The Oprah Winfrey Network Is Here

As the world battled its New Year’s Eve hangover, Oprah Winfrey celebrated 2011 by launching her highly anticipated Oprah Winfrey Network, or OWN. The Discovery Health Channel officially turned into OWN today at noon, the New York Times reports. Winfrey welcomed viewers and called it “very exciting” to be “kicking off the next chapter of my life with all of you” before previewing some of the network’s upcoming shows.

A few of those: a show about celebrities’ life lessons, one about the sex lives of couples, and a competition searching for Oprah’s “Next TV Star.” But none of them will premiere until Monday—this weekend will be a perpetual highlight real, enticing viewers to come back. And the network won’t really come into its own (har, har) until the fall, when Winfrey ends her daytime talk show, the New York Post notes, although 12 shows will premiere this month. Expect to see reruns of repackaged Oprah shows, a morning show from Oprah’s BFF Gayle King, and a cooking show when the network gets up and running.
(More Gayle King stories.)