Tough Times for Rachael Ray (and a Note on TNFNS)
Monday, July 07, 2008 | posted by Mike
First up, I think we're officially in the home stretch with The Next Food Network Star. Mrs. TVFF turned to me last night during the episode and stated that she didn't see a watchable star among the group. She may be right, but last night did give me a bit of hope that the eventual winner can handle him/herself on camera pretty well. I'm still not sold that there is a compelling food program coming from one of these folks, but I'll take a show with someone who works well off a prompter.Saw the quick commercial for the new Ted Allen show. I know the idea that it was close to Good Eats was thrown out there, and the slightly zany nature of GE is on display, but from a content standpoint, it definitely looks like a food-centric MythBusters.
Ahh, Rachael. We haven't talked much about Ms. Ray lately, mostly because I'm nowhere near a TV when her show is on. But we have been able to track her rising star as she went from how-to host to veritible media maven, so we like to keep tabs. As you may have heard, life hasn't been too good for her during the past week or so.
First, there was word that she's writing her memoirs, which received a scathing mention from the always-bitchy Ted Casablanca. Be sure to check it out. There's apparently some drama about the name of the forthcoming book.
I know what you're thinking: Hey, this is good news. If she's writing a memoir, that must mean that she's really made it...she's truly important.
That's where you're wrong. The fact of the matter is that, unless your name is Winston Churchill or Bob Dylan, you're not interesting enough to actually warrant having your life and thoughts chronicled. The only requisite for a memoir is an audience willing to buy it. This is no slight to Rachael, but we already knew she was popular, and a memoir is always more about the writer's ego than his or her imparting wisdom to the world.
It's not the life story that lets us know that Rachael has entered the upper echelon of media personalities. It's the news that a former employee on her show is suing for discrimination. Welcome to the big time, Rach.
A former accountant for Rachael Ray’s cooking show has filed a $1 million lawsuit saying he was forced out of his job because he has an eating disorder.
Aaron Ferguson says in Manhattan court papers that he has suffered from anorexia for about six years. He says his supervisor repeatedly exhibited "hostile behavior" and made "vile," discriminatory and hurtful comments.
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The lawsuit names CBS Corp., CBSTD Inc., and three individual employees of the show as defendants. Ray is not named.
Labels: Rachael Ray, The Next Food Network Star
