Oprah's 'Pay it Forward' show costly for audience: charity doesn't begin on TV

Cheap Oprah! The real estate market bust must be hurting her eighty million dollars in investments too! that is pretty sad of her and around christmas these people spent the money to see her show and that is the thanks they get to be in the audience! Bah Humbug!

The audience and the viewers have missed the point it seems...and for all the naysayers that have written in...Remember, it ain't over till the FAT (skinnny fat again now skinny ) LADY SINGS....
Lets believe in her good works and that she is just getting started..

A thousand bucks says O will take note of this brouhaha and come up with some kind of make-good for the PIFed audience members.

The audience members did all of these good works voluntarily. If I personally couldn't afford to make a trip back to Chicago, I wouldn't come. No one that travels to Chicago to sit in the Oprah audience is needy. The woman has given millions of dollars away to needy people. she is not cheap. How many schools have any of you built for South African girls? how many homes have any of you built for Katrina victims? And of course the tapes will be reviewed before airing due to the sheer number of them. If you want to do a good thing and pay it forward, then just do it without hope for gain or notoriety. These are the foundations of Chritianity.

I cannot believe people are calling Oprah cheap! My goodness have you ever heard of a more generous person in your life? She deserves the millions she has - at least she puts it to good use! She is a wonderful caring human being. What have you done for charity lately?

HI OPHRA i WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THAT EPOSIDE. iT SHOULD PROVE TO BE VERY INTERESTING. AND i would call you anything but cheap for all the good deeds you have done, especcially in Africia where those poor people need all the help they can get. God bless and keep you well. katherine

HI OPRAH i was looking forward to seeing that eposide on t.v. I t should be very interesting to see what people think of who needs the help. Icant believe people are calling you cheap with all the good work you have done. Especially in AFRICIA WHERE THOSE POOR PEOPLE NEED all the help they can get.god bless you and keep well. katherine

How Cheap of her...with all her money...it's nothing but a tax write off for her.I remember that show and I was disappointed for the audience members. Oprah comes off so good and she has done so much good for people and I'm sure she will continue to do good for those in need. But I do know of another side to her. She was in the casino in Atlantic City and she requested a white guy be taken off the gambling table she was at and had a black dealer to take his place. How do I know this? My sister in law worked at the casino this took place at. That has always left me with a bad taste in my mouth about her

It's just not that the audience wanted something, we did all this work for the show and not only were the majority of our videos not shown but we treated rude by staff members and shuttled around like cattle. That's awesome that Oprah does all the charity work in Africa and she is an incredibly generous woman. She gives much more time and money to causes than 75% of celebrities. However, there is no excuse for how poorly everyone was treated on Tuesday.

If you were not there you really have no clue what the audience went thru. So your comments are somewhat mute! It has nothing do do with whether or not people think Oprah is cheap we are all entitled to our opinions.

Who gives a flip if it's the foundation of Christianity... for pete's sakes if the only reason you are doing something to prove what a great Christian you are then you are missing the whole point of charity to begin with. Sometimes folks do things because it's a nice thing to do and it fullfills the need in all of us to do onto others.

I think the idea that the folks at Oprah was a good one, but I think they could have thought out the details a bit better.

And in the defense of the Oprah staff now, they've made phone calls out to everyone who's voiced a complaint or emailed them, during their time off, they're trying to find out what went wrong and what happened. So if you were a member of the audience and you're voicing your opinion on forums or in the media without going to them first or trying to talk to them now, remember they can't fix it or try to fix any issues if you don't tell them about it. Just some thoughts, let's all not forget the good in the challenge that was done!

oprah is a very nice person people but get real it is all donaton stuff this is not all her money my gosh get real its like politics. wake up what a big joke...

How sad that the only reason these people DID any charitable giving was to get recognized on Oprah's show. I'm quite sure that wasn't her intention- what ever happened to doing good things for the satisfaction of knowing you did something good, not just for the fame & recognition? WHAT ABOUT THE THANKS THEY RECEIVED FROM THE PEOPLE WHO RECEIVED THE CHARITY? ISN'T THAT MORE IMPORTANT THAN THANKS FROM OPRAH? IT WAS HER MONEY AND THESE PEOPLE WANT TO BE THANKED FOR DISTRIBUTING IT?? True philanthropists sometimes do charitable things anonymously, not for the pat on the back from others. And no one forced these people to spend a lot of money to go back to the show again, they chose to. If they wanted to go back, great. But if they did it because doing the good deed was self-serving and a bid for fame, then shame on them, they got what they deserved. Kudos to Oprah's staff for recognizing which audience members were trying to hog the spotlight and which were deserving of real thanks.

I'm reading over these comments and I am amazed that some many people of completely missed the point of what happen.
Think about it for a moment. These people were in Oprah's audiance when she made the challange, so they had all traveled to Chicago on their own, of their own choice, to be on her show. They were given tools to work for the studio (A video camera and $1000) and asked to "Go out and film their good deeds"
They did as they were asked, the used the money and their time to do good for their fellow man and sent the tapes back to the studio. They did that for Oprah and charity's sake. They didn't do it for fame, they didn't do it for money, they didn't do it for themselves, they did it for the right reasons.
They got upset when they were asked to come back to Chicago on their own dime and then disappointed to find out that they couldn't keep the cameras that I'm certain the TV viewing audiance THOUGHT they could keep when she gave them out, and that, even though they'd been invited back, their story wouldn't be told.
They did it for all the right reasons, unfortunately the studio tried to cut corners and save a little money. If the issue with the cameras was really the tax burden, they could have given people the choice to keep them or not (The studio likely could have got the cameras free for the advertising spot) They could have told people who's stories were being shown, or arranged a deal with an airline for discount tickets for them. They could have done alot of things, but for the studio (Harpo Productions - Owned by Oprah) money came before charity, or thier audience.

At least some people can understand that all this hype about TV and movie stars, and their supposed greatness and celebrity, is just fake. Please don’t be so naive, those people only want to get richer and richer, and have an ego greater than that of a tyrant. I don’t understand why there is so many people watching those stupid shows, believing that somebody like Oprah is a beautiful person, come on, is just show business. If she wants to do something really good, perhaps she can volunteer for a year's work with the Red Cross in Africa.
In the meantime, is just a race for a TV audience, which in turn is a lot of $$$ for these stars.

Well, that is sad to read. Sure, she does a lot of good. BUT - there has been a definite change in the attitudes too. I used to enjoy watching her show. Now, there is too much self-promotion/awareness (try to find a time she is not acutely aware of where the camera is focused), and too much interruption of the guests.

I am glad she tried to put out the challenge, but I do have to agree that it would have been a minimal decency of Harpo Prod to let them keep the cameras. It can't possibly be that big a deal for taxes or promotional purposes. She already knows the value of publicity, both good and bad.

The last show I watched of hers was a bits-n-pieces show on the road trip she made with her best friend. She seemed amazed by how some folks lived. Welcome to reality!

We lost our home too, right before Katrina, but in the same geographical area. Ours was due to some insider homeowner problems that we could never get anyone to listen to. I wish now we'd taken it all to the media. But, the small guys who can't afford the lawyers get ripped off. Then came Katrina, and all the worries about the displaced people.

I dunno - the school in Africa is a nice thing - but just like so many companies who focus on elsewhere, why not do that HERE? Here, where your job is, your home is (or in her case, homes with an "s").

How about working to see the poorest AMERICAN communities get some educational advantages? Use your financial clout and notoriety to help establish some better/more methods to help more AMERICANS to become homeowners?

I dunno - she does a lot of good, but much of it seems to be only for promotional purposes. I guess that I was raised to believe you should go about doing good because you WANT to, not because you have a video camera with you, recording every moment.

I can understand her needing to document her actions for tax purposes, but not everything needs to be a show.

Happy she made it, but I must say, the chubby Oprah seemed a lot more human, and a lot more fun.

who paid all the taxes on her favorite things show?, or were all those gifts donated by the companies they were made by... She needs all the tax write-offs she can get. write it off Oprah, I have laready written you

AS I read the comments here it amazes me all the people who were not there who wonder why the audience done the challenge. What does it matter why? The fact is they did! And if you were not there at the follow up show you have no idea of the entire fiasco and what really happened, so you opinions on why are mute! Put yourself in the place of 300 kind, giving people who were taken advantage of by Harpo Productions, maybe not intentionally but nonetheless they all feel that way. I see they are calling now to try to make it right. What would make it right for you? The return trip, the rude staff, etc? Giving the audience the camera now seems like a small token of an apology in my eyes! It is a little to late for that now, don't you think? I do agree with the post above from Lori, they should at least be given a chance to make it right.

Scrooge Oprah! Scrooge Oprah! Scrooge Oprah!
Headlines....

OPRAH MAKES WOMEN RETURN CAMERAS USED FOR CHARITABLE ACTS!
Oprah shows her true colors.

I can't believe Oprah made these poor women return their cameras after they went out there and busted their butts for Oprah's show and Oprah's charitable cause.

Some of these women actually paid for their own way to return for another show. lol.
And once there they were treated like dirt.

What a scam! Where was Oprah's charitable heart?

P.S. If you are going to preach charity to the world and gift giving to others then you yourself must possess a charitable heart.....

Oprah's show ropes in millions of viewers yearly by luring them with free promotional gifts and free give-aways that other companies pay for. ( They cost Oprah nothing)
Her Angel network rakes in millions of dollars from her audience members.

Oprah should be ashamed of herself big time. The so called Queen of Charity and Giving turns Ugly Scrooge right before Christmas using her audience members as pawns.

OPRAH GETS PUBLICITY...AUDIENCE MEMBERS GET THE SHATF!

These women deserve their cameras back, and a big apology on TV from Oprah and company AND MORE...