Talk Shows in 2012 Vie to be new “Newprah”

Ever since Oprah left daytime television to form her OWN network, there has been a race to find the new Oprah or as I call it, Newprah.  Sure, there's Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer and the top rated Ellen, but shows introduced last year, like Anderson Cooper and others have struggled to find an audience.

Now with the arrival of new talkers Katie Couric, Jeff Probst, Ricki Lake and even Steve Harvey, there isn't a clear winner.  Only Katie and Ricki are familiar faces to daytime TV watchers.  Then there's Jeff Probst, yeah the guy from Survivor (is that still on?!).  Jeff may be the long shot as not many people in the daytime universe knows who he is.  Watching Steve Harvey, he seems more concerned about saying something funny than the needs of his audience.  I think Steve should TEVO Ellen and spend time making notes.

A week after the debut of these newprahs, there's no Oprah.  Audiences seem to like Katie Couric the best, showing the biggest ratings of the four.  Are you excited about these new shows?  If you've seen some of these new shows, let me know your thoughts.