By Nicole Marie Melton

It's no secret that Oprah Winfrey's television network OWN has had a slow start since its launch in January. As executives continue to try and boost ratings, they're looking to cater more to an African-American audience.

OWN executives came to this conclusion after seeing the explosive success of the OWN reality show, "Sweetie Pies" which premiered in October. The show, which follows St. Louis' iconic and wildly popular soul food restaurant, enjoys an average viewership of 418,000, almost double the network's primetime audience of 216,000.

"Anytime you have a program that pops like 'Sweetie Pies' did, you start looking at what drove it," network president Erik Logan told Adweek. "We saw that the African-American audience really had a connection with that show. We're going to look at ways to nurture and grow that."

Logan added that OWN executives will be taking the success of "Sweetie Pies" into consideration when deciding on future programming and pitching to new advertisers. If OWN does begin to cater to the African-American audience more specifically, it will be a first for Oprah, who rose to fame by building a wide, diverse fan base.

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I do love the "Welcome to Sweetie Pie's" show and now hooked on it, as before I found out about the show, I never had a reason before to even watch the OWN network. But I do see now that they have another reality show called "Party at Tiffany's" about an African American young woman who has opened her own cupcake shop/party venue for little girls. I've been watching a few episodes and while the concept is interesting, (it's like Buddy Baker meets Roble the Chef), I'm having a little trouble getting into it like how I'm so into Sweetie Pie's. I don't know, maybe its just me.

I know I may hurt a lot of feelings when I say this, but IT'S ABOUT F-CKING TIME!

That crap she was trying is not going to work with ANY demographic.

Oprah and her team should have done their homework. A lot of the new start up networks tend to cater to the African-American audience when they first start. WB, CW, Fox and UPN all did it and it worked for them. After they made their big bucks, they started changing the prgramming up.

Also, why not cater to African-American audiences? A new study just came out that says that we watch more television than any other race. That may not be a good thing, but she is trying to build a brand and her network.

I dont get this catering to a race stuff...EITHER WAY.... if a show is good, I will watch it regardless of the color of the people that are in it... How does one "target" or "cater" to a race on tv anyway? Adverts, yes, but actual shows??

I dont like this "target" idea for the soul fact it keeps segregating us as races, instead of human beings...

tinaz said:

I dont get this catering to a race stuff...EITHER WAY.... if a show is good, I will watch it regardless of the color of the people that are in it... How does one "target" or "cater" to a race on tv anyway? Adverts, yes, but actual shows??

I dont like this "target" idea for the soul fact it keeps segregating us as races, instead of human beings...

I agree with you completely. It's relatively easy to cater a show to a particular ethnic group. There are certain types of shows that appeal to certain ethnic groups. It usually is based on the cast of a show and which actors appeal to certain ethnic groups.

As for OWN, I don't know who their target audience was when they had programming that was all over the place. You go from Chaz Bono to Ryan and Tatum O'neal to Sweetie Pie's. No one wants to watch the boring lives of these C-List celebrities.

I hope when Janurary comes along, and the new programming starts on there, that a lot of the shows are better. Oprah's new show looks really great. It's definitely something I would be interested in watching. Everything is better than that damn Life Class crap.

I also don't understand why she won't air OLD shows? I would love to see the shows from the 80s that she used to do. Especially those with performances (Prince, Luther, Janet, Bono, etc.).

Janet wasn't on Oprah till the 90's. Reruns sound like a great idea too though I don't see that happening till later on.

alphastreet said:

Janet wasn't on Oprah till the 90's. Reruns sound like a great idea too though I don't see that happening till later on.

Yes she was. She performed when she was promoting The Velvet Rope. She performed "Together Again" and "Got Til It's Gone."

Why start now? F.O.

Graycap23 said:

Why start now? F.O.

She saw how well Welcome To Sweetie Pie's did and realized that she could possibly have a successful network if she had more programming aimed at African Americans.

daPrettyman said:

tinaz said:

I dont get this catering to a race stuff...EITHER WAY.... if a show is good, I will watch it regardless of the color of the people that are in it... How does one "target" or "cater" to a race on tv anyway? Adverts, yes, but actual shows??

I dont like this "target" idea for the soul fact it keeps segregating us as races, instead of human beings...

I agree with you completely. It's relatively easy to cater a show to a particular ethnic group. There are certain types of shows that appeal to certain ethnic groups. It usually is based on the cast of a show and which actors appeal to certain ethnic groups.

As for OWN, I don't know who their target audience was when they had programming that was all over the place. You go from Chaz Bono to Ryan and Tatum O'neal to Sweetie Pie's. No one wants to watch the boring lives of these C-List celebrities.

I hope when Janurary comes along, and the new programming starts on there, that a lot of the shows are better. Oprah's new show looks really great. It's definitely something I would be interested in watching. Everything is better than that damn Life Class crap.

I also don't understand why she won't air OLD shows? I would love to see the shows from the 80s that she used to do. Especially those with performances (Prince, Luther, Janet, Bono, etc.).

Im for that!

tinaz said:

daPrettyman said:

I agree with you completely. It's relatively easy to cater a show to a particular ethnic group. There are certain types of shows that appeal to certain ethnic groups. It usually is based on the cast of a show and which actors appeal to certain ethnic groups.

As for OWN, I don't know who their target audience was when they had programming that was all over the place. You go from Chaz Bono to Ryan and Tatum O'neal to Sweetie Pie's. No one wants to watch the boring lives of these C-List celebrities.

I hope when Janurary comes along, and the new programming starts on there, that a lot of the shows are better. Oprah's new show looks really great. It's definitely something I would be interested in watching. Everything is better than that damn Life Class crap.

I also don't understand why she won't air OLD shows? I would love to see the shows from the 80s that she used to do. Especially those with performances (Prince, Luther, Janet, Bono, etc.).

Im for that!

She does host "Oprah's Lifeclass", even though it should really be called "Oprah's Clip Show". She re-runs an old Oprah episode, sandwiches present-day commentary between segments, and reveals the life lesson(s) she learned at the end.

afro75 said:

tinaz said:

Im for that!

She does host "Oprah's Lifeclass", even though it should really be called "Oprah's Clip Show". She re-runs an old Oprah episode, sandwiches present-day commentary between segments, and reveals the life lesson(s) she learned at the end.

Yes, that is one of the worst things on the network. I don't want to watch her talking to herself and watching old clips.

The full episode reruns she's doing of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" are nothing but crap. She is rerunning those from the last few years. I want some good old vintage "Are You The Baby Daddy" Oprah.

damn a race just cater 2 what people like in gemeral no matter what race cuz no matter the race if she put some good quality shows on we will all watch.she can start with shows about fine men all over the world exploring them nude and all