When Oprah Winfrey bid adieu to her studio and at-home audience of sobbing, enraptured fans back in the spring, she didn't say she was leaving television altogether. Could the American viewing public really let her? Of course not. more ›

Not long ago, Conan O'Brien announced that he wanted a street in LA named after him. His plea came about after his long-time nemesis, Oprah Winfrey, had her name permanently lent to a road in Chicago. As part of his request, O'Brien even identified his street of choice: West Raymer Street in Van Nuys. more ›

Conan O'Brien gets what he wants. But he doesn't have a street named after him. Not yet at least. Thursday night he showed up with a sign and a call for justice. After all, Oprah has a street in Chicago named after her. "I've been in Los Angeles for 22 months," Conan said. "Isn't it time I got a street named after me?" more ›

At 3 p.m. local time today, the last hour of a 25-year-journey begins, as Oprah Winfrey ends her self-titled afternoon talk show. While this super special last season has pulled out all the stops and is playing every schmaltzy, tear-duct activating card in the producers' hands, some of the best memories of Oprah's show are the ones that evoke smiles, and, more importantly laughter. more ›

Oprah Winfrey's new OWN network, headquartered in Miracle Mile, will launch on January 1st. Though the big premiere is only 11 days away, Winfrey has yet to hunker down in the Los Angeles offices which has raised questions about the viability of the channel, according to the LA Times. The channel, aimed at helping people "live their best lives," has suffered from a host of challenges including three years of launch delays more ›

America is the land of opportunity, and here in Los Angeles County we have one woman who is ready to take any she can get. Nadya Suleman, the 33-year-old single mother of 14--including those headline-making octuplets born a week ago--has a proposition for the world: Make her a star...and pay for her children. more ›

The much-maligned, oft-hated James Frey, author of the fictional memoir A Million Little Pieces and the man most well-known for being dissed on national TV by Oprah Winfrey, is back. While many now agree that blame for the whole Frey-affair rests with both Frey and his publisher, Frey got the bad end of the deal and has been vilified ever since. This time, he's sticking with fiction instead of peddling fiction-as-truth. His new novel, Bright Shiny Morning, is about LA and he's signing books tomorrow night (with Josh Kilmer Purcell and Black Tide) at the Whisky a Go Go in a joint event with Book Soup and Vroman's. more ›

Stevie Wonder was the first of two surprises led to the Pauley Pavilion floor by Michelle Obama at yesterday's Get Out the Vote for Obama Rally. After a short explanation of his history as a Clinton supporter turned Obama believer, Wonder led the crowd in a rather difficult vocal exercise based on the candidate's name (see video below). more ›

"If Barack Obama was a state," California's First Lady said, "he'd be California." more ›

LAist News Editor Andy Sternberg is inside the Barack Obama rally which is scheduled to kick off at 1:30 this afternoon at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. more ›

OK so now Oprah wants her own network and she's going to get it. Remember that she is one of the four founders of the Oxygen Network, you know, that paragon of programming that now includes: The Bad Girls Club, Snapped, and the Oxygen Original movie Husband for Hire. Now she's distancing herself from that loathsome swamp of bad TV because of her new altruistic endeavor, the modestly named OWN (The Oprah Winfrey Network) which replaces the Discovery Health Channel. Will the Big O stay with this for the long haul or just until something else, like a Stedman replacement, gets her attention? more ›

This weekend marks the height of the "celebrity" dog-and-pony shows for the Democrats: Hillary Clinton brought daughter Chelsea (we wondered where she was) and her momma Dorothy Rodham on the campaign trail in Iowa. And Barack Obama brought out the big gun -- Oprah Winfrey -- to Iowa and South Carolina. But Republicans have friends in Hollywood, too. Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, also has his own celebrity endorsement: Chuck Norris. Yup. Walker... more ›

Last minute plans? Try some culture via ExperienceLA's calendar. Or try our picks for tonight: Canon at Union Station, Pee Wee's Big Adventure at Angel City Drive-In, or Tonight in Rock. Toady, Oprah Winfrey held a swanky fundraiser for Barack Obama south of Santa Barbara expecting to raise $3-million. Hot chick boards Southwest plane, finds her seat, gets kicked off for being too sexy. The LA Triathlon is tomorrow morning. Find out if you'll... more ›

8:00pm Going Back to New Orleans UPN/KCOP - Music icon Deacon John Moore documents the unique culture of the Big Easy. 9:00pm Against the Tide: The Battle for New Orleans CNBC - The business side of the New Orleans recovery effort. 10:00pm Still Waiting: Life After Katrina PBS/KOCE An African American/Creole family returns to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, hoping to hold on to their bayou culture. 10:00pm DIY to the Rescue: Katrina Rebuild... more ›

A Word Or 46: The Oscars blew its big TV wad all over the place so let's get on with our lives. The Daily Show and Colbert Report are back from hiatus -- did they think they were doing the Oscars again? What's their excuse? Lots of new TV tonight. Tonight - Monday - February 26th, 2007 Lakers @ Jazz (KCAL, 6:00 p.m.) Bobcats @ Clippers (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) How I Met Your Mother/The... more ›

Goodbye O.C., a shame that the show is better now than it has been for the last couple seasons. Hey, who is the amazing Thai girl that was in Lost last night? Lots of new shows tonight, am going to have to order that second Tivo. more ›

Look what the fucking cat dragged in. All five commissioners of the FCC will be at USC today and El Segundo High tonight (addresses and times after the jump) discussing media ownership. But LAist believes there's some unfinished business that the public needs to press these speech nannies on. A little more than two years ago Howard Stern, who at the time was the #1 morning radio personality here in LA was fined by... more ›

NPR broadcast a story the other day about the new great white hope of the GOP: black evangelicals. It seems that many of the reverent and religious in the African-American community are paying attention to the morals and family values stressed by conservatives. Can you guess which issue (that dare not speak its name) is top on their list? Some black affinity for the GOP is understandable. Law and order would do wonders for... more ›

Paramount Pictures announced this week that they are ending their 14-year relationship with Tom Cruise and his Cruise/Wagner production company. The relationship between Cruise's production company and Paramount disintegrated into name-calling after Sumner Redstone, chairman of Paramount parent company Viacom Inc., said Cruise's recent behavior, such as jumping on Oprah Winfrey's couch and pushing his Scientology agenda, was "creative suicide." Redstone said such displays cost his studio up to $150 million in lost ticket... more ›

Oprah Winfrey and her friend Gayle King want to be clear: they’re not gay. - MSNBC more ›

In 1999, Los Angeles writer Janet Fitch's first novel White Oleander became a national bestseller, aided in part by its selection as a title read by Oprah Winfrey's influential book club. Deemed an "overnight success" at the age of 43, Janet obtained fame and recognition after spending more than 20 years quietly honing her craft as a writer. White Oleander showed readers unique and underexposed aspects of life in the county of Los Angeles as Astrid, the novel's heroine, made her way through the area's foster care system while her mother, Ingrid, served time in prison for murdering a feckless boyfriend. more ›

Oprah Winfrey closed her broadcast today with a plea for everybody to stop calling Katrina survivors "refugees." She reminded us, "They are Americans." more ›

This year, the great and noble Mr. Blackwell (as far as we know, he has no proper first name) has decreed that the worst dressed woman from 2004 was none other than the lovely and talented Nicollette Sheridan. LAist treats this announcement with great disdain. Miss Sheridan rarely wears clothing in the first place, so how can she even qualify for such a dubious honor? The same can be said for one Paris Hilton, who frequently flaunts her "ladyflower" at pubic, er, public functions and therefore, by our standards, should not be eligible for this list. more ›