New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sat down with Oprah Winfrey on her show Oprah’s Next Chapter, and had some surprisingly complimentary comments for President Obama. “Those who underestimate Barack Obama, underestimate him at their own peril. He’s as good a politician as I’ve ever seen,” Christie gushed. “I think he’s very charismatic. And I think he’s genuine. I think what he says he believes, he believes. That’s a very dangerous politician.”

It’s a pivotal day following a pivotal summer for Glenn Beck. Today, the former Fox News personality debuts his two-hour show — rather appropriately titled Glenn Beck — on his subscriber-based, online-only network, GBTV.

Those familiar with Beck’s Fox News show will recognize certain features, like the chalkboard that has become nearly synonymous with the controversial host and author’s special brand of infotainment and activism. And, as the The Wall Street Journal notes, the new show and burgeoning network could translate into even more dollar signs for Beck as he continues to delight and ignite his audience.

Wednesday night, Bill O’Reilly focused his attention on Oprah Winfrey‘s struggling OWN network and on its hope that actress, TV personality and prolific blogger Rosie O’Donnell might be able to lend it a dose of star power and a healthy boost in viewership with The Rosie Show. He brought on marketing strategist Laura Ries and New York Post reporter Sean Daly to discuss.

Ries agreed with O’Reilly assessment that O’Donnell is a risky choice for the network given she has “staked a claim in far-left territory” throughout her career, but that it’s a risk the flagging network has to take in the hopes of injecting some sort of interest into its programming. Daly weighed in, opining that the network would have to keep “a tight rein” on the actress, which was met with more than a smidge of skepticism by O’Reilly.

Monday’s exclusive report by Mediaite’s Colby Hall, revealing the deal to bring Fox News executive Joel Cheatwood to Glenn Beck‘s production company, Mercury Radio Arts, indicated, as Hall put it, that Beck has “perhaps much bigger and more innovative plans than anyone had previously thought.” That report has set off a storm of speculation: what is Beck planning?

In The New York Times, Brian Stelter envisions Beck following the Oprah Winfrey model, beginning his own OWN:

Right now, the annual Press Tour is going on for the Television Critics Association and this year is the first appearance by OWN (non-coincidentally, it’s also the first year OWN’s existed). That brought Oprah Winfrey and, if your favorite TV critics seem out of sorts this morning, give them a break.

Was anything else on? The debut of Oprah Winfrey‘s new Oprah Winfrey Network–OWN–was the curiosity of the New Year’s weekend, attracting respectable ratings, but making monster increases versus the cable channel OWN replaced, Discovery Health.

When OWN launched at noon on New Year’s Day, a preview show posted a .7 household rating, according to Nielsen figures reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Now that we are just one day removed from the much buzzed about debut of Oprah Winfrey‘s new network OWN, it’s time for the critical reviews to start rolling in. Already one critique is that the network is a “missed opportunity”, but some other early reviews are much more positive: “OWN is a place where [...]

Amid the football and hangovers of New Year’s Day comes a bit of television history: the launch of Oprah Winfrey’s brand new network, OWN, which began operations today.

Writing on The Root, Jennifer Mabry sums up her feelings about the Oprah Winfrey Network in one word: “disappointed.”

HLN’s red-hot morning host Robin Meade will pick up an additional and ultra high profile gig in the New Year: she’s helping launch Oprah Winfrey‘s OWN.

The Oprah Winfrey Network debuts January 1 amid great secrecy–and some reports of last-minute shakeups behind the scenes–and the first big project is a series of “Ask Oprah’s All Stars” specials, beginning January 2 at 8 p.m. The specials, moderated by Meade and Oprah BFF Gayle King, will serve to introduce OWN’s roster of stars:

The New York Times devoted a lengthy Sunday feature today to the upcoming January 1 launch of Oprah Winfrey‘s new cable TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Winfrey is the first ever talk show host to go on to launch her own network, and thus is attracting plenty of skepticism from critics about whether the network can be as successful as her long-running ABC talk show.

Perhaps inspired by all the ‘bitch’-ing that’s been going on network TV these days courtesy of Joy Behar, Oprah Winfrey told the audience at Maria Shriver’s Women’s Conference in California yesterday that there will be no “tearing people down” on her new OWN network.

Though Oprah Winfrey is currently filming the final season of her syndicated talk show (she tapes the last episode, which will air on September 9, 2011, next May), the Queen of All Media will not go gentle into any good night. Her new TV network, OWN, is launching on January 1, 2011—and in addition to having complete creative control over the channel, Winfrey has committed to appearing on OWN for 70 hours each year.

Oprah Winfrey will inevitably be remembered in totality and not for specific highlights. But with that said, here’s a look at the top ten Oprah moments of the last 23 years, which was harder to come by than you might think mostly due to the fact YouTube has only been around for the last four of those years. Nevertheless! Here are some outstanding highlights.

The New York Times is reporting that Oprah Winfrey will announce tomorrow that she is ending her syndicated talk show in 2011 at the end of her 25th season.

Earlier this month Nikki Finke reported that Oprah would close up shop and move to cable in early 2011. It looks like she knew what she was talking about.

Earlier this morning there was speculation that Glenn Beck was the new Oprah Winfrey of the book world, due to his ability to affect the sales of fiction thrillers. Well if Nikki Finke is right Winfrey may be contemplating a move into Glenn Beck territory, namely, cable TV.