Oprah Winfrey

LOS ANGELES (Reuters):

Talk-show host and media mogul Oprah Winfrey is venturing into prime-time television with two new reality series, at least one of which will feature Winfrey herself, the ABC network and producers said Friday.

No time frame has been set for the two shows, both described as combining elements of wish fulfilment and charity - favourite themes of Winfrey on her long-running daytime talk programme, the highest rated in broadcast syndication.

The show's concepts were laid out in a joint press release issued by her Harpo Productions company.

The first new series, tentatively titled Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give, presents 10 people with large sums of money and other resources and challenges them to find "the most powerful, sensational, emotional and dramatic ways to give to others".

Wildest dream come true

The contestants will gradually be narrowed as the group confronts a "big catch" each week complicating their efforts, with the winner getting his or her "wildest dream come true".

A similar format figured in a recent two-episode broadcast of Winfrey's talk show in which she gave members of her studio audience US$1,000 gift cards and implored them to find ways to help as many people as possible.

A second Winfrey-produced show, this one with the working title Your Money or Your Life, will dispatch an "expert action team" each week to help a family overcome a crisis through a "total money and life makeover".

A Harpo spokeswoman said Winfrey planned to appear in at least one of the two new series, but her exact role had yet to be decided.

As host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, now in its 21st season of Monday-through-Friday syndication, she currently averages about 48 million viewers a week.

Her deal with ABC marks the first foray into prime-time series television for Winfrey, who has gradually expanded her presence to a wide range of media in recent years, including the launch of a successful magazine, satellite radio channel and Broadway production of The Colour Purple.