Oprah Reality TV Search For New Talk Show Host “Your Own Show”

Oprah Winfrey has teamed up with Survivor producer Mark Burnett to launch a new program that will give an undiscovered chatterbox a chance to follow in her talk show footsteps with a daily series on her new cable network.

The series, Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star, will begin airing in January on OWN, Winfrey’s cable television station, The Associated Press said Monday.

The Queen of Talk will walk away from The Oprah Winfrey Show in September 2011 after 25 seasons. She’s hoping to pass the torch to an aspiring chatshow host.

Contestants are invited toupload videos to Oprah.com under categories like traditional talk show, cooking, health and wellness, and interior design. It’s possible to also watch and vote on submitted videos. In-person casting calls are scheduled for later this month in cities like Atlanta, Dallas, and Orange County, California.

In a phone interview with The AP from Los Angeles on Monday, Burnett – who is also the brainchild behind Donald Trump’s The Apprentice – said the premise of the new series fits perfectly into what viewers like to watch: Regular people achieving extraordinary things.

“The landscape and acceptance of ordinary people on television is widely accepted … Much in the way American Idol finds unknown people (to be recording stars) there’s no reason we can’t find someone who deserves their own show.”

“Try to be authentically yourself. Show energy,” Burnett advises OWN Show hopefuls. “Donald Trump gave me the greatest advice with The Apprentice: Find people with the greatest energy source … you’ll be hard-pressed to show me someone who has their own show on TV who is not energetic and who has charisma.”