"Oprah's Favorite Things" was an annual segment that appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show from the 1990s to 2008 and 2010, as well as on Rachael Ray in 2017. In the segment, which airs during Thanksgiving week and was inspired by the holiday song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music, Oprah Winfrey shared products with her audience that she felt were noteworthy or that would make a great gift. In addition, the audience members that were present during the taping of the episode receive items from that year's list for free.
The term is also sometimes used to describe a similar feature in O, The Oprah Magazine; while that may formally have been named "The O List" in the past, it has more recently shared the "Oprah's Favorite Things" name.[1][2] The two features are often coordinated.
After being featured on the Oprah’s Favorite Things segment, businesses typically experience a large boost in their website traffic and in visits to their stores. For small businesses with limited resources and a small staff, the resulting boost in customers can cause the business to become overwhelmed and unable to meet customer demands. According to Scott Schroeder, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Garrett Popcorn Shops, being featured on the episode resulted in over 100,000 hits to the website on the afternoon the episode was aired and sales increased in December by over 100%. This caused the business to go from "making popcorn eight hours a day to 24 hours a day".[3]
Episodes
The Oprah’s Favorite Things television episode is the most watched episode each year of The Oprah Winfrey Show. The episode has traditionally been aired around Thanksgiving, though its producers do not announce when the special episode will be taped. Furthermore, the audience members of these episodes are commonly selected based on a specific characteristic, which means tickets can be difficult to obtain.
2002
The items presented in the 2002 episode were included in one of four categories: food favorites; beauty and body care; books, music and home; and high-tech discoveries. The items included on the list were:
In 2006, the Oprah’s Favorite Things episode took on a different slant as the audience members each received a credit card valued at one thousand dollars. Each audience member also received a camcorder and was given instructions to use the money to do something kind for someone else while using the camcorder to videotape the good deed.
2007
The Favorite Things show aired November 20, 2007.[8] It returned to the original format in previous years. The 2007 episode was filmed in Macon, Georgia in the Macon City Auditorium on November 17, 2007. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" has been national since 1986, Macon has been its number one market. At any time, 45 percent of the households in Macon, Georgia, at four o'clock, watching Oprah Winfrey.
Winfrey, in addition to the regular show, held an "Oprah's Favorite Things for Summer" episode in May 2008, apparently against her wishes and at the behest of the production staff.
The usual show aired November 26, 2008, one day before Thanksgiving; however, it did not follow the usual format of lavish gifts. Instead, owing to the nation's economic difficulties (Winfrey said that she could not in good conscience give away lavish gifts in such a time of economic trouble), this year's episode would be entitled "How to Have the Thriftiest Holiday Ever!" (described as Oprah's Favorite Things... with a twist!) All the giveaways cost "next to nothing" and emphasized do-it-yourself craftsmanship. Because of the personal nature of many of these gifts, this was the first year that audience members did not receive many of the actual gifts, though they did receive the book and the album.
Gift ideas, many of which were submitted by viewers, included:[9]
Gratitude boxes, filled with notes of gratitude from various people
"Oprah's Holiday Hits" compilation album (given away for free on the show Web site)
Treasure boxes filled with mementos
Hot chocolate cones
Regifts (a.k.a. "swap parties"), exchanging unwanted used items of your own for others' used items you would be more likely to use
Gift baskets that include fruits and vegetables from your own garden
For additional gift ideas, viewers were directed to "The O List" in the December 2008 edition of O, The Oprah Magazine. The list consisted of items that cost under $100.[10]
2009
The Huffington Post broke a story in November 2009 that, for the first time in several years, there would be no Oprah's Favorite Things episode. This turned out to be true; no reason was explicitly given for the cancellation, though the recession that had been taking place the year prior and that had served as the impetus for the low-budget Favorite Things that year was still ongoing at the time.[11] However, Oprah held a sweepstakes in December 2009 that gave away prizes from past Favorite Things collections. The sweepstakes winner was announced and posted on the Oprah website.[12]
2010
Oprah Winfrey's biggest Favorite Things show to date, entitled Ultimate Favorite Things, aired on Friday, November 19, 2010.[13] A second edition aired the following Monday, November 22. It was the final Favorite Things in its original format. The 2010 Favorite Things was the only time Winfrey held a Favorite Things promotion over two episodes in any season of the show. Several of the Favorite Things were products that had been given away in previous Favorite Things episodes.
The list of products given away in the "Ultimate Favorite Things" included:[14]
A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever, a book by Marianne Williamson, published by Hay House
Baker's Edge lasagna and brownie trays with Ghiradelli brownie mix
A two-hour special called "Oprah's Favorite Things 2012" aired on Oprah Winfrey Network on November 18, 2012. It features an audience of 30 deserving people receiving items totaled at over $10,000.
2017
On the November 21, 2017 episode of Rachael Ray, host Rachael Ray presented a list of Oprah's Favorite Things for 2017, with Gayle King serving as Winfrey's representative (Winfrey did not appear, and only one audience member, chosen via a drawing, actually received all 102 items on the list).[15]
Among the items on the 2017 Favorite Things list:[16]
The website The A.V. Club made fun of the uselessness and blandness of Oprah's 2007 list by posting a feature called 'Oprah's Favorite Thing or Symptom of Clinical Depression?"[17] The 2008 decision to use inexpensive gifts drew jokes from Jimmy Kimmel Live!, including a mash-up that featured Winfrey supposedly giving away thumb tacks, to a much-dismayed audience.
Further criticism and satire have been directed at the reactions from the people in the audience, which typically ranged from cheering and screaming to hysterical crying from men and women alike. A memorable parody of this was featured on a Saturday Night Live skit, where the audience tore the studio apart in their frenzied anticipation of the freebies they would get. Winfrey herself has admitted amusement by some of the audience reactions, having made a certain amount of fun of them in a behind-the-scenes series that aired on Oprah Winfrey Network.
