ABC Follows Oprah's 'Dream'

Zap2It.com | February 7, 2007

Oprah Winfrey

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Winfrey's South African school focus of special

ABC is turning to Oprah Winfrey for an end-of-sweeps boost, mounting a special chronicling Winfrey's opening of a school for girls in South Africa.

The hour-long special, titled "Building a Dream: The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy," is scheduled to air Monday, Feb. 26. It follows the daytime-TV titan as she opens the school about 40 miles from Johannesburg. The academy currently houses 150 girls and is scheduled to triple that number next year.

The special, executive produced by Winfrey and Katy Davis, will also profile some of the students, a number of whom have had to overcome serious hardships to attend the school (the school is free for all students).

Winfrey, who has invested $40 million in the project, has been working on the Leadership Academy for nearly five years, breaking ground on the facility in December 2002. Its mission, she said at the time, is to "teach girls to be the best human beings they can ever be; it will train them to become decision-makers and leaders; it will be a model school for the rest of the world."

The special will air at 10 p.m. ET on Feb. 26, displacing "What About Brian" for the night. It's the second Winfrey-produced special airing on ABC during February sweeps; "The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special" is set for Feb. 22.