Oprah Winfrey made a surprise visit yesterday to Sweetie Pie’s, a nationally acclaimed local soul-food restaurant in St. Louis, featured on the popular OWN family docu-series “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s.”
Winfrey is in St. Louis for the live taping of “Oprah’s Lifeclass: The Tour,” being held at the Peabody Opera House on Monday, March 26 (8-10 p.m ET/PT). Winfrey, accompanied by Gayle King, surprised the “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” cast including Sweetie Pie’s owner Miss Robbie Montgomery, her son Tim Norman, his fiance Jenae Wallick and nephew Charles Crenchaw, in addition to hundreds of unsuspecting restaurant patrons dining at the restaurant.
(L-R: Robbie Montgomery, Charles Crenchaw, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Norman, T.J. Norman, Jenae Wallick, Andre Montgomery Jr.) Photo Credit: 2012 Harpo, Inc./George Burns
The popular family docu-series “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” will return with all-new episodes Saturday, March 31 at 9 p.m ET/PT on OWN. The cast will also be featured during Monday’s live “Oprah’s Lifeclass: The Tour” episode. Additionally, Charter Communications will launch OWN HD to subscribers in the St. Louis area beginning April 2012.
Oprah Winfrey surprises Robbie Montgomery, star of OWN’s “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” at her soul-food restaurant in St. Louis while in town for the live premiere of “Oprah’s Lifeclass: the Tour,” premiering on OWN Monday, March 26 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT (L-R: Miss Robbie Montgomery, Oprah Winfrey) Photo Credit: 2012 Harpo, Inc./George Burns
About “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” (returns Saturday, March 31 from 9-10 p.m. ET/PT, 8-9 p.m. CT)
Returning with all-new episodes Saturday, March 31 (9-10 p.m. ET/PT) on OWN, “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” follows former Ikette Miss Robbie Montgomery and her dynamic family at their St. Louis soul food restaurant Sweetie Pie’s. A backup singer for the soul duo sensation Ike and Tina Turner in the 1960’s, Robbie Montgomery spent much of her time on tour cooking for the band. After her lung collapsed and she could no longer sing, Robbie took her mother’s age-old soul food recipes and opened the restaurant known as Sweetie Pie’s. Now with two successful locations, Miss Robbie is upping the ante and preparing to open a third with the help of her son and business partner, Tim. As Tim and his fiancee, Jenae, tend to their newborn son and plan their wedding, Miss Robbie – who, at 71, has never been married – continues to look for love and keep her family in line, especially her wise-cracking nephew Lil’ Charles. “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” follows the loud, loving and still very music Montgomery family as they struggle with the demands of expanding their family-owned business and creating a legacy to pass on to soulful generations one dish at a time. Produced by Pilgrim Studios, Executive Producers are Craig Piligian, Jenn Duncan, Jeff Keane, Tim Brietbach and Steve Luebbert. Join the conversation on Twitter using #SweetiePies.
About “Oprah’s Lifeclass: The Tour” (premieres Monday, March 26 live from St. Louis Peabody Opera House from 8-10 p.m. ET/PM, 7-9 p.m. CT)
Oprah Winfrey takes her popular on-air and online series on tour as she takes the stage as teacher in one of the world’s biggest classrooms to share and discuss the principles that guide her life. Winfrey is joined by hand-picked experts including Bishop T.D Jakes and inspirational author Iyanla Vanzant at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, spiritualist Deepak Chopra and business and life strategist Tony Robbins at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and all four guest experts will appear live from the Metro Toronto Convention Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “Oprah’s Lifeclass: The Tour” will again engage fans online with live streaming at Oprah.com and feature a digital classroom (www.oprah.com/lifeclass) with all-new course work to accompany episode themes. The series is produced by Harpo Studios and recently won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Talk Series. Follow @OprahsLifeclass on Twitter and join the conversation using #OprahsLifeclass.
About Charter Communications
Charter Communications is a leading broadband communications company based in St. Louis and the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States. Charter provides a full range of broadband services, including Charter Internet and provides broadband service to the Peabody Opera House, site of “Oprah’s Lifeclass: The Tour” in St. Louis.
About OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network
A joint venture between Harpo, Inc. and Discovery Communications, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network is a multi-platform media company designed to entertain, inform and inspire people to live their best lives. OWN debuted on January 1, 2011, in approximately 77 million homes on what was the Discovery Health Channel. The venture also includes the award-winning digital platform, Oprah.com. For more information, please visit www.oprah.com/own and www.press.discovery.com/us/own
