Wondertrash®

As Ellen DeGeneres assumes the No 1 spot among daytime talk shows, the inhabitants of Planet Oprah seem poised to turn on each other. In particular Oprah Winfrey and her chubby cheeked protege Rachel Ray seem to be on the outs, and at odds. In fact some people believe that a show down might be brewing.

Oprah basically made Rachel the irritating household name that she is today, by unleashing her onto an unsuspecting America. Winfrey spotted her on the Food Network (not a channel Oprah needs to be watching!), and began featuring her on the Oprah show. Well one thing led to another, and faster than you could say Phil McGraw, Ray was the newest recruit to the Oprah Movement for Global Domination (Perhaps they can be called "Oprah's Dream Team", and pitted against the Justice League or the X Men in a feature length film?).

Soon Ray was featured on her own daily talk type show - courtesy of her benefactress, Madame O. Never one to leave any stone unturned when exploiting opportunities, Ray began pimping out her name, likeness, her voice, and basically everything but offering her ova on EBay (What demand there might be for those, I can not imagine). You could get 'recipes on the run' downloaded on your cell phone, and even get Ray's voice as your ring tone (That's gotta be ammo for all those who claim that the phones are a public nuisance). Although an advocate of healthy snacks, Ray was quick to endorse Dunkin' Donuts (Donuts are a well rounded food). Perhaps not wanting anyone to feel left out, she went on to endorse Wheat Thins, and Triscuits. In fact any product with a package big enough to feature her name, and rich enough to cut her a check was fair game. She even put out her own line of extra virgin olive oil. Some how 'extra virgin' are words that I just can't associate with Ray.

Well Oprah was none too pleased with all that frantic selling out. While Ray was making her self a one woman fire sale, Oprah brooded. Her own ratings had dropped by 15% since February, and she felt that Ray was spending too much time making deals, and not enough time pulling for team Oprah.

To add fuel to the fire, Ray has also started up her own magazine - Every Day With Rachel Ray. It was originally supposed to be 'food related', but quickly branched out into life style issues. Now Oprah has her own widely distributed lifestyle magazine, and felt that Ray's move was a slap in the face. In fact she believes that Ray has been eating into her circulation!

Well now it appears simmering resentments are starting to boil over.
Ray was recently out with some friends, and enjoying a glass or two of wine (maybe more). One of her friends comments that it must be great to work with Oprah. A perhaps inebriated Ray bluntly responded that "Oprah is a demanding bitch!" This isn't the first time that Ray has made derogatory remarks about Winfrey. In Feb 07 it was reported that Ray had made some mildly racist comments about her benefactress. Referring to a portrait of Oprah which hangs in Harpo head office, and features Winfrey as a slave, Ray said Oprah was doing 'slavery drag'. She then went on to say that Oprah seems to have a problem with being black. Now that sounds suspiciously like biting that hand that feeds you. Whether or not it's ungrateful, it seems foolish. It's also the hand that signs Ms Ray's syndication agreement.

There's no word on whether Rachel's criticisms have gotten back to Ms O, but I can't imagine that she doesn't know. Oprah seems like the sort of person who's aware of all comings and goings within her enormous sphere of influence. At any rate Oprah is not well pleased with Ray. Only recently, while watching Ray on one of the studio monitors, Oprah hissed "You make me sick". The fact that Ray doesn't return Ms O's phone calls probably hasn't eased the mounting tension much either.

In fact sources say that the Big O is hinting that Ray's days are numbered. Like fellow Oprah minion Dr Phil, Ray has a contract locked up - so Oprah can't fire her out right. However Harpo does handle Ray's syndication. That means Oprah can make Ray's show disappear to the nether regions of the TV channel spectrum. Timing is everything, and by placing a show in a poor time slot, Oprah could probably deep 6 Ray's TV career. That TV career is the linchpin on which many donut deals and ring tone endorsements hang.

Now here's a little fellow who's specialty is getting into and out of trouble - Condorito.