Way to go, Rachael!

I kind of feel like I missed the opportunity to give my first impression of the "Rachael Ray Show." I was going to list the things that I like and the things I don’t like, but after reading some articles online, that has already been done. Rachael is everywhere!…on TV, in the paper, and of course, analyzed all over the place online. After watching the first episode, I almost felt speechless, there was so much going on. The new set, Rachael in front of an audience, the 60 second snack and 7 minute meal, the videos and testimonials, and of course, all the screaming. It seemed to slow down a little bit on the second day, when Oprah was there and Rachael was showing her around the set and explaining the different areas. I understand now the initial visual assault and fast & frenetic pace, I’m sure they wanted to hook viewers on the first day. I thought the garage where the bands will play was too cute. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that someday she’ll have Barry Manilow as a guest, but I just can’t picture him as the grunge singer in the garage.

After three episodes, Rachael seems to have adapted to interacting with and speaking in front of a crowd. The first day she was constantly shouting, and now she has "found her voice." The kids yesterday were so adorable, especially the little girl! I’m kind of disappointed that a lot of the recipes have already been in the magazine. The good part, though, is that I won’t have to go online to look them up. I guess that's the trend, to have online tie-ins. I noticed that with the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, there is a lot that they encourage viewers to pursue on the website, for more information and/or details. I live in the country where DSL is not available. Even though I have internet access, the bandwidth-heavy material is not anything I have the patience to wait for. I’ll have to look up the "pizz-o" recipe, that looked easy and delicious, and something different than regular pizza.

Anyway, I’m definitely on Rachael overload (that's good, not bad!). Part of me feels "possessive" of her, I felt like she was "ours" on the Food Network and now she has a whole new audience with her talk show. Of course I wish her all the success in the world, and this is such a great opportunity for her to get exposed to the mainstream public. Her down-to-earth personality comes through, for example, when she sat down in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. She’s everybody’s friend.

I hope she finds her own voice once she is more comfortable with her show. I recognized bits & pieces from other shows, like the phrase "in the house" from "Emeril Live," and her "favorite things" like Oprah does. By the way, this is the first talk show that I’ve watched regularly. I’ve seen a bunch of them but mostly in the context that Barry Manilow was doing some promotional appearance.

I’ve enjoyed seeing more of the personal side of Rachael, on her own promotional appearances, such as "Larry King Live." The segment where she took him shopping was adorable. Some of his questions were off-the-wall but I thought she handled them well, answered them intelligently vs. giving a beauty queen superficial and tangential answer.

Overall, I give the show a thumbs up. It’s such a pick-me-up and I catch myself smiling while I’m watching it. It seems the sort of show that if I’m feeling down, I know that after an hour I’ll be feeling better. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Food Network comes up with for Paula Deen's new show.