The Rachael Ray Show: Flop in the making
Posted on August 16th, 2006 by Jackie Danicki
Rachael Ray’s new chat show sounds a lot like Nigella Lawson’s (disastrous) chat show. I don’t care if Oprah’s behind it, I wouldn’t bet much money on it being a success. The format is just too unfocused; what works for Rachael Ray is cooking for people or checking out restaurants for people. Playing foosball with random people? Not so much. If I’m wrong, I’ll eat her awful mini cheeseburger salad.
And here’s a mystery for the ages: Despite the fact that I find Rachael Ray sort of annoying (because I don’t think she’s really being herself; could be wrong), why can I never resist the urge to buy her magazine or watch her shows?
Filed under: Celebrities, Food, Life, Magazines, Television
When Rachel Ray started her 30 Minute Meals revolution, I was among her fans. She seemed down to earth and a little “cutesy”. As time has gone by, her voice has become more raspy and she has become more self-important (in presentation if not in reality). I can’t watch her shows about restaurants etc. For me, she is the opposite of Bobby Flay. I didn’t like Flay at first, but as I watched more Iron Chef America and his new show “Throwdown,” especially his new show, I came to realize that Flay really likes food.
My favorite thing about “Throwdown” is that the show isn’t really a Flay vehicle, it is Flay using his cache to promote other creators of food. He is heavily promoting the guest and I love that about the show. I also prefer the Bill Nye the Science Guy-esque presentation of Alton Brown, but his personality on Good Eats is annoying (I like the info, but the skits suck). Once I saw a glimpse of Alton unscripted on America’s Next Food Network Star, I came to see that I really like his own sense of humor. His spontaneous personality is more charismatic than his scripted. Especially on Iron Chef and Feasting on Asphalt (which is my favorite road food show ever).
I don’t know if Rachel’s spontaneous personality is more or less annoying than her scripted one. I don’t even know if I will wait and see. I don’t have much interest in her talk show.
That said, I can understand buying her magazine and books. In the magazines and cookbooks I get the cuteness without the raspyness. I have started doing a Rachel Ray impersonation around the house.
But when it comes to magazines I have to admit, I never stopped buying Martha Stewart’s Living.
I stopped buying Martha Stewart Living (and Real Simple) about a year ago, when it became pure foolishness for me to have hundreds of these magazines - I am not exaggerating - in the house. I have put most of them into a huge Adidas sports bag and keep telling myself I’ll cut out the good parts and paste them into the scrapbooks I bought almost a year ago (never been touched). We’ll see.
I don’t mind RR’s raspy voice, but she just seems kinda fake.
Your intention “I’ll cut out the good parts and paste them into the scrapbooks I bought almost a year ago ” sounds very familiar to me… I have a shoebox full of recipes ripped out of magazines, whole magazines, little bits of paper with recipes scribbled on, recipes sent to me by my mom etc. Most of them have cooking stains on them, others have never been looked at! For the last three years I promised John I would sort this mess out and I actually did make a start a few weeks ago but didn’t get very far as I was sidetracked by all the other articles in the magazines! I think I managed to put five recipes into my scrapbook!