Rachael Ray Show – Part 2

Lori, another couple and I went to a tapping of the Rachael Ray Show last Thursday. This time we got in. This was our second attempt at watching a taping of her show. Our first was in January. There’s only room for about 120 people in the audience, so if your not standing in line soon enough, you get bumped, which is what happened to us last time. If you don’t get in, they allow you to come back at a future date and those seats are guaranteed with VIP tickets. No standing in line, just show up by 2:15, check in and then get right in the door, which is what we is what we did this time.

Lori and I took the 11:42 Long Island Railroad train out of Sayville into Penn Station last Thursday and arrived right on time at 1:06.


We walked to the other end of Penn Station and then took the #2 subway train to Time Square where we transferred to the S shuttle subway which took us to Grand Central Station. Up the stairs and a short walk through Grand Central then out the door to on 42nd Street. We took a left on 42nd and a half block later we were at Lexington Ave. We took a left on Lexington for two blocks to 44th Street and then a right on 44th. We walked up one block up and stopped to take this picture.


That is a poster of Rachael Ray on the side of the building the show is taped in. We walked up to the audience entrance where we saw Lori’s co-worker waiting in line with her husband. It was a little before 2:00 so we just stood there chatting until it was time to check in. About 2:10 one of the reps from the show came out and we checked in with her. We went right in the entrance and stood in another line. About 10 minutes later they handed out the tickets. Lori was #12 and I was #13. We both figured we would get great seats with those numbers. Maybe even right down front.

The line behind us got longer and longer as we waited for over an hour for the morning audience to leave. Once they cleared out, we took an elevator up to the 6th floor where they directed us into a reception area. They had bottled water, sandwiches, fruit and sweets were waiting for us. How cool was that, they even fed us. Before the morning show they had bagels and pastries. Nice touch.

About ½ hour later, the host/comedian came in to the room to explain what would be going on. He explains the rules and keeps you entertained between takes. He’s also the guy that directs you when to applaud, stand up, sit down, stuff like that.

He left and a short while later another show rep came in to line us up to go onto the set and into our seats. She goes on and on about some boring stuff and then tells us to look at the color of the marker they used to draw a line across our tickets. Ours was yellow. She says that a high school group from Ohio and a group from NYU would go in first. They had green lines on their tickets. Next would be the blue then the green and yellow would be last.

WTF do you mean we would be last! We were almost first on line! HOWEVER, she said, that the order we went in to the studio had nothing to do with how good our seats would be. We shall see.

The high school kids go in first, then the next two groups and our measly little yellow group last. It worked out that our group of four was almost at the end of the line. There was just one couple behind us. We get up to the studio door.

The girl asks how many in our group. I say four. She takes the couple behind us and gives them the last two seats in the audience. She points to where we would be sitting, the balcony on the opposite side of the studio.

She says that’s the VIP section and where Rachael Ray’s husband sits when he watches a taping. Who gives a fuck? We wanted to be on TV! She tells us not worry, we won’t be up there the entire show. Depending how many guests come and leave in the front rows, we will be placed in those seats when they are available.

We walked up the stairs to the balcony and sat in tall chairs right against the railing.

The seats gave us a very good view of everything going on down below. Especially if you were interested in looking at the cleavage of that hot chick in the black dress. Behind us sat the sound man and the director. Next to them was a large monitor that had a picture from each of the cameras. When one of the cameras blocked our view of what they were taping, we’d look at the monitor so never missed anything.

Just before the taping began, three people walked and sat in the three empty seats in the front row. One woman was holding a small dog. A few minutes later, the hosts has us all stand up and start applauding, then Rachael Ray walks out a door right below us on the right. Nice peak at her cleavage from that angle. She babbles for a few minutes about YouTube and then they play a tape that each the three guests had posted on YouTube. One was of the dog that woman was holding. It showed him falling asleep while standing up. The second tape was of a girl. Her and a few friends acted out a skit of her getting a crappy haircut the day of her wedding. She told us they were actors and made the whole thing up. The last tape was of the guy giving out his cell phone number. He said if anyone wanted to call it, he would talk to them about whatever they wanted to discuss. They showed the video clips on this large screen.

We all hoped the show got better from here.

Between takes, the host came out and joked around with the audience. He offered Kenny Loggin’s CDs to them too. Never looking up in out direction though. Oh well, we figured we get to sit down below soon, so no big deal.

The next part of the show was about Rachael’s friend Gretta Monahan taking a tour of the Avon plant in upstate New York. Four women that work for Avon sat in the front row for this segment. Rachael and Greta sat in the same spot Rachael had originally been in. Nice peak at Rachael’s cleavage from that angle every time leaned over the table.

The highlight of this segment other than looking down Rachael’s top was Gretta designing a new color lipstick in the Avon lab just for Rachael Ray. They named it ‘Ravishing Ray’. We each got a tube as a gift. Lucky me! Woo Hoo!!!

They break, the host jokes around and hands out more CDs, again never looking up in our direction.

The next segment was the big one! Woo Hoo! Can't wait for the big one!!!!

It was about a father, mother and 15 year old daughter. woopie fucking do! The high school freshman daughter wanted to go with her 'igh school junior boy friend to his junior prom. Mom thinks it’s fine, but dad thinks she’s to young to go. The old sex, drugs and rock and roll ploy. No shit, this on went on through three commercial breaks. It was so fucking boring I entertained myself by checking out the cleavage of that hot chick in the black dress though.

Somewhere in between the above segmants, we each got two cookies for snack.

Thing is, I don't eat fucking cookies. Matter a fact, I hardly ever eat anything sweet unless it has nuts in it. I just LOVE nuts!!!!!!

The host had the audience rehearse holding the box of cookies above their heads when they were cued. It took three tries before everyone got it right. LOL When the show came back after the commercial break, they plugged the cookies and the audience held the boxes above their heads.

By now, the reps from Avon were sitting up in the balcony with us. After the prom segment, it was time for Rachael’s last segment. This is the ones where she cooks something.

They got the Avon reps to come down and sit in the front row for this one. Rachael cooked what wasn’t one of her best recipes by far; it was canned baked beans and franks with a boxed corn bread mix poured over the top and then baked.

During the break, someone came out and took the one Rachael prepared and left an already cooked one from the back. When the break was over, Rachael spooned some of the franks and beans out in two bowls and handed it to the Avon reps in the front row. She chatted for a minute of two and then the show ended. It was funny to see them rush right over and take the bowls away from the Avon reps as soon as the show ended. They never even got to taste it and neither did we. Rachael walked up and down the center isle for a minute thanking everyone for coming then walked off the set.

The audience left first and then we were escorted to the exit. We complained about our seats and how they never got us in the audience like they said, but it just fell on deaf ears. Lori sent an email to the show yesterday complaining about what happened. What we wanted to know was how did we go from the 12th & 13th people on line out of 120 people, to not getting a seat in the audience? Now WTF was that all about?

I'm especially pissed, because I don't eat cookies or use lipstick. Lori at least likes both. I would have liked to try the franks and beans though. Farting on the train ride home would have at least entertained me. Nothing like seeing people wonder where the smelly farts are come from. LOL