OWN

I have a love/hate relationship with Oprah - it's been that way for years. There are times when I think she is brilliant and there are times I swear that if she doesn't stop telling me what to do I will never watch her again. But I always go back; I dare say many of you do too.  Over time I've come to understand she means well but is sometimes (OK, maybe more than sometimes) out of touch with the general public. I can live with that when she keeps giving me what I want; and that is the opportunity to make fun of Tom Cruise, drool over John Travolta and stoop to wondering who Jennifer Aniston is dating. Tell me you don't get just a little kick out of it too. You know you do.

So let's talk about this new network she just launched - OWN. I hear many of you complaining about or making fun of the name, but seriously, if you could do something that cool with your initials, wouldn't you? If you try to tell me you wouldn't guess what I think you are? A giant liar. We all have that tiny bit of ego in us that wants a few minutes (or more) in the spotlight and if we somehow found ourselves in Oprah's shoes I think it might suddenly be a little harder to sling mud. Think about it. I'm by no means her biggest fan, but I get it. She can do this so why the hell not?

When she launched her XM channel I was right there tuning in to every show. Some of them I still love and some of them wore on me, just like any show can - not solely because Oprah touched it. However, these days I walk almost everywhere, and we don't have XM in the house, so I rarely get a chance to listen. And I had nearly forgotten about OWN until last Sunday night. It was 10:00 and I was headed to bed and I checked facebook one last time. My friend Karen had posted about OWN and I was immediately sucked in. I said I wouldn't be, but I was. I quickly looked up our local channel and started watching. Master Class with Diane Sawyer was on and who doesn't like Diane Sawyer? Master Class ended and here came Oprah with an hour long show telling me all about her network and the new shows. Can you hear the sound of me getting sucked in just a little further? I think I finally went to bed around midnight.

All week I've tuned in an hour or two a day and for the most part I've liked it but I am surprised by one thing: they don't seem prepared for a full launch. There are many gaps in the schedule where they've just dropped in old (really old and really bad) movies and reruns of Trading Spaces. Really? One of my favorite shows on OWN is Season 25 Oprah Behind the Scenes, and I am beyond impressed with her staff, their creativity and their organization. Aren't many of these people the same people contributing to OWN? With Oprah's insistence on only the highest quality I am shocked the schedule isn't completely full, especially since she told me herself during that hour of "Welcome to OWN!" that the network is 24/7 of original shows. Not so far and it kind of takes the wind out of her sails for me. I'm sure it will eventually be everything she's claiming it to be now, but it's not quite there yet. Already this morning there was a marathon re-running of the first three episodes of Behind the Scenes, and they're playing episode 3 over and over again. Catching Liza Minelli smoking in her dressing room was funny the first time...the first time.

I'll keep watching and will settle on a few shows I really like.  For now it's Behind the Scenes, Enough Already!, and Master Class.  I tried Your Own Show last night and it drove me nuts.  If the 10 finalists are the best they could find out of 1000's I'm not impressed.  I'd rather Oprah do another season of her reality show about paying it forward and giving - remember it on ABC?  You have your own network Oprah, bring it back!  I'm pretty sure I'll pass on the cooking shows and I don't think I care to see The Judds, O'Neils, Shania or Sarah turn their lives around.  But that's the beauty of TV - I have a choice and so far Oprah has given me a few I really like.  Check it out and stop making fun of the call letters.  If you could "OWN" and run your own network, you know you would.  Yes you would.  Stop lying.  I mean it.