How CBS landed Oprah’s Harry-and-Meghan interview
Q: It seems that Oprah Winfrey has lots of television deals that don’t involve CBS. How did it get her interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle? – Adam Rhodes, via e-mail
A: Through old-fashioned deal-making and the right price being paid (estimated to be in the $7 million ballpark). Winfrey reportedly wanted the program to be a broadcast-network event, rather than selling it to a cable or streaming outlet. (Having it scheduled after “60 Minutes” is said to have been a factor.) That also gave CBS a leg up for the next day’s “CBS This Morning,” which offered footage from the interview that had not been seen in the primetime special – and, not surprisingly, boosted that morning show to a rare ratings win over rivals “Good Morning America” and “Today.” Another significant deal-sweetener was that CBS became the seller of the special to other networks internationally including England’s ITV, which showed it one night after CBS did. And as other networks used clips from the show on their newscasts, the CBS name was seen virtually everywhere – also quite significant.
Q: What has happened with “Big Sky”? It seemed like it vanished again almost as soon as it returned. – Christy Scott, Bend, Ore.
A: Part of that owes to the limited number of episodes that were ordered by ABC. There were 10 initially, broken into multiple-episode arcs (which always was David E. Kelley’s structural plan for the show), then six more were ordered ... so seven remain to be shown at this point.
Parceling them out this way may bode well for the future of the series, since it has kept people talking about it, not a bad thing when a network is making renewal decisions. The next return of “Big Sky” is just around the corner, since the documentary series “Soul of a Nation” – which has been in that slot since the start of March – airs its finale April 6.