Never let anyone call Oprah slow on the draw. She loves a good plagiarist and a BS story even more. "Gee," she may have said. "It looks like fun to get paid for other people's ideas. How can I get me some of that?" The skinny (ahem) after the jump.

To be a successful plagiarist you have to pick on a nobody, someone with neither skills nor credentials. Oprah (or whoever at Harpo was awarded the thankless task) found such a person in Darlene Tracy, a Boston mother of four kids. Darlene claims that she sent her idea of a reality show where contestants help the needy to Oprah's producers in 2005. The producers asked Darlene for more information, and she put together a "fine-tuned business proposal" in March, but was told four months later that Harpo wasn't interested.

Imagine Darlene's surprise when Oprah and ABC announced their "Big Give" show in December of the following year. She immediately filed suit, but her claims have been dismissed without merit by several jurisdictions, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. She recently hired a lawyer and is trying to appeal her case with better documentation, but she's up against the most powerful woman in entertainment; she might do well just going back to the drawing board, so to speak.