Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Oprah’s Book Club’ On Apple TV+, Where Oprah Winfrey Goes Back To The Talk Show Game To Talk To Top Authors

One of the things we’ve noticed about the slew of introductory shows on Apple TV+ is that they’re refreshingly branding-free. Sure, everyone on The Morning Show uses an iPhone and a Mac, but that would have been likely, anyway. Other shows just don’t lend themselves to it, and Apple doesn’t force the issue. But that isn’t the case with Oprah’s Book Club. But which branding is more dominant: Apple’s or Oprah’s?

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A shot of the Carnegie Library in Washington, D.C., then we see an audience gathered inside, Oprah Winfrey waiting to go on stage.

The Gist: Remember those episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show where Oprah would talk to the writer of one of her Book Club selections for an entire hour? Well, Oprah’s Book Club is pretty much that, except there are no commercials. And it’s shot at an Apple Store inside the Carnegie Library (ahem… we mean the Apple Carnegie Library).

The first writer Oprah interviews is Ta-Nehisi Coates, who has written his first novel, The Water Dancer. This was a novel that took the Atlantic columnist ten years to write, as he spent much of that time researching the lives of enslaved people, a term that he and Oprah discuss extensively, since Coates feels that the term “slaves” defines those people by what happened to them. His protagonist is an enslaved person with what he calls a “preternatural ability to remember” details about a particular day, but doesn’t remember his mother. His search for that information drives the novel.

In his research, Coates visited three plantations, including Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Virginia. In two clips, Coates is shown touring the grounds, showing a cabin that housed enslaved people, which helped inspire settings in the novel. The main mansion, which he tours with the site’s coordinator of African-American studies, did as well. In the book, he tries to communicate that slave owners like Jefferson were dependent on enslaved people to exist, not just work for him in the fields.

Oprah goes in depth during the hour-long interview, citing lines from the novel and asking for what Coates’ thoughts were when he wrote them. She also asks the top questions about the book submitted by the audience, and shares where she had questions and difficulties — she had to read the first paragraph, which was one big sentence, three times. She also has pre-selected audience members ask questions.

Our Take: All of what we’re saying may be obvious, but here goes: To get the most enjoyment out of Oprah’s Book Club, you have to read the book she’s about to discuss. She gives you plenty of time; there will be two months between episodes, with selections likely revealed not long after the previous episode drops on Apple TV+. Oprah doesn’t screw around on this show; she’s not there to play to a broad audience that may be tuning in while making dinner or watching during their 4 PM workout, like what might have happened on her old show. The people hitting “Play” on this have likely read the book and want to hear the author’s thoughts, as well as Oprah’s, on passages they were curious about, or themes they had contemplated while and after reading.

This show does that, and in a very satisfying way. Oprah’s interviewing skills are at the forefront here, as she probes, doles out praise but also tweaks with a smile — when an audience member starts going into chapter and verse about her book-related dream, Oprah chides her with, “We don’t need to hear about the whole dream!”. She’s always wanted to foster a “we’re all in this together” vibe during her various talk endeavors, especially those with live audiences. And that warmth comes through when she asks the audience about spots they had questions on or places that they had to read a few times. It shows that she may be Oprah, but she’s a reader who’s just like everyone else.

But, then again, she’s Oprah. And, while we love this post-syndicated-show incarnation of Oprah, she still can be grandiose and self-aggrandizing. There is a symbolic reason why she films in the Carnegie Library; it has never been segregated in its history. But if she mentioned that they were in an Apple store one more time, we would have thrown our (non Apple) remotes at the TV. You can lay off the synergism, Oprah, and you can also lay off stories like calling Toni Morrison directly after reading Beloved for the first time. We get it; you’re Oprah.

Sleeper Star: We bet the woman who described her dream is a pretty passionate person in general. Coates responded to what she said with a pretty sincere, “You should write a novel!”

Most Pilot-y Line: Did we mention that there was an Apple Store shot when she talked about the Apple Carnegie Library?

Our Call: STREAM IT. But definitely buy and read the book before streaming an episode of Oprah’s Book Club. Otherwise, you’ll just get annoyed at Oprah, and that’s never fun.

Your Call:

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, FastCompany.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Oprah's Book Club on Apple TV+