The actor has revealed Ryan & Tatum: The O’Neals, which aired on Oprah’s OWN network, didn’t end well for father and daughter and they haven’t spoken for two months – since filming wrapped – but he insists it could have been a lot different if Winfrey had been a part of the series.
He tells Access Hollywood Live, “We never saw her, never spoke to her, not a note, not a line, not a word… I don’t think she was even in Los Angeles (where the show was filmed). I guess she thought we’d take care of it ourselves.
“One of the reasons we did it (the show) is that Oprah has a kind of a magical touch and that, with the combination of Oprah and hope, she (Tatum) and I could manage to get past what was bothering us. But we needed her and she didn’t show.”
And now the actor fears there won’t be a season two for the show: “I don’t think there is a season two. Did I open up? I tried. Does Tatum like me any better? No. So what’s the point?
“Perhaps, if we did a second season, we could close some of those doors, but no one ever seemed to watch it (the show) anyway. The Oprah channel could use some publicity. They should spend a little money on it by the way, Oprah. That’s between you and me.”
But the series wasn’t a complete disaster – O’Neal now has a new lodger: “Her (Tatum’s) son lives with me now in Malibu. I lost one, I got someone else. It’s a tricky family. There’s so much pride and there is so much injury, it’s very difficult.”
Ryan and Tatum fell out when she was a teenager and he fell in love with Farrah Fawcett. Father and daughter have waged a bitter public feud ever since over allegations he abandoned his kids. Earlier this year (11), Ryan told newsman Piers Morgan he feared his dramas with Tatum had hastened Fawcett’s death. She lost her battle with cancer in 2009.
