There will be a huge hole to fill when “Oprah” calls it quits next year — and just who can fill her high heels is just about the No. 1 topic of conversation among TV people.
Programming executives are in Las Vegas this week for their annual convention where decisions have to be made long before “Oprah” ends in September 2011.
And the preliminary talk is that the instantly successful “Dr. Oz,”Ellen DeGeneres’s sunny talk show (“Ellen“) — and especially “The View” — are leading contenders to inherit daytime TV’s most valuable piece of real estate.
Stations including Ch. 7 here, which airs “Oprah” at 4 p.m., have relied on the show the past 23 years to drive viewers to their local newscasts.
But they’ve also paid dearly for that right — with Ch. 7 coughing up $325,000 a week for “Oprah,” according to insider estimates.
“I think if you look at what’s available, the top of the list [to replace ‘Oprah’] would be ‘Ellen’ and potentially ‘Dr. Oz,’ says industry analyst Bill Carroll of Katz Media.
” ‘Ellen’ is a more established show than ‘Dr. Oz’ and has a broader perspective in terms of what the show is.”
Deals for both “Dr. Oz,” a freshman hit airing now on Ch. 5, and “Ellen,” which airs on Ch. 4, are up after next season — freeing them up for a possible move elsewhere.
Industry insiders also speculate that ABC, which co-owns “The View” with Walters, could produce a syndicated version of the show to run in Oprah’s spot.
“I’d rank [moving ‘The View’] as the odds-on favorite right now,” says one local industry source.
“A syndicated version [of ‘The View’] is probably a better economic model for ABC, since ABC pays for ‘The View’ to be produced — and with a syndicated model, ABC would be paid by all the stations.”
Industry analyst Marc Berman of Mediaweek sees the situation differently.
“There are options, but ‘Dr. Oz’ is the leading contender, since he’s a spinoff of ‘Oprah’ and his show is a breakout hit in syndication,” he says.
“The second option would be to expand the local news to fill that [4 p.m.] hour, which would be a cost-saver, but they wouldn’t get the same kind of ratings.”
Carroll says that he’s even heard Katie Couric — currently anchoring the “CBS Evening News” — and former daytime talk show host Rosie O’Donnell mentioned as possible “Oprah” replacements.
“There’s speculation that someone else might come on the scene,” he says.
“But if either [Couric or O’Donnell] was going to happen, there would have to already be a deal done with the key ABC-owned stations.”
Ch. 7 officials declined to comment yesterday.