Oprah Winfrey Network

After the coffee. Before learning how "The Newsroom" did. The Skinny: I saw Louis CK testing new material Sunday night at Largo. One of his funnier bits was about a trip to China and the censorship requirements there that he said had people telling him he couldn't even tell those China jokes when he was back in the U.S. CK then wondered why Hollywood is so eager to trade its freedom for entry into China. Monday's headlines include a look at the weekend box office and how the movie knockoff business is on the rise.

OWN announced Monday an exclusive partnership with Tyler Perry, which includes two new scripted series for the network that would premiere in mid-2013. The deal would make the Oprah Winfrey Network the “singular destination” for any new television series or projects from the multi-hyphenate Hollywood mogul. It also marks OWN's first foray into original scripted series as the network eases into a groove after a wobbly start. News of this new venture comes as the network has seen some improvement--with the help of interviews featuring Rihanna and the Kardashian family.

In another blow to the struggling business of network television, Oprah Winfrey is expected to announce on her program today that she will step down from her syndicated afternoon talk show, which over the last two decades has transformed her into one of the richest and most influential forces in popular culture. Although she has kept mum about her plans, Winfrey, 55, is expected to furnish a new show to OWN: the Oprah Winfrey Network, the long-delayed cable outlet she is starting in partnership with Discovery Communications.

Lance Armstrong said he will answer questions "directly, honestly and candidly" during an interview with Oprah Winfrey next week. He will also apologize and make a limited confession to using performance-enhancing drugs, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Armstrong has spent more than a decade denying that he doped to win the Tour de France seven times. Without saying whether he would confess or apologize during the taping, Armstrong told the Associated Press in a text message early Saturday, "I told her [Winfrey]

Lance Armstrong will face millions of Oprah Winfrey fans Thursday night in a play to restore his tarnished image. But Winfrey has as much to gain as the disgraced Tour de France champion cyclist. Since conceiving the Los Angeles-based Oprah Winfrey Network five years ago, the former talk show empress has burned through $300 million and almost a dozen top managers trying to reengage the 10 million fans who long ago flocked to her daily daytime open house. Viewers have had trouble finding OWN on their TV and cable systems.

As the interview with Lance Armstrong progressed Friday night, Oprah Winfrey went back and forth between emotional questions and digging into the fraud Lance Armstrong perpetrated on the sporting public and the costs associated with it. “I've lost all future income,” Armstrong said matter of factly. “You could look at the day or two days when (sponsors) left. I don't like thinking about it, but that was a $75 million day.” Armstrong did show some more emotion when talking about his mother.

MTV's"Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew" will crown its seventh champion  Wednesday, and an all-girl crew made up of members from Los Angeles and Hawaii is poised to take the crown. The reign of 8 Flavahz could be upon us. The dancers, who range in age from 10 to 17, met at a dance competition in Las Vegas. They clicked, so the Honolulu contingent -- that's Tamara Rapp (17), Camren Bicondova (12), Summer Waikiki (12) and Tiara Rapp (17) -- invited their new friends from Los Angeles -- Kaelynn Gobert-Harris (16)

An estimated 28 million viewers around the world watched Oprah Winfrey's high-profile interview with cyclist Lance Armstrong on television and online platforms. Telecasts of the interview on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, in the U.S. on Thursday and Friday nights attracted about 12 million viewers, the cable channel said in a statement Tuesday.  OWN said an additional 15 million viewers around the world watched Armstrong's confessional interview, which was conducted last week in an Austin, Texas, hotel.

Oprah Winfrey's new venture, a cable channel scheduled to launch next year, on Tuesday announced its first major hire: veteran television executive Robin Schwartz. Schwartz has been named president of OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, and will oversee programming, development, marketing and research. She will be tasked with carrying out Winfrey's vision for the channel and report to a yet-to-be-named chief executive. Winfrey will be chairman and chief creative officer.

After a 15-year relationship with ABC, Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films announced Tuesday that it has chosen not to renew its deal with the broadcast network to partner with HBO on scripted television series and films. Harpo Films President Kate Forte said the move will let the company, which produced the "Oprah Winfrey Presents" films for ABC, expand its repertoire. "ABC was always incredibly supportive of us," she said. "It's much more about the opportunity that HBO affords us.