Evelyn Lozada to Appear on OWN's 'Iyanla'

Oprah Winfrey's struggling cable network OWN has had some brushes with success as of late but they have all come when the talk-show goddess has sat down and interviewed headliners.

When Winfrey chatted up Bobbi Kristina Brown in March, a month after her mother Whitney Houston tragically died, for instance, "Oprah's Next Chapter" drew a record 3.5 million viewers -- the network's highest ratings to date. Winfrey's interview with pop singer Rihanna last month pulled in 2.5 million viewers and her sit-down with the Kardashians back in June garnered 1.2 million.

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Now the network is taking on the hot pile of controversy that is Chad Johnson and his estranged wife, Evelyn Lozada. The reality star filed for divorce after an alleged domestic abuse dispute that also set social media networks ablaze with a myriad of reactions and comments for and against her.

The thing is, Winfrey is not interviewing Lozada. Instead, she will appear on the two-part premiere of "Iyanla: Fix My Life," a show hosted by life coach and Oprah all-star, Iyanla Vanzant.

While Vanzant gets Lozada to open up about her toxic relationship with her spotlight loving NFL hubby, he's also not on the show. Just under 1 million people tuned in to watch Johnson get fired from the Miami Dolphins on "Hard Knocks" last month. That's the HBO show's best ratings since 2002.

So if there is no Winfrey and no Johnson, will people tune in?

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Lozada isn't exactly a media darling. After reports came out that Johnson had head butted her, causing her to end their marriage after just 41 days, many "Basketball Wives" fans (the VH1 reality show Lozada co-stars on) came out and said Lozada is violent and short-tempered on the series. VH1 quickly canceled "Ev & Ocho" shortly after Johnson's domestic-abuse related arrest. The "Basketball Wives" spinoff chronicled the couple's journey to the altar.

While Vanzant will presumably help Lozada see the error of her ways, at the end of the day, Vanzant, Winfrey, OWN and even Lozada need people to tune in and "Basketball Wives" pulls in an average 2.2 million viewers. Perhaps if all of the fans from that show and "Hard Knocks" tune in, "Iyanla: Fix My Life" will be a ratings hit -- at least during its two-week premiere.

"Iyanla: Fix My Life" debuts Saturday, Sept. 15 and 22, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on OWN.