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Notable moments from

'Oprah Winfrey Show'

Who knew when "The Oprah Winfrey Show" launched nationally Sept. 8, 1986, Winfrey would stay for 25 years and become the reigning queen of daytime TV? As the world ponders what Life Without Oprah will be like come 2011, here are some of her most talked-about shows:

Nov. 15, 1988: Four words: Wagon full of fat. The host, who had lost 67 pounds in four months on a liquid diet, showed off her new size-10 figure - and a very visual representation of what she had shed, thanks to a child-size wagon filled with an equal weight of animal fat. This remains Winfrey's highest-rated show ever.

Sept. 17, 1996: First-time novelist Jacquelyn Mitchard was the first author to be named to Winfrey's TV book club. Her book, "The Deep End of the Ocean," soared up the bestseller list.

Sept. 18, 1997: Winfrey winds up sending 50 students to college by starting the largest piggy bank in the world.

April 20, 1998: Erin Kramp, a mother with terminal cancer, left her young daughter, Peyton, video diaries with advice for the future. The family shared some of the video on Winfrey shows. Eventually, the entire audience was in tears.

Sept. 13, 2004: The 276 audience members at the show's 19th-season premiere got a big surprise. Originally told that only one gift box would have keys to a new vehicle, Winfrey caused hysteria when she screamed: "Everyone gets a car!" Price tag for all the new Pontiac G6's? More than $7 million. (Paid for by Pontiac.)

May 23, 2005: Tom Cruise giggled and blushed his way through an interview, jumping up and down on the couch and professing his love for his now-wife Katie Holmes.

Jan. 26, 2006: "I feel duped," Winfrey told viewers before tearing into author James Frey, whose memoir "A Million Little Pieces" she had helped make a bestseller. Winfrey provided a riveting interview as the author admitted some parts were fictionalized.

Sept. 10, 2007: Although the

16-year feud between Winfrey and late-night host David Letterman seemingly ended when Winfrey appeared on his "Late Show" in 2005, everything seemed like the happiest of endings when Letterman stopped by her show for the first time on the 22nd-season premiere, even chatting about his son.

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