>>> and oprah's big lesson. she tells us what she knows for sure about her future, and the future of her girls, carrying her hope. >>> good evening. we begin with an amazing victory tonight, on this night when a lot of us are studying the sky and the forecast to plan this holiday weekend. we have the latest on that gripping s.o.s. from the snowbound american families. and the triumph of the intrepid little ice breaker that could. crashing its way through eight, solid feet of ice to save the day. abc's david wright has the story of the u.s. coast guard to the rescue. >> reporter: alaska has been under siege this winter, with record snow and cold. in nome, help is just visib on the horizon. a russian tanker, carrying a million gallons of diesel fuel. and 400,000 gallons of gas. but the sea between ship and shore is frozen solid. the fuel will likely not make it today. robert, how are you holding up? we reached out to robert kirk, in a village so short on fuel, people are using their wood-burning stoves to keep war

oprah is in india right now.ah is on a week-long sabbatical through india to find out where her poop goes when it's reincarnated. something she always wanted to do. there's oprah. that's oprah. yesterday, there was an incident yesterday in the city she was in. her personal security guards got in a fight with some local journalists who were trying to take pictures of her. and you have to be careful getting in a fight in india. they have very long fingernails over there. you see the crowd. i have to say, normally an oprah visit to india would be a big cause of celebration for our writers at the show. but to be honest, it's friday and we're exhausted. we have nothing. but from time to time, we use an outsourcing service from india to write jokes for us. and since oprah is actually over there, it seemed like the perfect time to use them. so, let's get them up on video chat, if we could. they're standing by, i believe. hello? >> hello. you bet. hot line. we are giving out the american baltimore birds at 7 1/2 points a

oprah's a great -- oprah was incredibly generous to me. my first interview when i launched the show, gave me two hours and sold it out there for me for a week after. it was an amazingly gracious thing for her to have done. what do you think of oprah? >> i think oprah has risen to a level in the stratosphere unknown to all of us. it's a wonderful, wonderful story. she is an unparalleled success in our business. >> why do you think? >> well, i think she's -- she's a compelling personality. and i think, you know, she elicits a real feeling of -- a heart-felt feeling from her viewers and from the guests as well. >> i'd never met her before she walked through the door for my first interview. she's genuine. oprah winfrey, beneath the billions, the empire, the mil l mythology, the tabloid headlines is a genuine woman. >> i don't think she could get to where she is without be a genuine woman. >> is that the secret of broadcasting, every day, week in, month in, it finds you out, doesn't it? there's no point pretending to be something you're not. >>

he was oprah before oprah. >> thank you. i am flattered. >> now he's back. the one and only phil donahue. he's never been afraid to speak his mind. tonight i want to know what he thinks about the president. >> he's a liberal. by the way, we're not liberals anymore. >> the gop field. >> this is not the country that my parents raised me to pledge my allegiance to. >> and just for the hell of it, how i'm doing. >> you're pretty focused. i enjoy watching you. >> plus the youngest victim of the shooting that nearly killed gabby giffords. christina taylor green died before her 10th birthday. she was born on 9/11. now her parents tell her story. >> i was hoping it was a nightmare and i was going to wake up and kept pinching myself hoping it wasn't real. it was that horrendous. it was unbelievable. roxanna and john green. this is "piers morgan tonight." >> good evening. i probably wouldn't be doing this job were it not for my guests tonight. he did an astounding 6,000 shows over a quarter of a century and pretty much invented the daytime talk show. he's talked to ev

. >>> a milestone this morning for oprah winfrey and the girls at the school she founded. that is her moments ago giving a speech at the graduating class of her leadership academy. >> 72 girls graduating. >>> and a shocker in the world of celebrity chefs. there are reports this morning that paul da dean might have type ii diabetes. what does that mean for her? >>> we'll start with what one passenger said looks like a scene out of "titanic." thousands were evacuated. some people panicked and jumped overboard. right now, rescuers are searching if waters for survivors. abc's lama hasan has more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, dan. rescuers are going from cab on the cabin trying to find survivors as the cruise liner began to tilt steeply, almost capsizing overnight. fie helicopters were deployed. divers had to scour the water looking for missing passengers. abc news has learned that the u.s. embassy has established an emergency response team. there are at least 80 american vacationers on board. they're being taken to safety in rome. a dramatic rescue operation. helic

what do you think of oprah? >> i think oprah has risen to a level in the stratosphere unknown to all of us. it's a wonderful, wonderful story. she is a unparalleled success in our business. >> why, do you think? >> she's a compelling personality and i think you know, she e lis. >> i've never met her before she walked through door for my first interview. she's genuine. oprah winfrey, beneath the billions, the tabloid headlines, is a genuine woman. >> i don't think she could get to where she has without that. >> is that the secret do you think of broadcasting? particularly when you're in people's lives, a country like america every day, week in, month in. it finds you out, doesn't it? there's no point pretending to be something. >> i always said, it is not realistic to expect me to walk down the center of every issue, a mechanical man, never revealing how he feels. i think if you watch my show enough, you pretty much guess. i never felt i had to be in the closet about my political views. i do think it's possible t

so that was a very impressive first week. >> not bad. >> you had oprah. what do you think of oprah?i loved oprah. she was so genuine. i never met her before. she walked into the interview, supposed to give me 40 minutes and gave me two hours and when i went there, all she did was pump up my show and say what a great time she had. that was very selfless and generous and didn't have to do that, a young guy taking over for the great larry king. i thought that was a generous thing she did to me. >> that's one of the toughest interviews i've had in years. >> was she one of of the best guests you had? >> oprah, to me, is one of the biggest stars in the world. no other star in music or television has made the money she has done or built the empire she has gone or a better story for getting there. oprah is one of the most inspiring stories you could wish to see. i loved interviewing her. i thought she was terrific. >> i want you to keep your answers brief and try not to interrupt me in the middle of asking you. so, how many times have you been properly in love? >> i'm not going to tell you.

. >>> a milestone this morning for oprah winfrey and the girls at the school she founded. that is her just moments ago giving an emotional speech at the first graduating lass at her leader ship academy there in afri africa. >> 72 girls graduating. >>> and a shocker in the world of celebrity chefs. there are reports this morning that paula deen might have type ii diabetes. what does that mean for her? and the industry? we'll have details coming up. >> a big controversy in the foodie world. we'll get to that in a minute. >>> we'll start with what one passenger said looks like a scene out of "titanic." a luxury cruise ship running aground off the coast of italy. thousands were evacuated. some people panicked and jumped overboard. at least three people are dead this morning. right now, rescuers are searching the waters for survivors there. abc's lama hasan has more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, dan. even at this hour, rescuers are going from cabin to cabin, trying to find survivors as the cruise liner began to tilt steeply, almost capsizing overnight. it's major op

. >>> you know that school started by talk show host oprah winfrey in south africa? it's celebrating its first graduating class. some 72 of the students graduated from the oprah winfrey leadership academy just outside. win free opened the school weds 40 million of her own money. >> and i have never been more proud to know, to grow, and to call myself mom oprah to you girls. we're in the business of creating assets for girls so they don't have to just use their bodies, but they go out into the world and use their minds. >> some 3,000 girls applied to the oprah winfrey leadership academy before it opened. only 150 were accepted. the oprah winfrey academy will be back in session next week. >>> coming up tonight on 9news now this sunday, it was supposed to land on mars but instead crashed back to earth. we'll have the latest own a failed russian space mission. >>> have you been outside tonight? you know it's cold then. but how cold is it going to be for the martin luther king holiday? we'll have an update. >>> russian military officials say a failed probe has crashed sho

interview with governor christie airs on her new program "oprah's own chapter" on the oprah network.>> muhammad ali on his 70th birthday an the one wish he had for his wife. you wouldn't want your doctor doing your job. so why are you doing his? only your doctor can determine if your persistent heartburn is actually something more serious... like acid reflux disease. over time, stomach acid can damage the lining of your esophagus. for many, prescription nexium not only provides 24-hour heartburn relief, but can also help heal acid related erosions in the lining of your esophagus. talk to your doctor about the risk for osteoporosis-related bone fractures and low magnesium levels with long-term use of nexium. possible side effects include headache, diarrhea and abdominal pain. other serious stomach conditions may still exist. let your doctor do his job, and you do yours. ask if nexium is right for you. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. then i found new pronutrients omega-3. it's from centrum. it's a smaller minigel. with two of the best omegas to sup

. >> you basically came back from your taping an oprah interview and you came back from the oprah interview and were on a plane and found out you would have to do live breaking news on your show? >> i was in new york and oprah invited me to come on her show. >> are you sure you didn't invite yourself on her show? >> i was desperate and she listened to this desperate brit, come to chicago. i got on a plane at 6:00 a.m. she tapes in the morning in chicago. had a great time. said good-bye. got on a plane to l.a. we had no internet on the plane, my producer, jonathan and i, sitting reading celebrity magazines and thinking about this interview for cnn. and when we landed, all hell had broken loose in egypt. my blackberries were going crazy. i got the word from jonathan, we're going live in three hours. >> good evening, it's been a day of quite extraordinary turmoil and tension around the world. we're covering this across egypt, alexandra to cairo and washington and new york. i said, this is a good time to tell you, i've never actually anchored an hour of live breaking news and jonathan himself e

i kept saying, does oprah need anyone? does oprah need anyone? you know?all, are you serious? you want to do it for oprah's network? i said, "yes, i do." they said why? i said, "well, because she's oprah." they're like, "okay let me call you back." they called and said, "she will be there tomorrow at 10:00 a.m." it was like 10:00 p.m. my publicist shows up with brand new matching platters, silverware, napkin rings, cleans the entire place, puts flowers in everything. my daughter, vivvy, is there. oprah walks in, she walks over to her and says, nice to meet you, oprah winfrey, our house is never this fancy. [ laughter ] >> jimmy: kids are awesome. >> kids are awesome. >> jimmy: kids are awesome. >> so, she had a four-hour meeting and we talked about what i would do. and as she was leaving, she's like, well, let's do this. and i gave her a hug, and she gave me a hug. and i looked her in the face and said, "now, tell me the truth, was this a crazy check? did you come here to see if i was insane?" she goes, "pretty much, yes." [ laughter ] i said, okay. >> jim

tears of joy as the school founded by oprah winfrey. more on a very memorable milestone there. we'll be right back. six people are dead and 16 still missing. rescue crews are still searching for victims right now. >> reporter: rescue workers are resuming the search for 16 people still missing from the costa concordia. officials had suspended efforts because it started to shift in rough seas. divers are searching parts of the ship that are underwater. the ceo says an investigation is underway to find out why the ship ran aground. >> we believe it has been a human error here. the captain did not follow the authorized route. >> reporter: the captain denies he took the ship too close to shore and says maps did not show he was steering into rocks. the captain could face charges of manslaughter, and aband donning ship. crews have recovered the black box. it should help investigators figure out the exact location of the costa concordia and reveal how the captain responded to the emergency. passengers say that after impact, the crew failed to tell them how serious the situation was. >>

oprah is oprah, yeah. >> and, she'll always be oprah, you know?everybody do their thing. and i thought that this could be a really cool way. and i'm doing it with overbrook, will and jada's company. so it's us, flavor unit, and overbrook, and sony pictures entertainment. so i think between us all, we can find something fun to do every day, something positive. and we can win! [ cheers and applause ] we can win! we can win! >> jimmy: and it will be daytime? >> daytime network. >> jimmy: now will you have celebrities on? >> of course. >> jimmy: can i come on? >> you can, of course, come on. you better give me some coaching. man, i'm going to need some extra tips here and there. >> jimmy: no, i don't think so. i think you're a pro. i mean, but, does this mean you're going to stop doing movies? >> no, no, no. >> jimmy: you got to do more. >> no, no, no we always do movies. >> jimmy: you got to make some time for that, right? >> i mean, it's you know, that talk show schedule is really tough. but we'll probably be shooting in l.a. if i can't do movies my

when oprah said she was going to do it.initial deal was nbc and i said, please call and let them know i was interested. i didn't know she would want me and didn't want to assume she would want me. i gave a call and came over and i signed the deal and thrilled to be there. >> when you came over, titans of american television, trailblazer, what has the relationship like between you? >> i feel like she's the smarter prettier older sister you want to be like. she's intimidating to be around her. the most powerful woman in our lifetime, most successful woman in the history of media. >> why? >> she has a reach unbelievable. she has a satellite everyone receives and her authenticity and truthfulness is unparalleled. >> i found her completely real. i was stunned how nice she was to me, had no reason to be. it's my variananniversary week week, you're a great guest to have. oprah didn't just give me an interview, went out and sold the interview and told people it was great. i thought, why are you doing this? i couldn't do anything fo