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If there was any doubt before, it's now quite clear: The best way, and likely only way, to turn around the struggling Oprah Winfrey Network apparently lies with Winfrey herself.
The series premiere of "Oprah's Next Chapter," Winfrey's first original program since ending her syndicated show last May, drew OWN's best ratings since the channel debuted last year at this time.
"Chapter," which aired Sunday from 9 to 11 p.m., averaged 1.1 million total viewers and drew a 1.1 rating among women 25-54, the network's key demographic.
That marked the highest-rated and most-watched show on OWN since its Jan. 1, 2011, launch, when "Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes" garnered a 1.11 rating in the demo and 1.2 million total viewers.
"Chapter" became the No. 2 ranked show in OWN history and also drew the network's best-ever ratings in the time period.
For sure, the show, in which Winfrey travels the country interviewing celebrities, benefitted from a lot of pre-premiere hype.
It featured Winfrey's interview with Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler, who is also a judge on "American Idol," the No. 1 show on television that, not coincidentally, makes its season 11 debut next week.
But most of the hype was around the return of Winfrey herself.
Though the former talk show host does appear on "Oprah's Lifeclass," which bowed last fall, that's really just a mashup of old "Oprah" episodes that Winfrey adds a bit of narration to.
"Chapter" is her first real effort as chief executive officer of OWN, a position she assumed last summer following the dismissal of Christina Norman, who was fired after the network got off to a sluggish start.
Winfrey's mandate is to become more involved in the network, something that OWN parent company Discovery has demanded in order to keep pouring money into the project.
Last fall Discovery spent a reported $15 million on the network, largely to push the premiere of "Lifeclass" and "The Rosie Show," a nightly talk show hosted by Rosie O'Donnell. That came on top of the $200 million it had already spent to launch the channel.
The big ad push didn't really work.
O'Donnell's ratings have fallen sharply since her premiere in October, and OWN is still searching for a signature show.
It's too early to brand "Chapter" that show, but it was a promising debut.
While ratings for "Chapter" could still decline in coming weeks, expect to see Winfrey's face on a lot more OWN launches in the future as the channel tries to find its footing.
It's difficult to imagine a mogul as successful as Winfrey allowing a network that carries her name to fail.
Besides, while much has been made of Discovery's big investment and seeming disappointment in the channel, media buyers aren't as worried.
They caution that it's still too early to pass judgment on OWN, pointing out that new launches can take years to gain their footing.
