TVSquad

This is either great news if you like Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray or a warning if you don't like them, but it's interesting news nonetheless: Martha is going to do Rachael Ray's show and then the very next day Rachael will be on Martha's* show.

Yup, Martha will appear on Rachael's show on November 12 to show Rachael how to make a Thanksgiving centerpiece, and then on November 13 Rachael will appear on Martha's show and Martha will teach her how to make a Thanksgiving dessert. Notice that on both shows it's Martha who will be doing the teaching?

As Allison told you earlier this morning, Rachael Ray won the Emmy for Best Talk Show last night. And to that I'd like to ask, have any of the people who voted for it actually watched the show?

I like cooking shows and light, mindless entertainment, so I would think that Ray's show would be a natural for me, but...gah.

As we reported months ago, Rachael Ray had a growth on her vocal chords and had to have throat surgery. It went well and she can talk fine again after a few weeks of silence. But last night she told David Letterman that all these years she has been talking wrong.

Every time I've heard Rachael Ray speak lately (not on her Food Network shows but on her daily syndicated show, which is more current), I've noticed that her voice has been even more raspy than usual. She has always had a deep voice (except when she gets all excited and high-pitched), but it has usually been smooth. Now it seems incredibly scratchy, like she has a permanent sore throat. Turns out there's a reason why.

Ray has a benign polyp on her vocal chord. She'll have day surgery in December to remove it. Now some of the tabloids have reported that Ray was worried about throat cancer, and I bet a lot of people believed that because of they way she has sounded lately, but the polyp is benign. A spokesperson says that "Rachael is the picture of health" and that's a common, quick procedure which won't affect the taping of her show.

No, she didn't steal money or electronics or even heads of lettuce. She stole a person! Rachael Ray's Every Day With Rachael Ray magazine has named a new publisher, and it just so happens to be the old publisher of Everyday Food, one of the magazines in Martha Stewart's vast empire.

This is not going to warm the coldness that both cooking stars have toward each other. They have completely different outlooks on how to go about cooking, and when Rachael Ray's show started, Martha (or someone from her show) actually sent people into the audience to see what Ray's show was about. And then Ray put Barry Manilow on her show before he went on Martha's show, and that didn't go over too well either.

In short, Martha doesn't think that Ray is a good thing, and Ray doesn't think Martha is delish.

First she lost all that weight on Jenny Craig, and now she might gain it all back.

Actress Valerie Bertinelli is joining Rachael Ray. She'll be a celebrity content buddy, doing stories about food and family and being a working mom. Her first show will be tomorrow, October 23. Bertinelli will report from New Orleans, where she'll give women a guide to Monday Night Football and cook gumbo.

I've always liked Bertinelli. It's about time she's back on television in some way. I hope she gets her own series. Something tells me that she'll be more likable than Ray on her appearances on the show, though "celebrity content buddy" has to be one of the most annoying titles I've ever heard.

This is really great news, because I was truly afraid that Ray wasn't going to have enough work to do an might find herself unemployed of something.

Yup, the coffee and donut chain has hired the host of the syndicated Rachael Ray, the host of 30 Minute Meals, the host of Tasty Travels, the maker of her own knives and olive oil, and the editor of Every Day With Rachael Ray magazine to be their new spokesperson. As Rachael herself puts it: "Having grown up in the Northeast, I have a longstanding and deep appreciation for Dunkin'."

Besides being their spokesperson, Ray will actually help come up with new food and beverage products.

Great, Rachael Ray on caffeine. That's all we need.

Yum-O!

Oh, wait, that's the wrong explanation for this story. Maybe "O-Shit!"

One of the shows hosted by the Domestic Diva Jr. (Martha has the official title) is being sued. A radio show host, Ross Crystal (isn't that a chain of jewelry stores you see in malls?) says that he approached Food Network in 2001 about doing a show called Showbiz Chefs. It would be a 30 minute show that would feature celebs and the food they cook. Crystal says that Ray's Inside Dish, which is basically the same thing, stole his idea. He filed suit in Los Angeles, and TMZ.com has the documents. (It should be noted that Ray herself isn't named in the suit.)

The most interesting twist? Crystal got a letter from Food Network saying "we have no interest in celebrities at all. Every time we do something of this nature it fails." Inside Dish debuted in 2004.

I was going to do a post on how odd it was that Barry Manilow appeared on both Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray the other day, at the same time (live on Martha's and taped on Rachael's show), but one thing happened that I didn't realize when I was switching back and forth between each show.

Martha actually called Rachael out on it, live on the air!

According to the NY Post, Martha said this: