'Clintonfest' Boosts Oprah

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

King World Productions' Oprah Winfrey Show scored big ratings Tuesday with Oprah's interview with former President Bill Clinton, who is promoting his autobiography, My Life.

The show gave Oprah, the show, its second-highest overnight rating of the season, with a 9.5 rating/22 share in the weighted metered markets.

Only Oprah, the person's, 50th Birthday Bash achieved higher ratings for the show this year.

Oprah was tough with the former president, asking him how he ever thought he would get away with his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky and whether Sen. Hillary Clinton  had forgiven him. His answer: "She forgave me before I forgave myself."

Clinton is hitting the TV circuit hard to promote his 972-page tome, getting huge ratings for Dan Rather and 60 Minutes on Sunday night and selling briskly in bookstores across the country.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.