Oprah’s Final Show Attracts Largest Audience In 17 Years

In the end, it was only “Oprah & ‘The Ugly Cry…’

Oprah Winfrey hung up her microphone as the undisputed Queen of Talk on Wednesday, wrapping up her nationally-syndicated Oprah Winfrey Show after 25 seasons. And what a send-off it was. Preliminary figures show yesterday’s finale scored O her biggest audience in 17 years. The episode delivered a 13.3 household rating in the nations metered markets, The Nielsen Co. said Thursday. Oprah hasn’t seen an audience that big since Feb. 1994. Thats when an episode called People Shed Their Disguises got a 13.4 rating.

It has been a big final week for The Oprah Show. The show more than doubled its recent averages on Monday and Tuesday, too.

Metered market ratings measure about 56% of households in the nation and cant be translated into audience figures. The official viewer count for the Oprah finale wont be available for about another two weeks.

Meanwhile, Oprah might have signed off, but the daytime talk show queen’s never too busy to chat with her fans. During her last show on Wednesday, Oprah told her audience that they could still keep in touch with her by e-mailing her at oprah@oprah.com.

So give Lady O a shout out; she just might write you back too!