“The Oprah Winfrey Show,” is the #1-rated talk series. It premiered on September 8, 1986. Hosted by Oprah Winfrey, the most successful talk show host and producer in the history of television, the series airs on 216 stations representing more than 99% of the country.
“The Oprah Winfrey Show” has remained the number one talk show for 20 consecutive seasons. Produced by her own production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., the show is seen by an estimated 48 million viewers a week in the United States and is broadcast internationally in 126 countries.
How exciting and scary it must have been for Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken to be guests of Oprah for the entire hour on June 10, 2003.
Ruben started the program by chatting with Oprah who seemed pleased to have Ruben on her show. Ruben sang his single “Flying Without Wings.”
After Ruben’s number, Oprah introduced Clay, who received an enthusiastic response from the audience. Clay was awestruck and remarked how exciting it was to be on Oprah. The audience saw some footage of Clay preparing songs and rehearsing as well as a peek at his photo shoot for Rolling Stone magazine. Clay said that he was amazed that he was going to be on the cover and very excited.
Oprah brought Diane Bubel and her daughter to Chicago and Clay seemed genuinely surprised to see them.
Clay performed his newly released single, “This is the Night,” and Ruben sat in the front row next to Oprah, singing right along with him. The audience went crazy and one woman appeared onscreen wiping away her tears.
After Clay’s performance, Oprah introduced Justin Guarini, who also had his CD drop on Tuesday. Justin is still blown away by his instant fame and told us that he has done more in a year than most people ever dream of.
Oprah ended the show by telling the audience that they would get copies of all three CDs.
After Oprah is a half-hour show that appears on the Oxygen channel and offers more of a candid discussion. It is taped right after the show. During this program, the topics for discussion ran from audience signs to Simon…from song selection on AI to instant fame.
A member of the audience asked Clay what his first extravagant gift will be for his mother. He answered that he is planning on paying off their house. Ruben didn’t want to tell even though his mother tried to get it out of him the entire time he was home for the video shoot.
It was an exciting show and both Ruben and Clay seemed open and relaxed. It was rumored that Clay was feeling ill after having an allergic reaction before the show. However, he still gave it his all and was an excellent guest on the show.
The only videos available for this show are very poor so we hope you will be satisfied with some still pictures. It is fun to see Clay and Ruben enjoying this special event in their lives. Don’t they both look young?