most ambitious endeavor of her career. a 24-houring television channel dedicated entirely to the vision of oprah winfrey. i could take every hero who inspired me the launch of o.w.n. is a huge deal in the television business. reporter: tv expert matthew bellini says he knows what o.w.n. s greatest strength and challenge will be. oprah, she has a huge advantage in launching a network, because she is a brand. the danger is that the programming may not live up to the brand. i mean, that s the big question mark. reporter: here s how oprah plans to answer that question. this is a time for new beginnings. reporter: in ask oprah s all-stars, a live audience goes one on one. master class profiles eight world icons. season 25 takes fans behind the scenes of oprah s hit talk show, while big bowl of love invites viewers into the kitchen of christina ferrari.
this is cnn saturday morning. great to see you. good saturday morning. i m susan hendricks. thanks so much for starting your year with us today. coming up over the next few hours, a look at new year s celebrations, as we just saw, across the nation. plus, homeland security chief janet napolitano is ringing in the new year in a war zone. we will take you live to afghanistan this hour where she has greeted troops and diplomats alike. next hour, it s movie time. we ll check out what s coming to a theater near you this weekend and whether any oscar contenders are in the mix. i ll give you a hint, there are. and at noon eastern, celebrities in and out of court, new laws, and lots of lawsuits. our legal guys look back at some of the high-profile cases of 2010. our top story. a deadly start to the new year in parts of the south and midwest. many communities are in recovery mode this morning, after a tornado outbreak killed at least six people in arkansas and missouri. high
own, o-w-n and has us talking, what s at stake? will it seed? kareen wynter takes us to the scene. reporter: the final countdown, officially under way. to the day millions of oprah winfrey fans have been waiting for, the launch of her very own cable tv network. it all begins here. reporter: it s arguably the most ambitious endeavor of her career. a 24-hour television channel dedicated entirely to the vision of oprah winfrey. i could take every hero who inspired me. it is a huge deal in the television business. reporter: tv expert matthew bellini says he knows what the greatest strength and challenge will be. oprah, she has a huge advantage in launching a network because she is a brand. the danger is that the programming may not live up to the brand. i mean, that s the big question mark. reporter: here s how oprah plans to answer this question. this is a time for new beginnings.
under way. to sidney, australia, we go. where 2011 arrived just last hour and what a celebration. more than 1.5 million revelers gathered at the famed oprah house to usher in the new decade. revelers in new zealand with the largest fireworks display since the millennium celebrations and as other countries in other time zones get ready to ring in the new year, we begin with the cross roads of the world. new york s times square. did they dig out all of that snow? cnn s allan chernoff has a bird s eye view. are they ready for it? reporter: i m wondering, hey, where are the people? you know, it s not new year s eve unless you stood out in the cold for 15 hours waiting for the ball to drop. i have an expert to answer that question for us. tim thompkins, president of the times square alliance. where are the people? what s going on? don t worry. they will show up. reporter: are you sure? they will. a lot of noise. reporter: i hate to throw a party and not have anybody come
16-ounce packages. probably better than here, although it s going to be nice for new year s eve. a live look at the party there. said to be their biggest celebration since the new millennium. this might be the only new year i wore my red crush velvet for you. it s all good. a few blocks away in time square, people already showing up for a celebration still 18 hours away. and the city s dealing with a few new challenges this year. on top of all of the security, oh, yeah, piles and piles of snow. and allegations that clean-up workers let it sit on purpose. allan chernoff is live in time square for us this morning. good morning, allan. reporter: good morning, christine. and my question is, hey, where is the party? don t these people know that we re only 18 hours a way from a new year? come on, i m in the middle of the planet, time square and there s nobody here. i m assuming that eventually people are going to show up for this party. and when they do, it ll be an inc