Rachael Ray Show

Hi Guys,

So as you know yesterday Tanya and I went to a taping of the Rachael Ray show! We were really excited especially after seeing Live with Kelly and Michael two weeks ago! We were aware that they gave out a few extra tickets in case some people didn't show, as they didn't want to have empty seats but when we arrived and there was a HUGE line I was a little worried. I won't lie though, the peanut butter hot chocolate we stopped for on the way might have been worth missing the show.

We got in line and were really hoping we wouldn't be turned away. To our surprise people continued to show up, there was a good 25-30 people in the line behind us and I could just not imagine that they gave out that many extra tickets. To our surprise we got in along with the 4 people behind us and that was it! I honestly couldn't believe they gave out that many extra tickets, people traveled from all over the US, from different states to be there and to be turned away. I can see giving out maybe 10 extra tickets but 25?

While standing in line we were asked to fill out a waiver and got our ticket. We entered the building, handed in our waiver and had our ticket color coated. They gave you one of three colors, I have absolutely no idea if it was random, according to when you got your ticket or what. It definitely had nothing to do with where you were in line. We went through security and all of that and were ushered into a holding room. Guys.. smallest room ever! They were offering snacks and water but good luck getting to them.. no kidding. They had some shirts for sale as well but I couldn't bring myself to spend $30.00!

While we were waiting they had their entertainment guy come out and lay down the rules, Joey Kola. Guys.. HE IS HILARIOUS! He totally made the show, he is a stand up comedian who basically interacts with the audience before and after the show, as well as in between taping segments.

They told us they would call us by the color on our ticket to enter the studio and we were so lucky that our color was called first. Sadly they were EXTREMELY strict that no pictures were allowed to be taken, no phones on at all, no gum chewing.. weird. It wasn't even live! I get that they don't want people taking pictures during filming I guess although we were allowed to do so at Kelly and Michael, but we couldn't have taken pictures before or after the show? I mean come on!!

Everyone was seated and Joey Kola entertained. He told us that the show we were filming that day would air sometime in April but they didn't know when - umm really? So apparently we just have to watch for the guests that were on.

So Rachael had Curtis Stone as her co-host which was great, he is often on the show and not bad to look at by any means. But let me tell you.. they didn't even acknowledge the audience. I went into the show thinking Rachael Ray was super funny and down to earth.. guys... not even a little bit! First of all we couldn't even see the taping because there were so many cameras and camera men in front of them. Literally we basically watched the entire show on the monitor in front of us. This was not at all what I thought.

Then the first break came and I really thought they would address the audience, or at least acknowledge them. Negative. When we went to Michael and Kelly and they couldn't get enough of the audience during commercial breaks. They were taking pictures and signing stuff, and Rachael Ray didn't even look towards the audience. Thank god for Joey Kola or it would have been some silent breaks.

The first guest other than Curtis was Katie Lee from the Saturday Food Network show The Kitchen. I have seen this show a couple of times and really like it. Katie was there to demonstrate with a few kitchen tools, a shot glass mold, a ravioli making rolling pin and ice cream sandwich presses. We were so excited when they announced we would be going home with all of them!

I was pretty interested in the shot glass mold, you can make candy ones, cookie ones and put milk in them. It can go in the oven or the freezer. 

We don't eat a lot of ice cream but hey, we live in the south.. I could be persuaded! 

I've never made fresh ravioli but I think I might just give it a try now. 

Its not a given that people go home with gifts from every show so we were extremely thankful. They handed out the swag at the end of the show. 

They also brought out Tiffany Thiessen you know.. Kelly Kapowski from Safe by the Bell! Haha when I told Jason she was on the show he wrote back and said "OMG you met Kelly Kapowski" haha! I didn't realize that she was starting her own cooking show, Dinner at Tiffani's. Not sure why they are spelling her name with an I for the show but there you have it. I was excited to see her as I have watched her on many shows over the years, and she is still as gorgeous as ever and totally rocking that pregnant glow! 

At this point though the only time any guest was acknowledging the audience was to wave as they walked off stage, even though there were breaks. Not to mention we were almost done the taping and Rachael Ray herself had barely looked our way! I hate to say it because I know how fortunate we were to go but guys she was kind of awful. She was constantly snapping at her staff on breaks, she didn't interact with the audience at all and basically if the cameras weren't rolling she looked completely miserable. I was completely shocked. 

When the show was over she came out and basically said, hope we put on a good show for you.. we are going to take a picture with the audience. They stood in the audience for a minute for a photo and left. She didn't say thank you for coming, shake anyone's hand, offer to sign anything or take a picture.. nothing! I couldn't believe it. I felt that she didn't appreciate the fact that people traveled and stood in the cold to see her show, what is her show without an audience? They sent an email to ticket holders the day before the show asking them to bring non-perishables for her 9 million meals program and when we were there they asked for cash donations, people donated and not a thank you for their contributions.. seriously.. nothing. 

After we left the studio Tanya and I talked about how we couldn't believe how unappreciative and rude she seemed. I left there with a completely different outlook on her and her show that's for sure. 

When I got home I was talking to Barb telling her all about it and she said I should look up reviews on the show, which truthfully had never crossed my mind before. I did just that when I got off the phone with her only to find 90% of people who wrote reviews for the show said the exact same thing!!! She didn't care about the audience, she was rude and nasty to her staff, she looked nasty and miserable as soon as the cameras went off. Crazy!

All in all I am very grateful for the experience of being at a taping and the gifts we got. I am sad that her personality isn't at all what I would have expected and I will say I wouldn't go back to another taping of her show. There are so many shows to be seen in the city and most of them offer free tickets, I honestly wouldn't waste your time with this particular show. That may sound harsh but its completely true. 

I hope you guys are having a great week, I am starting to feel a little better today as I actually got some sleep last night. I am hoping to feel much better tomorrow!! 

Thank you as always for taking the time out of your day to stop by, I have been getting some fabulous comments around here lately from you guys and I absolutely LOVE it, so thank you for taking the time.  

Live with Kelly & Michael @ ABC Studios

As you all know because I have mentioned it a bunch of times that Tanya and I went to a live taping of Live with Kelly and Michael last week and let me tell y'all it was FANTASTIC!

We had to be there quite early and as it is all the way over by Columbus Circle in the city we had to meet at the Path station here at 6:00am and if you know me at all you know I am NOT a morning person. I was up at 4:30am to start getting ready because I couldn't decide what to wear and I have to have a coffee in the morning and just wake up before I got out the door. I met Tanya at 6:00am and we were on our way. Once we arrived in the city and took the subway as far as we could we had to walk about 8 blocks which in the city is short blocks. Thankfully we had priority tickets because waiting outside while it was 9 degrees was MISERABLE, but we didn't have to wait long. It was actually quite nice that while waiting in line they brought a food truck and everything was free! We didn't indulge as we didn't want to get out of line and couldn't take anything inside with us.

While waiting in line they opened up a booth with all kinds of souvenirs, shirts, mugs and all that good stuff. I naturally had to get a coffee mug, especially after the gentlemen selling them came out and made a big deal about having the same mug as Michael or Kelly.. I got the same one as Michael Strahan, naturally.

We waited quite a bit from the time we got there until the time we went in to where we would be sitting but once we were inside it really seemed to fly by. When we went in we could pretty much sit anywhere but naturally the first and second two was taken so we decided to go to the second level center so we would be directly above them!

The set was a lot different then I thought, smaller I guess. There were people bustling around setting things up and getting things organized but it looked quite small, yet obviously exciting.

Also for any of you who thought it was actually a window behind them with a view of the city, its not. 

It takes an army. As you can see we were above some of the lights which actually turned out to be fine, I didn't find them to be in the way at all. Plus after being outside in the freezing cold and the fact that they keep the studio temperature set to 60 it was nice to have as much heat from all the lights that we could. 

Because we were in the front row of the top level we all had a beach ball under our chair to throw during the trivia part of the show. As you can see they ask that you not hit Michael or Kelly with the ball. Funny story though, the guy sitting next to Tanya threw his cell phone when he through the ball. HA! Thankfully no one was hurt! 

If you watch the show you know that after they call someone with the trivia question they pick a number after for an audience member to receive a prize as well. The seats are not numbered as you would have expected, they just hand out numbers to you. 

They danced their way out, sit down and chat about the news.

Not a good picture but Michael was waving to me so I had to post it! HA! During the commercial break they walk around and talk to the audience, they sign things (mostly Michael, Giants fans) and take pictures with audience members. They are so friendly and hilarious, I really enjoyed the commercial breaks just as much as the actual show. 

Prior to going we knew the guests were going to be Hugh Grant and Terrance Howard, I was honestly excited to find out who the people were going to be, but the fact that these people weren't on the top of my must see list didn't really matter because I was just excited to be going. However the day before we went Julian Edelmen was on the show, I would have died to see him. 

This was too good, Kelly is HILARIOUS! She went up to this girl asking to touch her hair and while doing so she kept saying "Your hair give me life!" then she said "If this show wasn't so rigid I would have WAY better hair!" hilarious! 

The next guest was Terrance Howard, not going to lie I don't think much of this guy but again I was just happy to be there. He came on saying that his newest role almost didn't happen on account that he went into the role at 250lbs and that is just not what they envisioned for the role. His cast mates decided to help him and whenever they weren't filming they were doing push ups, so he challenged Michael and Kelly saying he knew he could do at least 70! 

He didn't do anywhere close to 70 and was the first to give up, Kelly won. She said and I quote "I WOULD DIE BEFORE I WOULD LOSE!" seriously she is absolutely HILARIOUS! 

Regardless of who won the challenge followed by Michael unzipping his pants.. WINNING! When everyone started wooting and hollering he very suddenly turned around and laughed claiming he forgot where he was for a second. No problem Mike, no problem at all! 

A Women in the audience brought a bunch of footballs for Strahan to sign which he graciously did. The guy behind us called to him the entire show wanting him to sign his jersey that he brought. Finally he saw him and the guy through the jersey down, Michael signed it and through it up but it got stuck in the lights, he laughed and said "I never said I was a quarter back!" HA!

At this point the show was basically over and they asked up to stick around while the hosts changed. We weren't really sure what was going to happen, a Q&A or what. Turns out they changed their clothes and came back on to film the first segment of Friday's show as well as an interview with another celebrity. We were really excited as this game us more time, another chance to win the prize from the trivia question and we were excited to find out who the other celebrity was going to be. The beginning of the show was hilarious, I hope you caught it on Friday, it was the Valentine's Day show!

Ok so get this.. they play trivia again, and the guy sitting beside Tanya won!!! We almost died!! First of all Tanya almost sat there, second of all it was a whole kitchens worth of Cuisinart appliances. DAMN! None the less it was a great time! 

They finally announced who the next celebrity was going to be, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Honestly guys I absolutely hate Nascar and I could have cared less to see that guy but he actually turned out to be pretty interesting. Not to mention it was great to see more filming! 

The whole experience was absolutely fantastic, we had such a great time! A live taping is obviously WAY better than watching it on TV, and both Kelly and Michael are FABULOUS!!! After the show we picked up our purchases and headed out! I bought the same mug Michael uses everyday on the show and I couldn't love it anymore! 

After the show Tanya and walked across the street to MAC Cosmetics and then hit up PJ Clarke's for lunch. When we lived in New York before Tanya and I frequented PJ Clarke's, it was absolutely amazing and since being back I have not been but have always wanted to. When we came out and it was right there we decided to stop, we were starving! First let me just tell you that Buddy Holly proposed to his fiance at PJ Clarke's, just a little fun fact for you! Either way the menu had completely changed and they wanted $18.00 for a freakin' hamburger that didn't even come with a side! I almost died. None the less it was still good even though over priced! 

Tanya and I made our way through the city and back home, it was seriously an awesome day and a fantastic experience! If you don't already watch the show I highly recommend starting your day with it, and if you happen to be in the city try and get in for a taping of a show, all the tickets are free you just have to be able to get them!

If you have a minute click HERE and pop on over to Prairie Girl in the Big, Scary World and check out Tanya's post on our day as well! 

Thursday Night Line Up, All You Had Hoped?

How many of you were as excited for the much anticipated Thursday night shows as I was last week? Truth be told I feel kind of bad because I added them to my Friday favorites blog from last week but left out the fact that I was also looking forward to Parenthood.

I started watching Parenthood just this past April when I got back from Peru and was terribly sick, Jason was still there and my sickness kicked my ass so bad I pretty much laid in bed watching the seasons. I had always been interested in the show because I am the biggest Gilmore Girls fan ever and therefore Lauren Graham. She stars in Parenthood which made me want to watch but truth be told I am always hesitant to get into new shows because I hate not being able to miss them. Weird I know. Anyways I just never watched it until near death fell upon me and I seriously couldn't do anything but work the remote. I totally fell in love with the show.

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I left off waiting for this season to come on and although I didn't mention it on Friday I was really looking forward to it. I didn't get to watch it until Friday morning because after the ABC (this airs on NBC) line up I was way too tired to stay up and watch this as well. Funny thing is this may have been the best show of Thursday night.

So lets back track for a minute and talk about the shows we all waited for, because I am willing to acknowledge I may have been on my own in the excitement of Parenthood returning. Why not just go in order?

** SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE ANY OF THE THURSDAY NIGHT SHOWS ON YOUR DVR YET TO BE WATCHED, PLEASE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!!**

GREYS ANATOMY

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First of all can I just say that I actually forgot about the introduction of Richard and Ellis' love child at the end of the last episode! I only remembered Meredith and Derek arguing about moving to DC and Meredith saying that she absolutely wasn't going, and I was very excited to just see how that plays out. So imagine my surprise when her unknown half sister plays a huge role in last weeks episode. Honestly I was a little disappointed in the show, even with big things going on. I know it will take time for it to come out that Meredith has a sister and Richard is her father but so far I feel just OK about her in the first episode. I really liked how Meredith and Alex have gotten so close in the absence of Christina, I had hoped for that. I will say I am a little ticked at this whole Meredith and Derek drama.. the fact that she acts pissed off that he turned down his amazing offer in DC because he was choosing her and the kids over his career, I mean what? Who wouldn't want the man they love to choose them over anything else? Good lord woman get over yourself! 

Don't get me wrong, I was a little disappointed with how the show began but I have absolutely no doubt this will be a great season. I have loved Greys Anatomy from the start and will without a doubt follow it through until the end. I look forward to all the surprises that will inevitably come this season.

SCANDAL

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Oh Olivia Pope! Lets be honest its not like we didn't know she was going to come back, I didn't expect it to be because Harrison died.. I mean where the hell was the build up to that? Its not like we didn't know he was in trouble but who would have thought he would have ended up dead at the beginning of the season! I feel like her leaving at the end of last season was kind of a joke, the show is so popular and not going anywhere, so lets be honest she wasn't going to leave because what was the show without her? 

I do however want her to stay with Jake so I really hope that her and Fitz really do stay apart, he is not good for her. I wish I could get on board with him leaving Millie and moving to Vermont and having this wonderful life with kids and stuff but isn't it a pipe dream? I mean hes the president of the United States who is married and definitely not going to leave his wife now after losing a child. I just think they need to be realistic and not that I'm psychic or anything but I somehow doubt they will be. 

Having said all that the group really needs to get back together, without a doubt! I mean Huck especially has so much more potential than being 'Randy' the tech guy! However lets be honest that guy can hold a grudge! I am also glad to see Quinn got her shit together, its about time. 

I have super high hopes for this season of Scandal, last year it was definitely my favorite show! 

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER

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I won't lie I debated watching this show since they started showing preview commercials to it a couple of weeks ago. Like I said I really don't like getting into new shows but seeings how it was a Shonda Rhimes show and her other two are my favorites I thought I would give it a chance. I truly wasn't convinced until the night before but I did indeed watch. 

I'm not really sure what I think, in a way I wasn't impressed and feel like I could stop watching right now and be fine but there is something telling me this is going to be a really good show and I should keep watching otherwise I will feel like I missed out. I really like Viola Davis so that was another driving factor to watch the show and honestly I thought her performance was great. I have high hopes that the show will live up to all the hype and I do plan to watch and find out. 

They ended the episode eluding to the fact that Annalise Keatings four top law students had murdered her husband but I don't believe this is the case. I am interested to see how that story line will play out and if they are really covering for her, or someone else. 

What did you think of this show? Was it all that you hoped/expected it to be?

Do you guys watch any of these shows? What are your thoughts? What other shows do you watch that I might be interested, maybe I could make an exception to the rule and add another new show to my repertoire!