Food Network reviews - Rachael Ray

I decided to go ahead and get this one out of the way before the end of the world and before I forget the newest acronym from the RR world. Rachael Ray is the reigning queen of overexposure in the TV cook universe. Her FN shows are 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels, $40 a day, and Inside Dish. She has a monthly mag, Everyday with Rachael Ray. And her own daily, one-hour talk show will premiere in September. Say what you want about her on-air personality and menu planning, but the lady has to be a hard worker and must be able to operate on about 2 hours of sleep.

Many MANY people complain about Rachael. Her recipes are lame, her show is too frenetic, she's a bad tipper, she's too fluffy and silly, etc. Some people thinks she's downright evil. I'm not willing to go that far. I think she fills a niche. People are comfortable with her menus: no fois gras, no caviar, no talk of this vintage or that, no talk of "good" ingredients (again, wait for the Ina Garten review). She's not all evil. She's not all good.

Things I like about Rachael's shows:
1) I enjoy the travel shows, particularly if they are cities of which I'm particularly fond - Boston, Irish cities, etc. It is just fun to see places you love on TV.
2) I've gotten a few tips from her that I've made good use of - using chicken broth to cook rice/potatoes instead of water is the first one that comes to mind. That never occurred to me before I began watching her shows, and it adds a lot of flavor to bland starches.
3) She is unpretentious and lighthearted on all her shows. In the early 30MM shows, she was a lot calmer and less insane acting. If you see older episodes, you can see why people like her. The newer episodes show a much more spastic, sleep-deprived Rachael.

Things I do not like:
1) The incessant acronyms. EVOO (followed, each time, by saying extra virgin olive oil and not just letting the phrase stand without explanation). The new one, MYOTO, make your own take out. I swear, I almost threw a shoe at the TV. And, why are you always sauteeing in extra virgin olive oil? Why waste the flavor for mere sauteing?
2) With regard to 30MM, the 30 minute time frame is generally NOT accurate for most home cooks. Most cannot chop that quickly, most cannot put their hands on their smoked paprika quite so easily, most choose not to carry 30 pounds of ingredients at a time. Also, the explosive mess created by such whirlwind food preparation would easily require 45 minutes of cleanup. I get the gimmick - 30 MM sounds good for a show title and theme. But it just isn't accurate.
3) The girl needs to slow down - I guess her agent assumes that she needs to get her hand into every type of media before her star goes out, but it has taken a toll on her personality and appearance. Does the woman ever get a break?

Recipes I enjoy:
I don't use her recipes often, but in addition to the chicken broth trick above, her show did introduce me to the wonders of ground chicken, which I enjoy. In particular, I like the chicken cordon bleu burgers.