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Winfrey,55,considered one of the major opinion makers in the United States and arguably the most powerful woman in the world by CNN,has given viewers many memorable moments since she first began the show in 1986. Hollywood actor Tom Cruise’s couch-stomp,Michael Jackson’s revelation about his skin disorder vitiligo and AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys openly discussing his drug abuse garnered the highest number of viewers.

Winfrey has used the show to launch her magazine,a book club that turned authors into bestsellers,and a cable TV channel,Oxygen,geared to female and lifestyle topics. All these histrionics on her show may have a stronghold on the homemakers of American suburbia,but she hasn’t quite managed to garner a cult status in the subcontinent.

Is it the lack of English-speaking audience in our country,the afternoon time slot or are we more rooted to our culture than what the common urban opinion suggests?

“We are just too self-contained and it is only in the last few years that Indians have opened up to Hollywood and their movies. So it’s only when an Indian like AR Rahman is on the show that they would like to watch it,” says chat-show hostess Koel Purie.

Most viewers feel the afternoon time slot was a huge dampener for a big talk show like this one. “Although Winfrey spoke on relevant topics like paedophilia and substance abuse which were universally appealing,housewives in India prefer watching soaps during the afternoon time-slot. Moreover,the guests on her show are not appealing to the average

Indian woman,” says Renuka Shahane who,while hosting Surabhi,connected with Indian roots. Strong evidence of our Indian ethnicity can be witnessed when Aishwarya Rai first appeared on the show,it was telecast on primetime and it acquired huge ratings. As Shekhar Iyer,a marketing manager puts it,“The only episode I remember clearly was when Aishwarya Rai was on the show and she made Oprah drape a sari.” Even the recent Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai episode was huge in India.

Purie admires Winfrey for her humane spirit,“but for Indians who have grown up watching Bollywood heroes and cricket icons this chat show did not click.”

But few segments of the Winfrey Show like the Wildest Dreams,when Winfrey surprised her audience by giving them each a Pontiac G6,have found many takers. Angad Bedi,who will be anchoring the show Emotional Atyachaar feels,“Oprah will be missed because she was brilliant at connecting with people. She had a subtle sense of humour.” Through his new show,he plans to do what Oprah did — connect with the masses,and gain viewer acceptance too.”