Media mogul Oprah Winfrey encountered a lot of setbacks when she was trying to build her OWN Network back in 2011 as she considered the preferences of discerning audience and how to get good ratings and profits. This prompted her to assess what her audience would really want to see on television.
The answer, after much reflection, is her new miniseries called "Belief," which premiered on Oct. 18.
"When we were going through our tough times, when everything in the press was 'the struggling OWN Network,' when we were trying to figure out what our audience wants to see, I turned inward," Winfrey told the L.A. Times.
There are seven episodes in "Belief," that will be airing every night starting last Sunday. It covers different continents, and shares the stories of people of different faith and religious backgrounds, and how their spiritual connections help them during times of trouble.
"The whole idea of doing the show all those years was like breathing to me," said Winfrey. "But finding all those diverse lanes that audiences would respond to? That would take some time."
Each episode features four or five segments. The stories include those of a rape victim who attends evangelical camp in the United States in order to reinvigorate her faith; a young Jewish boy in Budapest, Hungary who was given an unusual bar mitzvah; and a dying Aboriginal man in Australia who takes his grandson to the wilderness to test him so that his mantle will be passed on successfully.
The show's executive producer and creative director Shadrack Smith said it was not easy making "Belief." This is probably why it's never been done before, even though "it almost was unthinkable that one of the most universal subjects hadn't been looked at in its totality," Winfrey said.
