Jenny McCarthy Exits Production Deal With Oprah’s Harpo Studios

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Oprah Winfrey is officially in place as CEO of her OWN network.

She Facebooked a photo of herself in a sparse office with the caption, "Here I am "CEO-ing" in my new office at OWN in LA!!" The photo got more than 10,000 comments, including, "You need to get Nate in there!" referring to her protege, designer Nate Berkus.

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Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Jenny McCarthy has ended her production deal with Winfrey's Harpo Studios to create a syndicated talk show.

A Harpo rep tells THR: "Harpo Studios was working with Jenny McCarthy to develop a potential syndicated series.  The parties mutually agreed several months ago not to move forward with the project."

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Reports that McCarthy was developing her show for OWN are "incorrect," the rep adds. McCarthy was a frequent guest on Winfrey's talk show speaking about autism, which she says she's cured her son from, and finding hapiness in life.

The New York Post reports that McCarthy may have shopped it to NBC. "We do not comment on projects in development," a network spokesperson told the paper.

With Winfrey's show off the air, her website traffic has also taken a 50 percent tumble, according to stats on compete.com. Winfrey gave Discovery Communications Oprah.com as part their deal.

Ad pages have declined 31.4 percent in Winfrey's O magazine, the Media Industry Newsletter also recently reported. Monthly magazines are down overall 7 percent.

OWN has struggled in the ratings since launching in January. After an executive shakeup, Winfrey was named CEO and chief creative officer earlier this month. Her anticipated talk show follow-up Oprah’s Next Chapter will debut in 2012.

Lindsay.Powers@thr.com; @LKPE

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