Oprah

Baltimore sports agent, attorney and author Ronald Shapiro has a new book out. He also knows Oprah Winfrey. Sound like a straight shot to the best-seller list? But for this: Shapiro knows the talk queen from back in the days when she was with WJZ-TV and he represented station talent. A Chicago station had just come calling, but Winfrey wasn't sure she should go. "Right now, you're earning $120,000," he recalls telling her.

Tuesday morning on CBS, Oprah Winfrey said that Lance Armstrong "brought it" to the interview she had taped with him the day before. Now that we've seen the interview Thursday night, we know that isn't exactly true. Yes, he admitted to doping and lying and lying and doping and lying and doping some more. But what else could he do? The evidence gathered and the actions taken by the United States Anti-Doping Agency have made it impossible for him to do anything else. But anyone who watched the 90-minute conversation and didn't walk away understanding they were listening to a sociopath who still thinks he's the smartest guy in the culture wasn't paying attention.

WASHINGTON -- It's official: Oprah Winfrey refuses to throw her bonnet into the ring as a presidential candidate, but she's more than happy to push Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois for the job. That's what she told Larry King on his CNN program last week. But if Ms. Winfrey thinks she can defuse the draft-Oprah movement, such as it is, she's probably mistaken. There are forces larger than even Ms. O's popularity at work here. By week's end, for example, Internet sites were offering "Oprah Obama '08!"

Lance Armstrong's well-orchestrated apology tour has brought back a bad memory: all the wasted hours I spent reading his book, "It's Not About the Bike. " I was one of many readers captivated by his dramatic tale: hot-headed young rider gets felled by testicular cancer, and battles back -- against disease and doubters -- to win the Tour de France. It made me a huge fan of Armstrong and the grueling race that takes cyclists around France.  But in light of the overwhelming evidence that Armstrong was not clean when he won the tour a record seven times (and seven straight)

POLO PLAYERS: Lenny and Gail Kaplan's Polo Grill got a surprise visitor last Sunday night -- Oprah Winfrey!Seems the talk show host had a hometown hankerin' for the Polo's tasty fried lobster tail dish and flew here specifically from New York.Joining Oprah for dinner were former "People Are Talking" co-workers Richard Sher (with wife Annabelle), Arleen Weiner and Skip Ball.Oprah, by the way, is back on her diet and never leaves home without her personal chef, Rosie, who got a table-side visit from Polo exec chef Harold Marmulstein to explain how to make Op's favorite dish.

OPRAH WINFREY will be in town to shoot her talk show from Baltimore's Convention Center June 19.Winfrey's broadcast from the Big Crab coincides with the Broadcasting, Promotion and Marketing Executives Conference taking place there. So far, no confirmation on the topic of the show, so stay tuned.THE LORD BALTIMORE HOTEL is hosting a showcase for government and military planners on June 27. Coordinated by events planner Joni Carter, guest of honor and keynote speaker for the event is Adrian Cronauer, the author and inspiration for "Good Morning Vietnam," the movie in which Robin Williams portrayed the veteran.

Oprah Winfrey is about to take on Barbara Walters as queen of the celebrity specials at ABC.ABC will air at least four hour-long segments of "Oprah: Behind the Scenes," a series of prime-time interview specials, the network confirmed yesterday. Producer is Harpo Productions, Ms. Winfrey's Chicago-based company.First up, on May 19 during the ratings "sweeps": Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn on location of their new flick, "Death Becomes Her"; Dustin Hoffman on the set of his new movie, "Hero," and rocker Michael Bolton backstage at a concert.

Oprah Winfrey announced her latest book club selection yesterday -- but the closely held secret had already been revealed to readers of The Sun.After "The Oprah Winfrey Show" sent out a press release Monday announcing that the book for her wildly popular book club was "B-I-G big" -- a hefty 740 pages -- Sun staff writer Laura Lippman wondered if this was enough information to beat Oprah to the punch. A Nexis computer search for "740 pages" and "book" came up with only one possible contender, "Songs in Ordinary Time," the third novel by Mary McGarry Morris.

The top-rated "Oprah Winfrey Show" starts its new season tomorrow and it's especially worth noting since she reportedly now will do "softer" topics.The subjects of her first four new shows are in, and the titles don't seem different in tone or attitude from what she has been doing right along. Tomorrow, she will pursue "What I Want My Spouse to Learn." Wednesday, it's "How to Stop the Gossip," Thursday, "Family of Phobics" And on Friday, "How to Get Something for Nothing."

LOS ANGELES -- ABC, the network that hit ratings gold with "The Jacksons" miniseries, has landed the real Michael Jackson for his first live TV interview. And to make it an even bigger event, the interviewer is going to be Oprah Winfrey."He's going to be open to discussing everything . . . and, no, he is not getting paid for this," ABC Entertainment President Ted Harbert said yesterday, announcing the 90-minute interview scheduled to air Feb. 10.Harbert said no guarantees were made to Jackson, and that he talked to Jackson's representatives about the desirability of appearing in a time slot following "Home Improvement," one of the network's highest rated shows.

When Lance Armstrong met last month with his own personal Javert , Travis Tygart of the anti-doping agency, he said after the frustrating meeting, "You don't hold the keys to my redemption. "Only one person holds the keys to my redemption, and that's me," he said, according to reporting in The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Armstrong was vacationing in Hawaii over Christmas, where Oprah Winfrey has a home, and it was then that she reached out to him. They met for lunch, and he agreed to a come-clean interview with her. Upon reflection, it appears, Mr. Armstrong decided that Oprah holds the key to his redemption.

The question now is: who's getting more out of Lance Armstrong's doping confession, the disgraced cyclist himself or Oprah? I say that because Oprah Winfrey -- the Doyenne of Drama, the High Priestess of Pathos -- was busy Tuesday flacking her big interview with Armstrong, which will air on her OWN Network Thursday and Friday. (Yes, the interview was so lengthy, Ope said, that it will now air over two days. “Just wrapped with @lancearmstrong More than 2 ½ hours. He came READY!

I like Oprah Winfrey, and I was happy to see her Tuesday morning on CBS with her old pal, Gayle King, hitting on all cylinders as they hyped the gate for her interview with Lance Armstrong. She promised King, Charlie Rose and everyone else on the last-place morning show set, "You will be satisfied," by the interview that airs Thursday night on the OWN cable channel. "You will come away understanding that he brought it," she said, though she did hedge on the  specific extent of his confession versus her expectations.

When Oprah Winfrey likes something, she makes no bones about letting the entire world know. Famous for being an ardent dog lover, the TV and magazine queen gave her blessing again this year for the art of a Howard County pet-portrait studio in the December issue of O the Oprah Magazine on her annual list of recommended gifts. Wagging Tail Portraits received Winfrey's nod for the second consecutive year, but with a twist: It was Natalie Kendall who created the digital art for the new line of greeting cards made from mom Sherry Kendall's hand-painted portraits, scoring the mother-daughter duo a shared spot on Oprah's Favorite Things 2012.

"The Other Wes Moore," a book written by Baltimore native Wes Moore, is currently being developed into a feature film, with Oprah Winfrey attached as executive producer, and a script penned by John Ridley (writer of "Three Kings" and "Red Tails"), according to Moore. Although Moore won't be heavily involved in the film's production, he has one request — that the film be shot in Baltimore. "They could easily do this in another country," he said, "in a place where film production is cheap, like Toronto.

Danielle DiFerdinando's resume was already packed. The Ellicott City native's handbags had been stocked by the likes of Bergdorf Goodman, sold from Fifth Avenue to Tokyo, and carried by tastemakers like Rachel Zoe and Anna Dello Russo. But last October, DiFerdinando's handbag line, Danielle Nicole, received its biggest endorsement yet: Oprah Winfrey's seal of approval. She chose DiFerdinando's Sydney Shopper, a cognac-and-gold reversible tote that comes with a removable wristlet, for her O!

For stations in Baltimore and across the country, Monday is the first day of the post-Oprah Winfrey era. Llike their counterparts nationwide, stations here will be trying new and (allegedly_ improved shows to grab a piece of the huge audience that the queen of daytime television held for 25 years. Baltimore's late-afternoon TV landscape will include a new talk show featuring what syndicators describe as a more personal Anderson Cooper, as well a new time slot for Ellen DeGeneres' "Ellen" at 4 p.m weekdays on WBAL — Winfrey's old Baltimore home.

Talk-show empress Oprah Winfrey has moved the book market before -- but now the book market is moving for her.Publishing house HarperCollins was all set to release author Stephen M. Pollan's financial advice book "Die Broke" in January. Then Winfrey called.Winfrey, whose "book club" has become a phenomenal force in the publishing business, making best-sellers of eight books so far -- said she wanted to feature Pollan and showcase his book. The catch was, she wanted to do it all by yesterday.

The mother and daughter relax on a cushy sofa, laughing quietly as they speak of their unusual yet utterly normal life together. "Sometimes I get a little frustrated [with you], don't I, Talynn?" the mom asks. "Yes, but we always work it out," the 9-year-old replies, leaping onto Traci Lucien and applying a huge hug. "Nobody's taking my Mommy. She's tooken. We're together forever!" Talynn exclaims. It's an especially tender moment, considering the two met just two years ago. That was when Lucien, a single professional who was then 49, adopted Talynn (pronounced Tay-LINN )

Stedman Graham is one self-help author who practices what he preaches almost every day of his life. If he didn't, he would likely be lost in one of the largest and most overwhelming shadows in American life. Graham, known to millions as "Oprah Winfrey's boyfriend," was in town last week promoting his 11th book, "Identity: Your Passport to Success," a guide to creating your own identity rather than letting others define and limit who and what you can imagine yourself being.