Oprah Winfrey plans move to primetime

'Oprah's Next Chapter' could air on OWN in late 2011

By HitFix Staff Thursday, Apr 8, 2010 12:11 AM

Oprah Winfrey

Credit: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

On the verge of leaving daytime behind, Oprah Winfrey has decided to craft a plan for primetime domination.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Queen of Daytime is about to announce plans to launch an evening show on her new cable network. Tentatively and appropriately titled "Oprah's Next Chapter," the program could debut late next year following the conclusion of her daytime run.

Winfrey's daytime show, which still averages 6.9 million viewers, has set an end date of September 2011.

The paper says that "Oprah's Next Chapter" could air two or three times a week and could take the beloved host to locations around the world.

This is isn't the first time that Winfrey's name has been mentioned in the context of a primetime slot. Last year it was reported that Jeff Zucker approached Winfrey in 2007 about moving her show to a nightly 8 p.m. slot, an offer she declined. In retrospect, nice move Oprah.

Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN, will launch on January 1 and will program 24 hours a day. Further details about the OWN programming strategy are expected to be revealed to potential advertisers on Thursday.