Oprah's Big Give

The show is the first prime time reality series by Harpo Productions, and focuses on 10 contestants as they travel across the country with a large sum of money, and try to help people in unique ways, and participate in a series of challenges in order to become America's greatest unknown philanthropist.[1]

In each episode, contestants travel to a different U.S. city and are given some amount of money and an assignment. Sometimes the contestants are paired or grouped, and sometimes they may act as individuals. In some cities, contestants are assigned to help a particular individual or organization, while in others they are simply told to find people in need. The contestants then have the opportunity to raise additional money in order to reach their goals. At the end of each episode, the panel of judges selects one person to go home.

At the end of the season, it was revealed to the winner that they won $1 million ($500,000 for themselves, and $500,000 to give away).

The following table shows the contestants, along with the partner they had or team they participated on, as well as when they were eliminated.

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, $10,000 in seed money was received by ABC affiliate WPTA, which was then given to local trail organizations. A community celebration was held April 12, 2008, when it was revealed that the total donations had topped $1 million.[15]

In Orlando, Florida, over $50,000 has been donated to a mentoring program for at-risk youth, in conjunction with a charitable program from ABC affiliate WFTV, that was inspired by Oprah's Big Give.[16]

In Fresno, California, $10,000 was donated by the ABC affiliate KFSN on behalf of Oprah's Big Give, and turned over to CalFire for installing smoke detectors in rural county homes that do not have any, to save lives. This was in a response to the death of two young girls who died in a house fire in 2006.

The program has also been criticized. Hollywood Reporter described it as a phony and self-aggrandizing promotional vehicle for Oprah.[17] Tom Shales of the Washington Post described the show as having an "unsavory aura of exploitation" and as being trite and predictable.[18] Rick Kushman of the Daily Herald found the show boring, and worried that it could serve to make viewers feel "cynical about charity," which would in turn make them feel guilty.[19] Variety's Brian Lowry called the show "a reality-TV Frankenstein, birthed from parts of other programs"[20] and its judges "arbitrary,"[20] and generally found that the philanthropic theme of the show was inconsistent with the competitive reality genre. However, Lowry also recognized the show's "emotional appeal"[20] and conceded that the show's heart is "in the right place."[20]

Oprah's Big Give began airing on Wednesday, June 18, 2008, on TV3 in New Zealand at 7:30 PM. It also began airing on August 5, 2008, on NTV7 in Malaysia at 8:30 pm. The show premiered in the Philippines on August 25, 2008, on the cable channel Lifestyle Network at 9:00 pm. In the UK, the show made its debut on October 10, 2008 on Diva TV. In Belgium, the show began airing on September 2008 on Vitaya. In Hong Kong, the show starts airing on ATV World starting February 7, 2009. In Australia it airs on channel 10 starting on March 22, 2009.

• Official Website (via Internet Archive)
• Oprah's Big Give at IMDb
• Oprah's Big Give at TV.com