"Kidnapped by the Kids": When Oprah was Almost Kidnapped by a Kid

"Kidnapped by the Kids" will be one of the new shows to debut on Oprah's new network. But did you know that Oprah was almost kidnapped by a kid once?

Okay, it didn't happen in real life. I just saw "Oprah" and "Kidnapped by the Kids" and it instantly brought to mind an episode of "The Boondocks" where young Riley and his wannabe gangsta friends Ed and Rummy attempt to kidnap Oprah at a book signing (unfortunately, they go to the wrong book signing and accidentally kidnap Maya Angelou instead).

My thought process upon seeing the title of this new show is probably evidence that I'm not much of an Oprah fan, but "Kidnapped by the Kids" sounds yawn-worthy even by daytime television standards. Basically the show focuses on kids that get to kidnap their workaholic daddies for a week of camping and bonding. It actually sounds less exciting than "Sarah Palin's Alaska", and the Entertainment Weekly review of the first episode makes it sound like the poor dad focused on was tortured just as much as any animal that makes an appearance on Sarah Palin's show (he gets ambushed at the airport and his wife takes quite a few shots at him, apparently).

It's fairly obvious that "Kidnapped by the Kids" is pandering to stay-at-home moms frustrated with fathers too busy trying to keep food on the table to spend enough time with the family. But if the show really wanted to be fair, why not make the wife go take a stab at daddy's job while he takes over parenting duty? (I'm sure the father's company would be glad to give her a shot if Oprah offered to pay a fee and cover any damages she might do).
Or here's an even better idea inspired by "The Boondocks" episode: let the kids kidnap Oprah. They'd get to spend her money however they like and make her go wherever they want and do whatever they want.

Housewives would be happy to finally get to see Oprah play mommy, and it would be interesting to see what kids would do with unlimited funds (although I'd hate to see a kid like Riley actually kidnap Oprah). But the best part would be when the kids are finally brought back to their parents with their lavish lifestyle suddenly ripped away from them: mommy and daddy would both look like losers, and Oprah would have a show on her hands that fans of all ages would enjoy seeing.

SOURCES:
http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/01/01/kidnapped-by-the-kids-oprah-winfrey-network/