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Most people in the world would trade problems with Oprah in a second. It's fairly insulting that we have to be subjected to this "news".

This is America, where people lie to make money every day. I find nothing shocking about Frey's tactics; he and his publisher just happened to get caught.

Capitalism has been so kind to Oprah. I admire her quest for some kind of moral stand, but ridiculous amounts of money and its accompanying lifestyle seem to have blinded her to the realities of most American lives. The criticism I have for her is not that she flipflopped on this issue, but that she squandered any of her considerable influence and airwaves privileges on something so inane and irrelevant to the real world.

In an age where our elected officials are lying to us every day, and multitudes of people are dying as a result, I can hardly feign interest in how many days Frey spent in jail, or what drugs he did, or why, much less feel sorry for poor Oprah for choosing to showcase such an idiot.

She is doing great work in Africa, however, and deserves much credit for that.

Others have made similar observations about the relative importance of this issues versus others that clearly matter much more. The again, Oprah did have her reputation at stake on this one.

I agree in part with Chewie when he said "people lie to make money every day. I find nothing shocking about Frey's tactics; he and his publisher just happened to get caught." I never understood the big deal about this guy's book anyway. Who is he really anyway?

I just don't get the hype. If a celebrity of some sort or a politician (like Hillary Clinton, for instance) lied in their autobiography (like Hillary Clinton, for instance), I could understand the fuss. But this guy was Joe Nobody, so who really cares?

Because I also agree with Oprah's statement that this was "much ado about nothing"precisely because the guy is a Joe Nobody. In the large scheme of things, it doesn't matter. It's like "The Amityville Horror". That book was touted as non-fiction, but it was all B.S. that didn't matter anyway. So Joe Nobody lies to make a buck. Let that be on his conscience. People who feel cheated can go ask for their money back just like they would any other product. This is just an overblown, stupid story and I can't believe how much time has been wasted on it in the media.

What made this a big story was that fact that he made that BIG BUCK BECAUSE Oprah believed him and promoted his book. And No, people can not take their book back and get their money back. The law provides them with so many days and then it is too late. If the book has been read from cover to cover it is a used book. A used rather pathetic, poorly written book at that from the excerpts I read. So it wasn't that Oprah was "had" it was all the people who bought the book on her recommendation who were "had". She is doing a lot of good with her book club and her usually very good recommendations. If nothing else she is getting people to read even if the reading does not help them with their problems. She had to make a big show of this to regain her reputation, but more specifically to regain people's respect for her and the integrity of her recommendations.

What bothered me most is the fact that since Oprah now has the power to "make" an author, that she would waste time that could be devoted to "making" another author on a return visit by Mr. Frey just so Oprah can save face.

A better tactic for Oprah would have been to issue a statement (press release) saying, "I'm sorry I made the mistake of bringing this liar (Mr Frey) on my television show and he will never be invited to return. In the future we will try harder to screen the authors we invite on the show."

By bringing Frey back on simply so she could humiliate him publicly was lowering Oprah to Frey's level.

I can forgive Oprah for Mr. Frye's first visit. But did Oprah do the right thing by bringing him back? Not by me, she didn't.

I agree with Billy. I think she could have easily put aside the first few minutes of her show and said something along the lines of "after further reflection and investigation, I've discovered that James Frey did lie about events in his biography. I apologize for not doing my due diligence before recommending this book and endorsing this author. I will do my level best not to let something of this nature happen again. Thank you" and then gone on with the show's real topic, like lies, more lies and the lying liars who tell them.

But, alas, there would have been no drama in that.