WINFREY HAS HER UPS AND DOWNS

Oprah Winfrey must have ridden an emotional roller coaster this week as ratings for her syndicated talk show on Monday soared to their highest level since 2005 but her new cable network OWN fell below 300,000 viewers, trailing all other female-oriented cable channels. OWN averaged more than one million viewers for its opening weekend. On Monday’s broadcast show, Winfrey described how she had learned that she had a half-sister, Pat, and introduced her on the air. It averaged a whopping 9.7 rating and a 22 share, the highest rating since she brought together many of the winners of the 2005 Oscars on her show on Feb. 28, 2005. As for her cable channel, some TV writers pointed out that the weakest performer on it was the morning talk show hosted by Winfrey’s best friend Gayle King, whose numbers had dropped to slightly more than 100,000 viewers.