This is a gamble I'm taking.
Oprah Winfrey faces a nervous Christmas as she plans for the launch of her new TV network on 1 January (11) - because the ambitious project could be the worst mistake ever.
The TV icon is set to shut down work on her daily talk show to concentrate on running her own network, OWN, after taking advice from her closest friends - but now she's having second thoughts and fears the project will be a big flop.
She tells Parade magazine, "I was questioning, 'Why don't I build a boat and sail around the world? Why don't I learn French and find a nice little house in Provence?' I could see myself bicycling with my baguettes and the whole thing.
"But I talked it over with my friends, and they all said, 'You're not going to be happy doing nothing.'"
So she started work on creating her own TV network, which launches in America on New Year's Day.
Winfrey insists at least she's going in with her eyes wide open and the right sentiment for modern TV viewers.
She adds, "I'm concerned about the bigger overall picture: my belief that people are basically good and want to see the good in them reflected through their experiences and the shows that they watch. This is a gamble I'm taking.
"I believe that the banal state of television, the kind of insipid space that we're in - that you can have as many channels as we have and not find anything that really interests you - means that, to a great extent, we've lost our way."
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