# 350 people work on the Oprah show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544 "2011-03-30T19:12:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544/1 "2011-03-30T19:12:59Z")
It takes 350 people to do 1 talk show? That number seems way high to me. [Rosie O'Donnell To Begin Talk Show At Harpo Studios - CBS Chicago](http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/03/29/rosie-odonnell-to-begin-talk-show-at-harpo-studios/?hpt=Sbin) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544/2 "2011-03-30T19:15:17Z")
And that’s just catering. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544/3 "2011-03-30T19:21:20Z")
I know union contracts can inflate numbers but I don’t see any way they need 350 unless they are talking about more than 1 show. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544/4 "2011-03-30T19:34:48Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I know union contracts can inflate numbers but I don’t see any way they need 350 unless they are talking about more than 1 show. According to wikipedia, Harpo Productions has 410 employees. Since the produce several shows there, it seems pretty unlikely 350 of them are devoted full time to just one show I’m guessing 350 people work on Oprahs show, but do similar jobs for the other Harpo productions as well. The same guys probably do the lighting for her and Rachel Ray, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544/5 "2011-03-30T19:36:11Z")
I can see that number as possible. Besides the people needed for the show itself; there’s video/sound editors, producers, talent/booking agents, writers, etc. etc. It didn’t specify ‘Full Time Jobs’ which is probably important to note. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544/6 "2011-03-30T20:13:36Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > According to wikipedia, Harpo Productions has 410 employees. Since the produce several shows there, it seems pretty unlikely 350 of them are devoted full time to just one show > I’m guessing 350 people work on Oprahs show, but do similar jobs for the other Harpo productions as well. The same guys probably do the lighting for her and Rachel Ray, for example. That would be hard to do, since Rachel Ray records her show in New York. Same for Dr. Phil/Dr. Oz/Nate Berkus, all of whom use various New York-based production facilities. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544/7 "2011-03-30T22:29:22Z")
Maybe they have a lot of people doing CGI and special effects. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/350-people-work-on-the-oprah-show/576544/8 "2011-03-31T00:56:27Z")
It depends on how they keep the books, but I can believe it. Oprah has her own studio, which seems to be almost exclusively used for the Oprah Winfrey show. So, depending on how they want to assign the overhead, the entire staff, from the buidling manager to the janitor, to the security guards in the parking lot, could be on the show’s payroll, rather than just being part of the overhead.