TVSquad

According to that journalist without peer, Ted Casablanca -- yeah, I'm sure that's his real name -- Food Network diva and Emmy-winning talk show hostess Rachael Ray is working on a new project.

No, it's not a new cookbook or anything about food or travel, her two specialties on FN. Rachael Ray is writing her memoirs, the story of a kid from upstate New York who's made in big on TV.

Rachael, who turns 40 on August 25, has had a meteoric rise on TV, and as I wrote last week, she's one of five TV stars I think have exceeded expectations. In a very short time, she's become a force with which to be reckoned.

When I look at some of the people who have emerged as today's biggest stars on TV, I scratch my head and wonder, "how did that happen?" There are a few stars who have completely exceeded my expectations -- and I bet yours, too. In fact, after you read my five (no cell phone pun intended), I'm betting that you'll have a few more overachievers to add to the list.

1) Ty Pennington
I'm not ashamed to admit that for a couple of years I was hooking on TLC's Trading Spaces. It may have been the perky Paige Davis, the home improvement on a $1,000, the cool things that the designers did in just 24 hours -- whatever it was, I was a regular viewer. Oh, yes, there was also a carpenter on the show named Ty Pennington.

• At 8, ABC has the Daytime Emmy Awards.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, followed by new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• Also at 8: Disney has The Jonas Brothers in the movie Camp Rock.
• At 8:30, Food Network has a new Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels.
• At 9, NBC has a new Dateline.
• Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who at 9.
• VH-1 has a new Best Week Ever at 9.
• At 10, History Channel has a new Shockwave.
• There's a new episode of The Soup on E! at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

It looks like Oprah is getting in bed with someone else, figuratively speaking. Sony Pictures TV will be distributing her new upcoming spin-off talk show hosted by heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz.

This marks a change from her usual relationship with CBS Television Distribution which distributes her own show as well as the spin-offs involving Doctor Phil and Rachael Ray. Dr. Oz is being perceived by many as a competitor to Dr. Phil, whose host's ethics have recently been in free-fall. CBS is already planning to launch its own spin-off of Doctor Phil called The Doctors.

Like most red-blooded Americans, I love lists. We do a lot of them here at TV Squad and you'll see them at many sites every single day of the week. But I think that sometimes the lists go too far. I mean, what's the point of listing the top 50 or top 100 of something? Isn't that a little bit too many spots? Instead of getting down to the nitty-gritty (say, a top 10 or top 25), you ended up not only listing the best, worst, most, least (or whatever the list's topic is), you're just listing all of them.

Case in point, this Forbes list of the 100 most powerful celebrities.

• At 8, The CW has a new Smackdown!
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8, followed by new episodes of NOW and Bill Moyers Journal.
• At 8:30, Food Network has a new Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels.
• HBO has a First Look at the new Incredible Hulk movie.
• At 9, NBC has a new, two hour Dateline.
• Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who at 9, then a new Battlestar Galactica.
• There's a new Man vs. Wild on Discovery at 9.
• At 10, ABC has a new 20/20.
• History Channel has a new Shockwave at 10.
• E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
• Also at 10: Comedy Central has a new Live at Gotham.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Here's the thing about game show revivals: you have to satisfy people on two levels. For fans of the old show, you have to make the gameplay of the new show familiar enough to keep them happy and coming back. And, in order to attract new fans, you have to modernize and add touches that will suck in viewers and help build drama. That's one of the reasons why most new game shows have Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-style darkened sets with swirling lights, and depend on ominous music and tight camera angles to create drama.

Million Dollar Password, premiering Sunday at 8 PM ET, has all of that. They even nabbed Millionaire's original American host, Regis Philbin, to give it that extra bit of primetime oomph. But does it work? Well... sorta. Fans of the Allen Ludden / Tom Kennedy / Bert Convy incarnations might be dissatisfied with what they've done to their old favorite, but even an objective observer can see that the gameplay has some flaws that are going to need to be worked out for the show to succeed.

Rachael Ray aired a special tribute episode for Rosie O'Donnell today, and Ellen DeGeneres' show isn't happy about it.

Rosie O'Donnell appeared on the special episode earlier today, one day after Telepictures (the company that syndicates Ellen) called and tried to get the episode pulled. That's right, a company called the day before an episode aired to try and get it pulled. Seems that Telepictures is worried that if Rachael Ray airs old footage from The Rosie O'Donnell Show (which Telepictures also syndicated), then Ellen would be beaten in the ratings.

• TLC has a Little People, Big World marathon all night.
• TNT has the NBA Playoffs all night.
• At 8, ABC has a new Wife Swap, then new episodes of Supernanny and Boston Legal.
• CBS has a new Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular at 8, followed by new episodes of Criminal Minds and CSI: NY.
• NBC has a new, two hour Deal Or No Deal at 8, then a new Law and Order.
• FOX has new episodes of 'Til Death, Back to You, and American Idol.
• The CW has a new America's Next Top Model at 8, then the series premiere of Farmer Wants A Wife.
• PBS has a new Secrets of the Dead at 8, followed by a new installment of Carrier.
• At 9, Rachael Ray guests on a new Larry King Live, on CNN.
• Sci-Fi has a new Ghost Hunters at 9.
• Also at 9: Oxygen has the new movie Husband For Hire.
• At 10, Bravo has a new Top Chef.
• Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible at 10.
• There's a new Real World on MTV at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Now we know that we're getting serious when it comes to the 2008 presidential campaign: Cindy McCain, wife of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, will co-host on The View on Monday, according to both the AP and the show's own web site. Mrs. McCain has been on the show before, appearing with her husband in 2004, and Sen. McCain has been on the show a number of times, most recently last week. But this is the first time either of them have sat with the hosts for the entire episode.

As the AP article mentions, there's no word on whether Mrs. McCain will share any recipes on the show. Why is that significant? Nothing really, just a little bit of plagiarism committed by an overzealous campaign intern; the intern reprinted recipes from various Food Network personalities, including Rachael Ray, on the campaign's web site and tried to pass them off as "McCain Family Recipes." I'm surprised people didn't get suspicious sooner, because I don't think I've ever heard either McCain say the word "Yum-o."

[via Mediabistro]

Move over, Rachael Ray! Another Food Network bird is straying for the nest to try her wings in syndication. Southern diva Paula Deen is readying a daytime cooking show for syndication in 2009. She also following Rachael's lead by not giving up her secure and lucrative connection to Food Network. Her Paula's Home Cooking and Paula's Party programs will remain Food Network staples.

The challenge for Paula will be coming up with a show that's not simply an echo of her other two shows. Unlike Rachael, who does a full-fledged talk show with a cooking segment, Paula's new effort is being called a "cooking" show. That could be limiting.

You know that movie, When Worlds Collide? Okay, maybe it won't be like that, but still. Project Runway season 4 winner Christian Siriano is doing a guest spot on ABC's Ugly Betty, according to TV Guide. As anyone knows who watched this past season -- which was fabulous! -- Christian was one of the most funny and articulate designers in quite a while on the show. And his designs weren't bad either! He's already become famous for his use of the word "fierce." Kinda like Rachael Ray has made EVOO her own trademark term. You watch, someday soon Christian Siriano will name his label Fierce Fashions. (Do I get a piece of the action for that idea?)

Kirstie Alley is coming back to the small screen and Oprah's got her. Harpo Productions has signed Alley for future TV projects. It could be a sitcom like Fat Actress, it could be a talk show, like the one she shopped around last year, but in whatever format, Harpo will be behind it. One definite possibility would be for Kirstie to appear in a show on OWN, the new Oprah Winfrey Network, which used to be Discovery Health Channel.

Today's New York Post has a gossip item that says King World execs are unhappy with the ratings for Rachael Ray's syndicated cooking/talk show and are not going to renew her contract when it's up in 2010.

Only one problem: the report isn't true and is full of inaccuracies (I know, Page Six inaccurate - shocking!).

The Huffington Post ran a story about it today as well and they were quickly contacted by a rep at King World that says not only is Rachael Ray's show safe, the ratings are actually up from last year, not down.

• At 8, FOX has a new Cops.
• Food Network has Rachael Ray's Open House at 8, followed by Rachael Ray Feeds Your Pets.
• TCM has The Apartment at 8, then How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.
• At 9, CBS has a new, two hour 48 Hours Mystery.
• FOX has a new America's Most Wanted at 9.
• CNBC has a new Suze Orman Show at 9.
• Cartoon Network has two new episodes of Naruto at 9, then a new One Piece.
• Also at 9: Sci-Fi has the new movie Ogre.
• At 11:30, NBC has a new Saturday Night Live, with guests Amy Adams and Vampire Weekend.
• At midnight, FOX has a new Talk Show with Spike Feresten.

Check your local TV listings for more. (And don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour tonight!)