Nobody’s done it like Oprah did it

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Updated: October 16, 2011 12:16AM

Oprah Winfrey was the best ever at what she did. 

No other daytime talk-show host — and most likely no other TV personality in any genre and in any “daypart” — will ever enjoy the kind of run Oprah had. She arrived here as an unknown who had inherited a show called “A.M. Chicago,” and by the time she said goodbye on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Wednesday, she had transcended TV and become a worldwide figure of enormous fame, wealth and influence. It might seem preordained now, but the odds against that in 1984 were astronomical.

Something I hadn’t realized until Oprah’s final show: She never missed a day. She was never sidelined from doing a show by a bad winter cold or some other commitment. As someone who has been fortunate enough to make my daily work commitments going without ever missing a day over a similar stretch of time, I salute her.

There was no denying the emotion when Oprah talked of exceeding all expectations and dreams. We know the story of where she came from, what she had to overcome, how many traumas she had to endure, just to have a career, let alone one of the most amazing careers of our times.

To the viewers, to her fans, Oprah said, “You and this show have been the great love of my life.”

That this statement is no doubt true makes it all that much sadder. The great love of your life should be the great love of your life.

Icons leave, city still stands

Overheard at a screening of “The Hangover Part II” the other night: “This is what I love about Chicago. You can be a weatherman or a movie critic and be famous.”

To paraphrase a Tweet from that night, you gotta figure someone making such a crack might be from New York, or Los Angeles, or perhaps The Land of Pretentious A - - - - - - -. Maybe that’s not fair to Los Angeles or New York, but it’s highly unlikely someone from Boston or Phoenix or Dallas would deride Chicago for its lack of celebrities.

Of course, we’re losing arguably the biggest celebrity in the world with Oprah taking her talents to the West Coast, meaning she’ll spend even less time here than she has in recent years.

Not that Oprah-in-Chicago sightings have been commonplace. Other than gossip-column items about Queen O dining with an “Oprah” guest at RL, when’s the last time somebody spotted Oprah shopping for clothes, taking in a baseball game, checking out a play at Steppenwolf or an exhibit at the Art Institute?

Through the 1990s, Chicago was home to the two biggest stars in the universe: Oprah and Michael Jordan.

MJ is long gone. Spends his time in Florida, Charlotte, casinos, wherever. Now, Oprah’s leaving as well.

“I have no other reason to come to Chicago,” Chris Rock joked to Oprah earlier this year. “Why would you do that to a whole city?”

Love Chris Rock, but if the only reason for celebrities to come to Chicago was to go on Oprah’s show and plug their latest project, they weren’t really coming to Chicago anyway. They were coming to “Hollywood,” e.g., Plugsville, and they probably didn’t stay as long as 24 hours anyway.

Chicagoans have long had a Third City complex when it comes to celebrities. If a hockey player, an actress, a singer, sometimes even a weekend meteorologist, has a bowl of pasta at a popular restaurant, somehow that’s deemed item-worthy. When a Johnny Depp or a Jennifer Aniston sets up camp in town for a couple of months to make a movie, their every move is chronicled. Remember what a huge deal it was when Angelina Jolie took some of her kids to a local toy store?

That said, the average Chicagoan is far too busy living her own life to get too worked up over any local icon’s departure — even Oprah’s. Yes, the United Center was jammed with worshipful fans at the big farewell show last week. And, yes, we in the Chicago media have devoted much more space to Oprah’s stretch run than to the terrorist trial under way here that has attracted huge international press.

But come this morning, when “Oprah” is no more and “Windy City Live” debuts in the 9 a.m. time slot on WLS-Channel 7, even Oprah’s biggest fans will quickly adjust. They’ll watch the new show or sample another program or do something else with the time.

And when they head out into the day, Chicago will still be one of the truly great cities of the world, O or no O.