Oprah: Thank you, Mr. Man

Last night's "30 Rock" reminded us why Oprah remains the queen of media. It wasn't so much what she did - which was funny and self-deprecating enough - but how she was treated by Liz Lemon and the other characters, as some sort of all-powerful goddess of self-improvement. And while it was a funny spoof of the Oprah phenomenon, NBC's relentless promotion of the episode was much more straightforward. That's one of the things I love most about "30 Rock:" Tina Fey and crew understand their network so well that they're able to mock it in real time. Has there ever been such a meta sitcom?

As for Oprah...it's been a good week for her. She held her triumphant live show on Wednesday, whooping it up in a "Hope Won" t-shirt and waving an American flag. She talked about finally lifting her ban on discussing politics on the show -- though that always seemed a bit artificial, since everyone knew where her loyalties lay. She interviewed a panel of political experts: David Gergen, perhaps the season's top sage-veteran TV panelist; Harvard's Henry Louis Gates Jr.; Gloria Steinem; U.S. Rep. John Lewis; and Peggy Noonan, who has been beautifully eloquent in print this season, but who seemed a little loopy on the air. And in a pleasantly Oprah moment, she thanked "Mr. Man" -- the anonymous guy seen pictured with her at Obama's Grant Park victory rally -- for allowing her to cry on his shoulder. Turns out he's an Obama campaign worker, and he'll appear on Oprah's show today at 4 p.m.