Oprah writes her OWN script, partners with Discovery Communications

There would be very few on this planet who wouldn't have heard the name Oprah Winfrey. The number one talk show for 12 consecutive seasons, 32 Emmy's, seven of which went to the host ' Oprah herself, the George Foster Peabody's Individual Achievement Award -- the most prestigious award in broadcasting and the IRTS Gold Medal Award, speaks volumes of the show.

And when Oprah finally exits daytime television in 2011, she would be taking an entire era with her. The Oprah Winfrey Show (often simply referred to as Oprah or just O) is an American syndicated talk show, hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey, and is the highest-rated talk show in American television history.

It is currently the longest-running daytime television talk show in the United States, having run nationally since September 8, 1986, for over 24 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes.

The show is a half-hour morning talk show and Winfrey took over as host in 1983, and within a year took it from last place to first place in the ratings. In 1986, it was re-launched under its current title and was picked up nationally.

Such was the popularity of the show that Time Magazine listed Oprah as the best television series of the twentieth century in 1998, and it made the top 50 of TV Guide's countdown of the greatest American shows of all time in 2002.

Oprah began her career in broadcasting at the age of 19 when she became the youngest and the first African-American woman ever to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV.

When auditions closed June 26, 2010, there were more than 9,500 online videos and more than 6,100 contestants who came to open casting calls in New Jersey, Texas, California and Georgia. Over 143 million votes were cast online and the results were carefully verified by a third party before the winners of the online competition were announced.