James Frey is on Oprah today and Gawker had someone blogging the show while it was being taped earlier today - So James Frey is appearing on Oprah this afternoon, but we’re lucky to have an honest-to-God sneak preview for you (the show is taping live, right now, in Chicago). We’ll keep updating this post as the show progresses.
After commerical, Frey appears. Of Smoking Gun's initial investigation that broke this story, Frey says they “did a good job.” He admits to Oprah that he lied to her about jail. “I made a mistake,” he says. Oprah’s visibly pissed; it’s almost painful.
Oprah asks Frey, “Do you think you made a mistake or lied?”
Frey answers, “Probably both.” Yes, James, PROBABLY.
Publisher Nan Talese who heads an imprint of Random House's Doubleday division shows up, claims she’s had a root canal without novocaine. Considering that was likely in 1957, we don’t know how this helps Frey’s case.
Unreal: Now Frank Rich is here! He notes that this is all “amazing television.” Insightful…
Talese’s phone rings onstage. Live television is awesome.

His editor and publisher should have got his back and said, "Look, he turned this in as a roman a clef and we positioned it as a memoir to move units." -Mick FNS
So what you're saying is, Oprah tore James to pieces...a million little pieces. Try the veal, it's delicious. (I like but ~?) -dg
- - In Reply to: Try the veal posted by JHS on April 28, 2005 : What is the source and meaning of the cuurently popular phrase, "Try the veal."? --A cliché from standup comedians in comedy clubs. "I'll be here the whole week. Tip your waitress. Try the veal. You've been a great audience goodnight everybody...." Obligitory signoffs. ah.

Salon: The daytime queen didn't just expose the lies in James Frey's "memoir." She publicly shamed him -- and it was a little creepy.
Through all of this, Oprah has blamed Frey's publisher for mislabeling the book, insisting that it should have been called a novel "based on a true story" instead of a memoir. (Rumors have been floated that Doubleday, or Frey's publisher Nan Talese herself, actually took what had been a novel and rechristened it a memoir, hoping for the kinds of sales only afforded to "true stories." Talese says the book was always presented to her as a memoir.) Today, Oprah brought Talese on to prod her about this. She asked whether there weren't "red flags" in "A Million Little Pieces" that should have led Doubleday to investigate whether Frey's story was true. Citing the gruesome root canal scene, Oprah asked whether that shouldn't have been a signal that Frey was making things up. "The book is so fantastical," Oprah told Talese. Then why did Oprah herself take it at face value and sell it to her acolytes?
At one point Clark suggested that publishers should institute a ratings system for memoirs, to alert readers to how truthful a book is (an A+, or something like it, going to "State of War" author James Risen; a D to "A Child Called It" author Dave Pelzer); sadly, Oprah and the audience seemed to respond positively to this idea.

NyTimes: One former publisher said he believed that the publishing industry would have to change its practices at the behest of its biggest patron, Ms. Winfrey.
"We asked if you, your company, stood behind James's book as a work of nonfiction at the time, and they said absolutely," Ms. Winfrey said. "And they were also asked if their legal department had checked out the book, and they said yes. So how can you say that if you haven't checked it to be sure?"Ms. Talese replied that while the Random House legal department checks nonfiction books to make sure that no one is defamed or libeled, it does not check the truth of the assertions made in a book.Ms. Winfrey replied, "Well, that needs to change." ~ eh.