Con in San Diego, California |
| Alt | Dark haired woman |
| Birthname | Lisa Olivia Munn |
| Birth date | |
| Birth place | Oklahoma, United States |
| Occupation | Actress, model, presenter |
| Yearsactive | 2004–present |
| Homepage | http://www.oliviamunn.com |
In late 2005, Munn began her portrayal of Mily Acuna, a teen surfer, over two seasons of the TV drama Beyond the Break on The N network. She enjoys surfing and continues to practice the sport. She originally auditioned for the part of Kai, but the producers wanted a "local girl." She also appeared in the film The Road to Canyon Lake.
In 2006, Munn moved on to the G4 network, where she began co-hosting Attack of the Show! with Kevin Pereira on April 10. She replaced departing host Sarah Lane. The network, devoted to the world of video games and the video game lifestyle, was at first hesitant to hire Munn. Although she admits video games were her "weak point," she was confident in her technical knowledge. On the show, Munn was featured with journalist Anna David in a segment called "In Your Pants," which deals with sex and relationship questions from viewers. While working on Attack of the Show!, Munn hosted Formula D, a now defunct program about American drift racing, and an online podcast called Around the Net (formerly known as The Daily Nut), for G4.
Munn made her film debut in the Rob Schneider movie Big Stan. She played Schneider's character's receptionist Maria.
Munn hosted Microsoft's Bing-a-thon, an advertisement on Hulu for the Microsoft search-engine Bing on June 8, 2009, alongside Jason Sudeikis.
Munn appeared in ABC Family's Greek, portraying Cappie's love interest, Lana.
In May 2010, NBC announced that Munn would star in the upcoming television series Perfect Couples. The half-hour romantic comedy is scheduled as a midseason replacement for the 2010–11 television season.
On June 3, 2010, Munn premiered in her new role as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Her hiring prompted criticism from Irin Carmon of Jezebel, who questioned Munn's credentials and accused the show's production of sexism in hiring Munn, whom Carmon characterized as a sex symbol. Carmon saw Munn's hiring as a perpetuation of the show production office's history as a male-dominated atmosphere marginalizing and alienating to women. A group of 32 female Daily Show production staff members criticized Carmon's piece for being inaccurate and misinformed, as did Munn herself in an interview, in which she stated that Carmon's assertion was an insult both to her and to the rest of the Daily Show staff.
In July 2010 it was announced that Munn would guest-star in NBC's Chuck as a CIA agent.
By December 6, 2010, it has been announced that she has been replaced with Candace Bailey on Attack of the Show!.
Munn's book, Suck It, Wonder Woman: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek (ISBN 0-312-59105-5), was released on July 6, 2010. She is working on her own magazine, Hey Olivia, scheduled to be published by MYMAG. It will include a 20-page spread of Munn and a fan-picked poster.
FHM's 100 Sexiest Women of 2008 (#85) FHM's 100 Sexiest Women of 2009 (#85) FHM's 100 Sexiest Women of 2010 (#52)
Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from Oklahoma Category:Actors from Tokyo Category:American actors of Chinese descent Category:American actors of German descent Category:American film actors Category:American female models Category:American models of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American television actors Category:Military brats Category:University of Oklahoma alumni
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| Name | Billy Mays |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Darrell Mays, Jr. |
| Other names | Billy Mays |
| Birth date | July 20, 1958 |
| Birth place | McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Death date | June 28, 2009 |
| Death place | Tampa, Florida, United States |
| Home town | McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania |
| Years active | 1993–2009 |
| Parents | Billy Mays, Sr.Joyce Palm |
| Children | Billy Mays IIIElizabeth Mays |
| Spouse | Dolores "Dee Dee" Mays |
| Occupation | Television direct-response advertisement salesman |
William Darrell "Billy" Mays, Jr. (July 20, 1958 – June 28, 2009) was an American television direct-response advertisement salesperson most notable for promoting OxiClean, Orange Glo, and other cleaning, home-based, and maintenance products. His distinctive beard and impassioned sales pitches made him a recognized television presence in the United States and Canada.
Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and began his career as salesman on the Atlantic City boardwalk. He traveled across the United States for 12 years, selling various items before he was hired to sell OxiClean and other products on the Home Shopping Network. His success as a TV pitchman led him to found Mays Promotions, Inc. On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that featured Mays. On the morning of June 28, 2009, Mays's wife found him dead in his home.
Mays was the CEO and founder of Mays Promotions, Inc., based at his home in Odessa, Florida. In December 2008, Mays began appearing in ads for ESPN's online service, ESPN360. These ads were a slight departure for Mays as they were designed to be parodies of his and other infomercial cliches with Mays appearing to be doing a parody of himself. He also made a live appearance during the 2008 Champs Sports Bowl promoting ESPN's and ABC's January 1, 2009, bowl games.
On April 15, 2009, the Discovery Channel began airing PitchMen, a documentary series that featured Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their jobs in direct-response marketing. After Mays's death, Discovery Channel aired a special Billy Mays tribute episode of PitchMen called "".
On March 27, 2009, Mays appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He and Sullivan also appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 23, 2009.
Prior to his death, Mays had signed a deal with Taco Bell to film infomercial-style commercials for the chain. Shooting was scheduled to begin in August 2009.
In an interview during the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Mays revealed himself to be a Republican.
After an initial autopsy on Mays's body on June 29, Dr. Vernard Adams, the Hillsborough County, Florida medical examiner, stated that Mays suffered from hypertensive heart disease and that heart disease was the likely cause of his death. According to a toxicology report released August 7, 2009, heart disease was the "primary cause of death" and cocaine was listed as a "contributory cause of death." In response to the release of the toxicology report, the Mays family issued a press release stating, "We are extremely disappointed by the press release released by the Hillsborough County medical examiner's office. We believe it contains speculative conclusions that are frankly unnecessary and tend to obscure the conclusion that Billy suffered from chronic, untreated hypertension..." and said in the release that they were considering "an independent evaluation of the autopsy results".
The medical examiner "concluded that cocaine use caused or contributed to the development of his heart disease, and thereby contributed to his death," the office said in a press release. The office said Mays last used cocaine in the few days before his death but was not under the influence of the drug when he died. Hillsborough County spokeswoman Lori Hudson said nothing in the toxicology report indicated the frequency of Mays's cocaine use. Cocaine can raise the arterial blood pressure, directly cause thickening of the left wall of the ventricle and accelerate the formation of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, the release said. However, in October 2009, the results of a second medical examination, commissioned by Mays' family, concluded that "cocaine was not a significant contributing factor" to his death.
Longtime friend and colleague A.J. Khubani, founder and CEO of the "As Seen on TV" product company Telebrands, said Mays never exhibited any signs of drug use and was always prepared for his many commercial shoots. "I'm just shocked," Khubani said. "He was the model of a responsible citizen."
According to subsequent news reports the toxicology tests also showed levels of painkillers hydrocodone, oxycodone and tramadol, as well as anti-anxiety drugs alprazolam and diazepam. Mays had suffered hip problems and was scheduled for hip replacement surgery the day after he was found dead.
Mays's funeral was held on July 3, 2009 in his hometown of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. The pallbearers for the funeral wore blue shirts and khaki pants at the funeral, much like Mays wore when he advertised his products. According to KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, he was buried wearing a shirt with the OxiClean logo on it.
Category:American television personalities Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in Florida Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Internet memes Category:Pennsylvania Republicans Category:People from Atlantic City, New Jersey Category:People from McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania Category:People from Tampa, Florida Category:Salespeople Category:Infomercials Category:West Virginia Mountaineers football players Category:1958 births Category:2009 deaths
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