The Rachael Ray Show - General Discussion

[seasons]

That huge swag of dried flowers hanging above that big fireplace with the blazing drives me crazy. I know the glass doors are closed,but still.... Why risk it when your house already burned down. *smh*

 

 

Edited September 24, 2021 by seasons

[Yeah No]

On 9/24/2021 at 2:43 PM, seasons said:

That huge swag of dried flowers hanging above that big fireplace with the blazing drives me crazy. I know the glass doors are closed,but still.... Why risk it when your house already burned down. *smh*

I get it, you thought this was a thread for "The Rachael Ray Show" itself, not "Food Network Star".  For some reason this board has never had a thread for that show.  I agree with you about the dried flowers and have thought the same myself.  Why does she need to have fireplaces going all the time anyway?  Just begging for trouble.

[seasons]

On 9/30/2021 at 1:43 AM, Yeah No said:

I get it, you thought this was a thread for "The Rachael Ray Show" itself, not "Food Network Star".  For some reason this board has never had a thread for that show.  I agree with you about the dried flowers and have thought the same myself.  Why does she need to have fireplaces going all the time anyway?  Just begging for trouble.

Thanks a lot for pointing this out @Yeah No.

I asked mods to create a new thread for the ABC RR show.

 

 

But I can't help myself until then! - I hope she is ok. She looks not good today. Looks like she hasn't even brushed her hair. And not in a good messy fun way.

Edited October 5, 2021 by seasons

[Yeah No]

2 minutes ago, seasons said:

Thanks a lot for pointing this out @Yeah No.

I asked mods to create a new thread for the ABC RR show.

Thank you!!

[Emma Snyder]

Quote

The perky TV chef and cookbook author welcomes celebrity guests, prepares recipes and offers lifestyle tips in this weekday series. 'Entertainment Tonight' veteran Janet Annino is the executive producer.

 

[seasons]

On 10/5/2021 at 6:14 PM, Emma Snyder said:

 

Thanks, @emmawoodhouse!

 

Thanks, @Emma Snyder! 🙃

Edited October 6, 2021 by seasons

[Emma Snyder]

21 minutes ago, seasons said:

Thanks, @emmawoodhouse!

Incorrect Emma...but you're welcome 😺

[seasons]

7 hours ago, Emma Snyder said:

Incorrect Emma...but you're welcome 😺

Oh gosh! Sorry about that! 🙃

[Emma Snyder]

2 minutes ago, seasons said:

Oh gosh! Sorry about that! 🙃

LOL just teasing, no worries 😃

[Yeah No]

Finally, a thread for this show!  Bring on the snark!

I'll start.  Suddenly this season John's video photography when she's cooking is so unsteady you'd think he drank a whole pitcher of one of his cocktails beforehand!  He was so much better last season.  He is so far up her rear end he lets every sideswipe and humiliating insult go right past him, LOL.

I am sooo tired of the at-home shows.  I fast forward through most of them.  This is one of those shows I just can't seem to stop watching altogether.

She keeps talking about going back to the studio but it hasn't happened yet.  That should be interesting.

[rcc]

Is it me or does she seem tipsy most of the time?

[emmawoodhouse]

6 hours ago, rcc said:

Is it me or does she seem tipsy most of the time?

Probably. Same with skeevy John. 

[finnzup]

8 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Is it me or does she seem tipsy most of the time?

It's a toss up between tipsy, angry and condescending to John.  Not to mention they both always look so dirty, as though they haven't showered and have been up all night drinking.

I really used to enjoy RR in the early years with her 30 Minute Meals but she has evolved into a character that is not so enjoyable anymore.

[Yeah No]

15 hours ago, rcc said:

Is it me or does she seem tipsy most of the time?

She's so fake and OTT as it is, it's hard for me to tell.

54 minutes ago, finnzup said:

It's a toss up between tipsy, angry and condescending to John. 

He is so far up her ass it's nauseating.  The way she condescends him and he just lets it roll with a smile.  He knows which side his bread is buttered on.  I do wonder if he's that way in private, though.  I've heard their arguments are legendary.

[ByaNose]

Why is she still working from home & putting her crew out of work? Her husband looks like some vagrant she found in alley. She looks like a mess but I guess she’s doing her own hair & makeup which isn’t everyone’s specialty. She was interviewing someone (can’t recall whom) and, had a roaring fireplace which looked beautiful. I would love to have an open kitchen like that with a fireplace like they do. I’m assuming this home is in upstate New York as her main home had burned down which was a shame. I haven’t watched the show in years but happen to turn it on last week. I never really got into her recipes though. I’m a very boring meat and potatoes kind of person with very little vegetable intake. I know! I know! LOL!!!!

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Why is she still working from home & putting her crew out of work? Her husband looks like some vagrant she found in alley. She looks like a mess but I guess she’s doing her own hair & makeup which isn’t everyone’s specialty. She was interviewing someone (can’t recall whom) and, had a roaring fireplace which looked beautiful. I would love to have an open kitchen like that with a fireplace like they do. I’m assuming this home is in upstate New York as her main home had burned down which was a shame. I haven’t watched the show in years but happen to turn it on last week. I never really got into her recipes though. I’m a very boring meat and potatoes kind of person with very little vegetable intake. I know! I know! LOL!!!!

FYI, she's supposed to go back into the studio part time starting this Wednesday, so that should be interesting.  The set has been completely made over and there are couches for the audience.

Tomorrow she's supposed to take us through her recently renovated villa in Italy.

Her upstate NY house was rebuilt and she has shown clips of that progress on the show and online.  Also, she had just finished renovating her NY apartment when it got flooded during Hurricane Ida, then it got completely ruined when the flood remediation company had a mishap with the drying heaters.  Not sure what happened there, but she described it as "everything melting including the walls".

[finnzup]

14 hours ago, ByaNose said:

Her husband looks like some vagrant she found in alley

Had to lol at that one because it's true and sorry to say but Rach looks like the bag lady pushing the grocery cart around him, imo.

[ByaNose]

I just realized why I haven’t seen this show in ages. I had no idea that it had left our number #1 Philadelphia affiliate (Ch.6 WPVI). I saw an ET spot about the new studio and I wanted to record it. I couldn’t find it on my grid and I had to talk into my useless Comcast remote that never understands me to locate it. It really must have lost viewers and numbers for them to drop it. It was on the same station that Oprah was on for its entire run and The View since the beginning. I had no idea. 

[Badbea99]

18 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I just realized why I haven’t seen this show in ages. I had no idea that it had left our number #1 Philadelphia affiliate (Ch.6 WPVI). I saw an ET spot about the new studio and I wanted to record it. I couldn’t find it on my grid and I had to talk into my useless Comcast remote that never understands me to locate it. It really must have lost viewers and numbers for them to drop it. It was on the same station that Oprah was on for its entire run and The View since the beginning. I had no idea. 

It’s still on my channel 6 Philly WPVI. recording daily on my DVR at 2 pm..

[ByaNose]

12 minutes ago, Badbea99 said:

It’s still on my channel 6 Philly WPVI. recording daily on my DVR at 2 pm..

OMG! You are so right. I don’t know what I was looking at. I was just shocked at the thought that after 16 years that 6abc would ump the show. Now, if we can just lose that stupid GMA3 at 1pm. At least, to me it’s dumb. I guess it’s their version of the 3rd hour like Today. Although, I’m not sure what I replace it with. ABC doesn’t have another soap and there sooooo many talk shows as it is. There are really only 3 choices for daytime (for ABC) which are a talk show, game show or a cooking/lifestyle show. As of now, Rachel competes against The Talk, Dr. Oz and Kelly Clarkson. Thanks again. 

[CynicalGirl]

Ha, I always wondered why there wasn't a thread here for Rachael's show. She's certainly as snark-worthy as the Pioneer Woman!

[Intuition]

On 10/13/2021 at 11:48 PM, CynicalGirl said:

Ha, I always wondered why there wasn't a thread here for Rachael's show. She's certainly as snark-worthy as the Pioneer Woman!

There used to be a thread on TWOP but after that shut down there was never a thread started here.  I think by that time people were all snarked out about her.

In my area her show used to be on another channel but was moved this season.  The ratings certainly aren't what they used to be but somehow she still gets renewed.  The at-home format is really getting boring now.  She pads out the show with fluff like a regular salesperson hawking online merchandise, and at the end recaps of what happened in the episode.  She recorded relatively few episodes in the studio.  I don't get that - she promised that the season would be "split" between at home and studio episodes.  She takes her vacation in the warm weather but that's when it would be most safe to record the show in-studio because of low covid numbers.  I would think she'd put a priority on that.  

[DanaK]

I've been watching this on and off for awhile and more on recently as I've gotten more into cooking because of the pandemic. I like the show generally but sometimes I think Rachael downplays some meals she's cooking, making them seem much more easy than they are. She said on a recent show that a particular one-pan meal was easy, but she was doing a lot of prepping before hand. If you do a lot of prepping of ingredients beforehand, it's not an easy meal, though it might make the actual cooking a little easier (as my sister-in-law and others have indicated when preparing Thanksgiving meals by cooking most of it the day before). And it drives me a little nuts yet amazes me a little that she so casually splashes liquid ingredients around a pan and indicates how much it is; that's some skill to know that by sight. It really annoys me that she has relatives who are so demanding about their meals, including her mother who was a vegetarian for awhile. It's interesting to see how she navigates that. Given how many houses she has, this lady has a lucrative career.

I know a lot of people don't like her, but it mystifies me why there's so much hate directed at her, other than she's not a trained chef

[chessiegal]

35 minutes ago, DanaK said:

I know a lot of people don't like her, but it mystifies me why there's so much hate directed at her, other than she's not a trained chef

I think it's basically she's gotten too big for her britches. I don't mind she's not a classically trained cook. Neither is Ina Garten. When she started out on FN with her 30 Minute Meals (I've made some) she was offering food that just about anyone could make. Then stories got out that her homey tv persona is a sham. Someone who attended a taping of her show, said she completely ignored the audience when the camera was off. I read another person who had attended a food festival, and on their way home Rachael and her husband elbowed their way to the front of the security line rather than wait their turn.

As far as prepping food before cooking (called mise en place), that's how making meals from fresh ingredients works. As someone who has been cooking for decades, I appreciate a one pot meal for easy clean-up.  As far as not measuring all the ingredients, you can get away with that when you're cooking. You can't when you bake. (Except an aunt I had who made wonderful cakes and pies, and never measured anything. She judged everything by how much it was in her hand.)

[DanaK]

4 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

As far as prepping food before cooking (called mise en place), that's how making meals from fresh ingredients works. As someone who has been cooking for decades, I appreciate a one pot meal for easy clean-up. 

I guess I've been doing that subconsciously almost since I started to learn how to cook more in the last couple of years, as far as just before cooking. I do think Rachael was vastly overstating the ease of the one-pan meal she was demonstrating given all the pre-prepping of the ingredients she indicated she had done the day before. I've done a few easy one-pan meals (where I've put together a few simple ingredients just before cooking the meal) and this cooking example was not one of those

[SunnyBeBe]

I used to watch her everyday when I got home from work. I must have recorded it. That was many years ago.  I liked her back then.  Time moves on…..I don’t watch any cooking shows anymore, though I cook a bunch now.  I’m focusing on eating clean…..but also, low sodium, low carb, low bad fats, high healthy protein, Whole  grains,  and low to moderate calorie.  I’ve gotten pretty creative.  
 

I happened to catch her show today.  Her guest had his green houses burn down:(   I hope he can recover.  

Edited March 1, 2022 by SunnyBeBe

[Yeah No]

2 hours ago, chessiegal said:

3 hours ago, DanaK said:

I know a lot of people don't like her, but it mystifies me why there's so much hate directed at her, other than she's not a trained chef

I think it's basically she's gotten too big for her britches. I don't mind she's not a classically trained cook. Neither is Ina Garten. When she started out on FN with her 30 Minute Meals (I've made some) she was offering food that just about anyone could make. Then stories got out that her homey tv persona is a sham. Someone who attended a taping of her show, said she completely ignored the audience when the camera was off. I read another person who had attended a food festival, and on their way home Rachael and her husband elbowed their way to the front of the security line rather than wait their turn.

That's interesting, it could have been me although I have heard about others.  I remember posting elsewhere that when I was an "audience guest" on her show about 10 years ago she completely ignored me and the other two audience guests who were there with me for the same segment.  We had been invited to discuss our menopause symptoms with an author who came to discuss her book on the subject.  We were seated in the front row before the rest of the audience sat down, and Rachael came out early waiting for the cameras to roll but she just stood there like we didn't exist even though we were only a few feet from her and nobody else was there yet.  When I looked at her her eyes caught mine once or twice and she didn't even react!  It felt very uncomfortable to say the least!

Also, we barely got sad pineapple with toothpicks to eat in the green room meanwhile the stars on the show always talked about how great the green room food was.  I guess we didn't rate.  Then after our segment the stage assistants wanted to shoo us out of the audience altogether.  We couldn't believe it.  They weren't going to allow us to stay to watch the rest of the taping.  They told us we could watch it from the green room.  We had to beg them twice to let us as they were ushering us down the hall to the back door.  Finally after several tense minutes in the hallway they put us up in the balcony, which was fine, but there was no reason they couldn't have let us stay where we were in the front row.  They had the room so why were they acting so weird about letting us stay?

Also, while we were invited to talk about our menopausal mood swings and other emotional symptoms, the questions we were given were leading and frankly a little insulting.  Like, "How long have you been mean to your friends and family since you started going through perimenopause?"  I was shocked and didn't know how to answer.  We had already been rehearsed on possible questions but were not prepared for THIS!  I remember answering that I was never really mean to anyone, just a little down and not myself with people.  Like here I was on national television being told I was mean in front of all my friends and family!  It pissed me off!  None of the show staff ever said anything to us about meanness being the topic before the taping.  Afterward I never said anything to them about it, though.  I didn't want to give them any reason to think I really was mean, LOL.

So needless to say it wasn't the best experience.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Yeah No

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

That's interesting, it could have been me although I have heard about others. 

Your experience is what I remember. What a disappointing experience.

[Yeah No]

She always goes on about going to Mama Leone's restaurant in NYC like it was like a "trip to Italy".  I think she is romanticizing that a lot.  I understand that because it means a lot to her but I have a bone to pick about that restaurant.  My mom's Sicilian family thought it was a tourist trap.  My parents and I went there once and were not impressed.  We knew much better family run red sauce places in the boroughs that weren't tourist traps.  But we were native NY-ers and she was (as she used to call herself) "just a hick from the sticks", LOL!

[SunnyBeBe]

I ate at Mama Leone’s many years ago on a trip to NYC.  My aunt did tour groups there and I went a couple of times. Great time, but I don’t recall much about the food there.  
 

I’m disappointed to read about the bad Rachel Ray experiences.  Sometimes, people focus so much on doing their job, that they fail to do their job.  

[iwantcookies]

I went to at least 10 tapings. I went for the gifts. Otherwise it’s not worth it. You wait on line for hours outside and inside. If you get a chair lucky you. 
 

If you are inside first you got water and snacks. If you were last you got nothing because people were greedy and took many portions! 

[Yeah No]

5 hours ago, iwantcookies said:

I went for the gifts.

You got gifts?  I didn't get anything except Pop Chips and bottled water.

[iwantcookies]

20 hours ago, Yeah No said:

You got gifts?  I didn't get anything except Pop Chips and bottled water.

Heck yeah I did! Laptops, gift cards, kitchen small appliances is what I remember!

[Yeah No]

On 4/20/2022 at 9:17 PM, iwantcookies said:

Heck yeah I did! Laptops, gift cards, kitchen small appliances is what I remember!

It figures, and I was an "audience guest" too.  I thought she only gave away gifts on certain shows, like around the holidays.

[Yeah No]

Rachael looked awful on yesterday's episode and she is oblivious to the fact that Greta was lying to her about how "stylish" her jeans were.  First of all, you could see her black bra through her top and those jeans looked like diapers all saggy at the crotch.  It's literally like the "emperor's new clothes" with her.  Greta knows not to tell her the truth because Rachael is paying her.  Ughhhh.......

[Yeah No]

Still no word on whether this show is renewed for the Fall, which is very unusual at this late date.  And that's despite the halfway decent ratings, too.  Drew Barrymore has already been renewed with lower ratings.  

[DanaK]

I actually made the Savory French Toast recipe that Rachael demonstrated on the show a few weeks ago, though just the French Toast and not the strawberries and sausages, and I cut the recipe in half. I think the only real thing I would change is to get a cheaper cheese, because Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is kind of expensive ($13.99 currently for a 7 oz wedge). The supposedly slightly inferior Parmesan Cheese is maybe a little more than half the cost. I also just got a regular loaf of Italian bread. I think it's likely that ground nutmeg would suffice, but I wanted to try fresh nutmeg. All in all, it tasted good and wasn't hard to make. I have noticed that Rachael tends to use more high cost or special label ingredients at times, especially with spices, which makes it hard for the regular person to put a recipe together

The recipe https://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipes/savory-french-toast-with-strawberries-and-basil-and-sausages-bld-meal-rachael-ray

[finnzup]

Saw the The GOAT show today and omg, what a mess!!  I swear she was so drunk or  so high on something.....she was rubbing raw garlic on bread that John had grilled and then poured olive oil all over it with sound effects!!  Everything about that segment was just so wrong, she had to be on something or three sheets to the wind.

Then she interviews Jaques Pepin and is sitting at her table with her hubs and again, she looks to be in a drunken stupor.  Not only that, she looks so unkempt and dirty and it goes without saying John looks like he hasn't bathed in months.

She really used to be entertaining many years ago when she first started, now she's a trainwreck.

[chessiegal]

Oh my! I need to catch that in repeat. And with Jaques Pepin of all people.

[Yeah No]

On 7/22/2022 at 6:37 PM, finnzup said:

Saw the The GOAT show today and omg, what a mess!!  I swear she was so drunk or  so high on something.....she was rubbing raw garlic on bread that John had grilled and then poured olive oil all over it with sound effects!!  Everything about that segment was just so wrong, she had to be on something or three sheets to the wind.

Then she interviews Jaques Pepin and is sitting at her table with her hubs and again, she looks to be in a drunken stupor.  Not only that, she looks so unkempt and dirty and it goes without saying John looks like he hasn't bathed in months.

She really used to be entertaining many years ago when she first started, now she's a trainwreck.

Do you watch her often?  Because I thought this episode was just average for her these days, sound effects, yelling and all.  I guess I've just gotten used to it.  She did start to look a little tired and drunk toward the end, though.  Perhaps she had one too many of the cocktail John made.  And speaking of that, why is every cocktail he makes a variation on a negroni?  

[finnzup]

17 hours ago, Yeah No said:

Do you watch her often?

No I don't and that's probably why her 'look' and behavior are so jarring to me when I do catch her show.

I remember her as she was on 30 Minute Meals before she went loud and boisterous.

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, finnzup said:

No I don't and that's probably why her 'look' and behavior are so jarring to me when I do catch her show.

I remember her as she was on 30 Minute Meals before she went loud and boisterous.

I hear you.  I recently watched a couple of very old 30 Minute Meals and was reminded that she was like a completely different person in just about every way.

[Yeah No]

FYI The Rachael Ray Show has been renewed and will return on Monday, September 12

https://www.rachaelrayshow.com/articles/mark-your-calendars-season-17-of-rachael-is-coming-this-september

[chenoa333]

I keep forgetting she's on in a new time slot in So. California so just watched for the first time for the new season. 

It looks like she's back in her studio kitchen with the fake (?) view of Central Park in the window.

She had an actress on today, Gretchen Mol whose dress was very distracting. She looked good but her left breast showed a full hard nipple and the right breast was sunken in. Bad fashion styling? 

I don't know what the hell she was cooking today but it was layers upon layers of mushrooms,  cheese, pasta, olive oil, wine, tomatoes, garlic, more cheese, more mushrooms. Saute it, bake it then add more cheese.

Have the paramedics on stand by. Just in case you have a heart attack. Her food looks good and I know I wouldn't say no to tasting it but THAT would not be something I would make. And too much clean up afterwards. Pans, pots, bowls, various utensils. 

It must be nice to have a fully stocked spice pantry and every other accoutrement necessary for cooking delicious meals. I have salt and pepper. 😊 

Edited September 22, 2022 by chenoa333

[Yeah No]

I could have been spared the first couple of episodes this season where she showed off her newly renovated villa in Tuscany.  She's showed it off enough.  She did at least one episode last season and an entire series on another channel chronicling the renovation.  She can't stop boasting about it while the rest of us are scraping the mold off our cheese because groceries have gone up 40%.

[DanaK]

8 hours ago, chenoa333 said:

I keep forgetting she's on in a new time slot in So. California so just watched for the first time for the new season. 

It looks like she's back in her studio kitchen with the fake (?) view of Central Park in the window.

She had an actress on today, Gretchen Mol whose dress was very distracting. She looked good but her left breast showed a full hard nipple and the right breast was sunken in. Bad fashion styling? 

I don't know what the hell she was cooking today but it was layers upon layers of mushrooms,  cheese, pasta, olive oil, wine, tomatoes, garlic, more cheese, more mushrooms. Saute it, bake it then add more cheese.

Have the paramedics on stand by. Just in case you have a heart attack. Her food looks good and I know I wouldn't say no to tasting it but THAT would not be something I would make. And too much clean up afterwards. Pans, pots, bowls, various utensils. 

It must be nice to have a fully stocked spice pantry and every other accoutrement necessary for cooking delicious meals. I have salt and pepper. 😊 

Perhaps you are referring to her Mushroom Lasagna dish? https://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipes/cast-iron-mushroom-lasagna-rachael-ray

[LadyDi]

I don’t understand why I even tune in to her show when I can’t stand her.  She never lets a guest finish a sentence, she is loud and obnoxious, she is nasty and condescending to her husband and her food looks like slop.  There are so many good cooking shows on tv that this one should have been cancelled years ago.  
I’m sick of hearing about her house in Italy - we know you have a house there Rachael and you cook for dozens of people every night (yeah right)!  I guess they don’t mind eating food from someone who constantly touches her hair, face and glasses while cooking!  
I honestly think I must like hate watching or maybe it’s because I get my frustrations out yelling at my tv when she’s on, lol. 

[rcc]

In today's new episode while making sauce she was being very obnoxious with salt and sugar. I am done with this show and her phony self. 

[Yeah No]

On last Friday's show (10/7) she had a cookbook author (Tabitha Brown) on the show who bills herself as a vegan and made vegan chili.  Someone should tell her that Worcestershire sauce is not vegan because it has fish sauce (anchovies) in it!  And this is likely in her best selling cookbook too.

What is the world coming to?  You expect best selling vegan cookbook authors to know stuff like this.

[chessiegal]

10 hours ago, Yeah No said:

On last Friday's show (10/7) she had a cookbook author (Tabitha Brown) on the show who bills herself as a vegan and made vegan chili.  Someone should tell her that Worcestershire sauce is not vegan because it has fish sauce (anchovies) in it!  And this is likely in her best selling cookbook too.

What is the world coming to?  You expect best selling vegan cookbook authors to know stuff like this.

You can buy vegan Worcestershire sauce, but if she didn't specify that's what she was using, that is misleading.