Ellen, Dr. Oz Likely Candidates to Replace Oprah

When Oprah Winfrey leaves her post as queen of the daytime talkers to spend more time with her OWN network, the contenders to fill her time slot are most likely Ellen DeGeneres and Dr. Oz.

DeGeneres and Oz both have contracts that are set to expire in 2011, when Winfrey plans to step down. Both, too, have content that is deemed appropriate to all audiences and advertisers, unlike other daytime shows like The Maury Povich Show and The Jerry Springer Show, the Los Angeles Times points out.

Oprah’s show has suffered from the same turbulence that has struck the rest of broadcast TV, including falling ratings as audiences head to cable, the internet, and their DVRs for viewing. TV stations, due to serious drops in ad revenues, have not been able to pay the enormous licensing fees that they have in the past.

DeGeneres’s show currently pulls fewer than half as many viewers as Oprah’s. DeGeneres is making her debut on American Idol as a judge in January, which could help boost the profile of her show.

It is possible that the ABC-owned stations that carry Oprah could begin airing their local newscasts at 4pm, thus eliminating the need to pay licensing fees for the hour and giving the stations more local ad time to sell.

Derek Baine, an SNL Kagan analyst, says it is unclear whether TV stations will be willing to risk sinking big license fees into a new show.

Disney/ABC Television Group president Anne Sweeney expresses confidence that a strong replacement will be found for Oprah’s show, saying (via Reuters), “I think it’s going to be really interesting to see who comes forward and who emerges during this time as the next great idea, personality and then the next great piece of programing.”