Our Trip to the Oprah Show in Chicago

In Spite of the Third Worst Blizzard in Chicago History!

My husband Rick and I recently had the great fortune of attending a taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show on February 4th of this year.

Because this is the final Season (25th) of the Oprah Winfrey Show, it was my last chance to attend a taping. I have had the desire to go for many years.

I am a great admirer of Oprah Winfrey and all that she has done and continues to do to uplift the lives of others. She is unquestionably one of the most influential women in the world and all for the good. I watch her show every day here in Iowa.

The tapings are all held at Harpo (Oprah spelled backwards) Studios close to downtown Chicago. Harpo is in the Near West Side Neighborhood near the Loop and Greek Town.

I thought that you would enjoy hearing an account of our trip, so here goes:

Getting there

You may remember that around that time (February 1st and 2nd) the Chicago area was hit by its third worst blizzard EVER.

I could not believe the timing of the storm and thought we surely would have to forego our plans to attend a taping of the show. Getting tickets is not an easy task and if we missed the February 4th show, we would not have been able to get tickets to another one.

However, in spite of the blizzard, the roads were actually just clear enough by the afternoon of February 3rd to head for Chicago. We made it all safe and sound in five hours.

Our hotel

Rick and I stayed at the Crowne Plaza at 733 West Madison, just blocks from Harpo Studios. Although west of the Loop, you can easily walk to Sears Tower (now called Willis Tower), Union Station, and the River North entertainment district.

The hotel is very clean and comfortable. Not super fancy but quite nice. The room was not large but it was adequate. They offered us a package deal, which included parking at the hotel. We paid around $160 with taxes.

Once we got there, I noticed a parking lot across the street from the hotel that offered good rates. I think if we had not gone for the package deal and used that car lot instead we would actually have saved a bit (maybe $20?).

"A history making audience"

The next morning on February 4th we arrived at Harpo around 7 A.M.

After going through a coat and security check, we were all seated in a holding area prior to going into the studio for the first “A show” taping (they had three that day and we were the first one).

We soon learned that there was something unique about our taping.

We thought we would be in the holding area till around 8:15 A.M. at which time we would be seated in the studio in preparation for the 9 A.M. taping.

But at some point a man walked though the holding area with a camera, filming all of us sitting there waiting. That seemed a bit odd.

Then soon after, we heard some excited screaming and looked over to see Oprah herself standing on a chair, no make up, glasses on and hair in a ponytail. Normally you would only see her in the studio all gussied up and ready for the show taping.

Oprah was trying to make an announcement to us. Once she got us to quiet down, she said there had been an emergency with the guest for our show. She explained that the guest had traveled outside of the Chicago area close to the taping (unbeknownst to Harpo). Turns out the guest for our show, Jennifer Hudson, had left Chicago for a party in Dallas and then got stuck in a snowstorm.

Oprah said that in 25 years of taping this had NEVER happened and that we were a "history making audience". She reassured us that Ms. Hudson was en route from Dallas and that our taping would not be cancelled but rather delayed by a couple of hours.

Oprah was obviously very concerned about the audience first and foremost and seemed visibly relieved when we all cheered and said no problem Oprah. Talk about a high-energy audience! She said they would feed us and entertain us while we waited.

Less than an hour later we were all seated in the studio with Harpo staff passing out fruit and juice snacks. Then they entertained us by letting us entertain ourselves.

They set up an impromptu Karaoke made up of gutsy audience members. They called it KareOprah.

About five very brave women got up and belted out some famous songs like Proud Mary and I will Always Love You and Like a Virgin, with recorded musical accompaniment and lyrics scrolling on a screen. A few of them were actually pretty good! After that, we got the usual pre-show warm up prior to the taping.

Finally the taping

Shortly before 11 A.M., Jennifer Hudson finally arrived at the studio, but since they needed time to do her hair, Oprah came out and talked to us for a while. That was great and it was fun to see Oprah informal and answering questions.

Then the show finally began taping a bit after 11 A.M.

I am not a big fan of Jennifer Hudson but I do like her. The show was all about her amazing recent weight loss (80 pounds) and the fact that she is now a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers. It was also about her life, her singing, new CD, new movie coming out in which she plays Winnie Mandela, etc.

Anyway, good thing it was the first show taping that we had tickets for and NOT the second one, since that turned out to be all about Soap Opera stars. We were both relieved to be in the first taping by comparison. Not to mention all the extra fun and drama it had. Better than a Soap Opera. Or should I say Soap Oprah?

Keeping a promise to myself

Before going to the Oprah show, you don’t usually have any idea of the topic or guests. So I told myself, whatever the show ended up being about, I would take as a sign of what I needed to do or what I needed to address in my life.

Hmmmm. Did I take it as a sign that I needed to loose weight? NOT! Hey, maybe I am supposed to become a famous singer?

It’s Greek to me

After the show, we walked to Greek Town in search of a big fat Greek meal.

There are so many Greek Restaurants to choose from. As we walked down Halsted Street (where they are all located) we picked the second one we came to which is called Greek Isles.

I had done a bit of research online prior to going to Chicago and although they all looked wonderful, I liked the fact that Greek Isles claimed to use fresh ingredients and authentic imports from Greece.

When we walked in, it felt very Greek for sure. Reminded me of a rustic Grecian Island atmosphere. Most of the waiters were Greek and the owners certainly were.

My father was from Greece and was a Maitre d’ so I felt very at home there.

The food was delicious. We ordered the Vegetarian Mousaka and Chicken Riganati. The Greek salads we both ordered were okay but if I were to go there again, I would skip the salad and order another entre instead. The food was reasonable and very tasty.

After our meal we happily returned to Iowa.

Our show aired on February 10th and we watched it to see if we could catch a glimpse of ourselves. We actually were visible about three times! What fun.

• A big thank you to Irene Archer for this wonderful post. Irene is president and chief design inspiration for Archer Graphics, which specializes in book cover and book interior designs.Please note that Harpo Studios does not allow guests to bring cameras to the Oprah Winfrey Show.