WHY bother thinking anymore? Oprah Winfrey is here to do it for you.
Is it a coincidence that this coming weekend she hits the campaign trail in support of Barack Obama – the same day her first TV movie in two years will hit the air?
On the same day that the Oprah- Obama show is playing to a capacity crowd in Columbia, S.C., she’ll be counseling us on matters of family, loss, death and redemption via her latest made- for- TV movie, “For One More Day,” based on the novel by Mitch Albom (who adapted it for TV).
What does Oprah want?
I can’t answer that question. But I sure wonder about it.
People trust her judgment. They buy the books she chooses for her “book club,” and keep her product preferences in mind when they’re shopping at Wal- Mart.
And it’s a dead cer tainty they’ll tune to ABC on Sunday night for this new movie with a long, unwieldy title devised to make sure everyone knows who thought this material was suitable for us – “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom’s For One More Day.”
Michael Imperioli of “The Sopranos” stars as a down-and-out former baseball player who once made it to the majors for a brief time, but today, in middle age, is a washed-up, depressed alcoholic.
A night-time highway smash-up (reminiscent of the crash that gravely injured the character he played in “The Sopranos”) gives this ballplayer – Charles “Chick” Benetto – opportunity to review his life.
The process involves spending a day with his understanding mother (played by Ellen Burstyn).
During his “one more day” with mom, Chick comes to realize for the first time that she was an angel with a big heart who only wanted what was best for him, and that his dad was a heel who pushed him into playing baseball.
The movie – a tour through a life characterized by death, sadness and regret – is almost unrelentingly depressing and also obvious, which is how Oprah likes her life lessons.
She is a one-woman engine of commerce who merely has to mention in passing an interest in a book, a brand of moisturizer or a spool of dental floss and sales will skyrocket.
She has her own magazine (two actually with the introduction of an Oprah house magazine), her own radio station (on Sirius) and her own channel on YouTube. Her own girls’ school in South Africa, her own charity network and her own Web site (alright, who doesn’t have their own Web site?).
Barack Obama no doubt envisions something similar occurring with his candidacy in the wake of Oprah’s endorsement and her companionship at rallies in three states. (She’s scheduled to appear with him in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday, and Durham, N.H., and Columbia, S.C. on Sunday.)
The problem is: Many people might see her alongside Obama and ask, “Who needs him?”
Oprah is already the leader of the free world. Why don’t we just make it official and vote for her?