It's not a death, but it will be a loss.
The accolades are pouring in already for Oprah Winfrey, who's planning to talk on the air tomorrow about her decision to end her syndicated daytime show in September 2011, following its 25th season.
Fellow Daytime Emmy winner Ellen DeGeneres, who a couple weeks ago had a special only-on-Oprah moment when she and wife Portia de Rossi shared their wedding video, took a moment today while taping her own show to laud her colleague's prolific career.
"Right before I came out here, I got a call from Oprah and she told me that she is announcing that next year will be her last year," DeGeneres told her studio audience.
"I don't think I could be here without her. I think she has blazed a trail...She is an amazing woman. She will always be the queen of daytime television?and she also said she is leaving me all of her money."
That got a big hoot from the audience.
"I was like, thanks Oprah, thank you. So anyway, that is what you will hear but she is still going to do a lot of good work. She is an amazing woman. I love her and we've gotten very close over this ridiculous idea that I had of getting on the cover of O. A silly dream...And now we talk all the time and she is fantastic and I love her and I wish her the best. She deserves to rest. She has worked really, really hard."
And Oprah has the fans, the respect and the money to prove it.
Ellen's also not the only one who thinks that there are still good things ahead for Oprah.
"She'll do another show," figured Martha Stewart, speaking to E! News at Sean "Diddy" Combs' birthday party in NYC. "She's evolving. She's fabulous."
Added Oprah's BFF, Gayle King, somewhat wryly: "I have a feeling she will come up with something to do."
?Additional reporting by Breanne L. Heldman
(Originally published Nov. 19, 2009, at 6 p.m. PT)
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The news probably won't get bigger than this today...but feel free to comb the Big Picture gallery for ideas.