Oprah Watch MMIX: Maybe Sam Rubin Knows

The latest "will she or won't she" speculation about whether Oprah Winfrey will leave her syndicated talkshow got me thinking about the one and only major scoop that KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin (almost) recorded.

In 1997, Rubin reported on the Tribune-owned station that "sources close to Winfrey" had told him that the talk diva would retire. Twelve years later, she's still there -- and even if she jumps ship this time, will run until at least August 2011.

In the parlance of the trade, we call that "whoops." (It also served as fodder for a 1999 column about the general stupidity of most entertainment reporting on television that holds up pretty well, if I must say so myself.)

CBS CEO Leslie Moonves gave the standard "We fully hope she is coming back" response on CBS' earnings call, meaning, as usual, that nobody really knows what Oprah is going to do until Oprah firmly decides it -- including, perhaps, Oprah herself. Still, in the past Winfrey's recognition that her syndicated show is the mother ship from which the rest of her empire flows has ultimately prevailed. (The Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes has a pretty good take on the chain of events behind this latest flurry of Oprah-mania.) 

Sooner or later, of course, someone will say "Oprah's quitting" and be right. To quote the song, maybe this time, they'll get lucky -- unlike poor Sam.