Oprah begins 'Next Chapter' with Steven Tyler interview

"Oprah's Next Chapter," the new series starring Oprah Winfrey and also her interview subjects, went on the air Sunday night without a review tape having gone out.

But the two-hour interview of Steven Tyler, the Aerosmith frontman and "American Idol" judge, suggests the show has nothing to hide. Winfrey may not be daily in our living rooms anymore, but she still knows how to steer a celebrity chat.

Maybe there's a little more about the interviewer than you would ultimately like, but this is still a fascinating conversation, one that, believe it or not, comes close to justifying the extraordinary length.

Tyler is equal parts ex-druggie, shaman, charlatan and showman, and Winfrey mostly makes him own up to his irresponsible behavior as they talk at his Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire, home, near where he grew up.

This does not, however, feel like the show that is going to save Winfrey's OWN cable channel, which starts its second year still seeking identity and ratings. Good celebrity interviews are fine, but they already happen elsewhere on TV, as well, with Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer and the like providing similar content for ! the netw orks, although not on a weekly schedule.

Future episodes of "Oprah's Next Chapter" will see her talking to filmmaker George Lucas and telling a dinner table full of Hasidic Jews that she is shocked they've never watched TV.