Discovery Health, best known for shows such as Dr. G Medical Examiner, A Baby Story and Diagnosis X, will be ceasing broadcast on January 1, 2011. Discovery Health was purchased by Oprah Winfrey for the purpose of broadcasting her own television network, Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN. Many of Discovery Health’s award winning shows may be cancelled but some may be moved to TLC or kept on OWN. OWN has released a partial schedule.
Oprah will have her own reality show in a series called “Oprah Behind the Scenes”. This show will follow her during the final season of her long running talk show.
Several of Oprah’s friends and acquaintances will have their own talk shows. Gayle, Oprah’s best friend, will have a live talk show, Dr. Laura Berman will resurrect her sex-based health talk show, Lisa Ling will have an investigative show, Rosie O’Donnell will resurrect her talk show and Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil and Suze Orman will combine to host a panel talk show.
There are planned reality shows starring herself as she films her final season of her long running talk show, Shania Twain recovering from the end of her long time marriage to Robert Lang, Sara Ferguson, Ryan and Tatum O’Neal’s troubled relationship, Naomi and Wynonna Judd working on their new tour and female inmates’ everyday life in prison in Indiana.
There will also be self-improvement shows such as Carson Kressley helping small town America improve, a show chronicling how to search for ancestors, two different cooking shows and a show designed to help people who have hoarding issues.
There is one show that is definitely being kept on from Discovery Health. This is the series Mystery Diagnosis. This show follows patients who have a mystery ailment and the struggle to get doctors to take them seriously or find out the reason for the ailment and how to cure it.
In the footsteps of the Next Food Network Star, Oprah will have her own search for a new show on her network. This will be another Mark Burnett reality show that, like Next Food Network Star, will involve challenges and award a grand prize of a television show.
It is disappointing that Oprah chose to purchase Discovery Health and eliminate some high quality and award winning shows for some shows that sound like they have been done before. I can only hope that the shows will prove to be more innovative and fresh on television than they sound like they will be on paper.
Citations:
Jennifer Graham Kizer “Oprah Debuts Her OWN Network”, IVillage.com.
“TV Shows on the Oprah Winfrey Network”, OWN.
Gary Levin “Oprah Winfrey Network: The Highlights”, USA Today.
