Mama Pasta scored tickets to the Rachael Ray show in late December. Then the show was cancelled. Three times. We were finally rescheduled for Monday, January 3, which of course made me very happy, as it was my last day off from work for the holidays. My mother, sister and I got all jazzed up (making sure to follow the very thorough list of clothing do’s and don’ts) and headed to midtown to wait in the 28 degree New York City weather.
What a shame.
We waited. And waited. After about an hour, a nice man with a clipboard came out to ask us for our ticket confirmation. We handed it along. Then we waited some more. Finally, we were told—along with about 15 other patient fans—that we were essentially chopped. We were handed a sheet of paper with an email address on it where we were told we’d be promised “VIP” tickets the next time we wanted to see Rachael Ray. But if you’re a working professional in NYC, would you just have four hours to kill on a weekday? I think not.
Now, in my college years, I spent time working in ABC for some of the top news magazines and attended quite a few day time talk show tapings. Never once was I treated in the same way. I also felt like the show was quite guilty of false advertising. If the tickets are all stand-bys, first come first served, why don’t they state that on the ticket?
I would have loved to see Rachael in action, to see how a real self-made woman puts together her wildly successful talk show, but I guess I wasn’t given that opportunity. Perhaps some day I’ll bump into the foodie queen and express my grievances in person. But until then: tsk-tsk, Rachael Ray.
Have you ever seen a live tv show taping? What was your experience like? Good, bad, or just tsk-worthy, I’d love to hear. Share your tv taping stories in the comments below, on Facebook, or on Twitter.
We went to The Marriage Ref. We received an email saying last minute tickets were available and decided to go right away. The process was quick, everyone was nice, and the show was great. They had a comedian to get the audience to interact. Jerry Seinfield and Gwenyth Paltrow were funny and Tom Pappo and NBC’s Natalie Moralles made the audience laugh. It was a great experience!!
Hi Aleena – thank you for bringing in a positive example! I know great tv taping experiences are out there, and it’s reassuring to hear about them. Maybe we should aim for The Marriage Ref next time – it sounds like a blast! x Pasta
What a shame. I have never heard of this happening. She certainly is not Oprah. I don’t know who they think they are treating people like this! Try going to see Ellen if you’re ever in CA. Now THAT looks like a show worth going to see!
Hi Paula – We were pretty shocked too; it was definitely not what we expected. If I’m even in CA, you got it. Ellen it is! x Pasta
Sadly have heard similar stories before. Seems like with Oprah’s Harpo
Productions behind you these things would not and should not happen.
After all it’s those folks waiting in line that make Ms Ray a very wealthy woman.
Agreed. I’d love to attend a taping, but not if it’s going to be such a disappointing ordeal… Thanks for the sympathy, Lizzy! x Pasta
Consider yourself having been saved time and aggravation by being chopped! Let me tell you about our experience yesterday, January 26, 2011. There were four of us and we attended Live with Regis and Kelly (and i am now a Kelly fan – soooo sincere and interactive with the audience). As we were walking out, a nice young lady was offering free VIP tickets for RR at noon. I was psyched! I looooove RR!
So we abandoned our plans of ice skating at Rockefeller and took a cab to the address for the taping and waited outside. We were eventually ushered inside single-file style and waited some more. No complaints with the waiting up to this point as that is part of it. We were brought upstairs six at a time in a tiny elevator. and brought into a waiting room. Oh, and we had to be escorted to the rest rooms.
The waiting room was jammed pack! There was water and hot drinks and pre-packaged Sara Lee brownies, except most people could not get to the drinks or snacks. There were enough chairs for about 100 of the 135 of us audience members. The rest of us stood up, jammed in together. There was absolutely no room to even turn around, let alone walk around. It was extremely hot and uncomfortable. We were left there for over an hour and a half. Once in awhile, a young intern or guest coordinator would come in and tell us it would be a few more minutes. Let me take this time to comment on the young staff: so snarky and unprofessional, with the exception of the young woman escorting us on the elevator before and after. She should think about interviewing for Kelly Ripa as her staff was professional and courteous. Really, RR’s young staff had such attitudes.
So, let me just leave it as the waiting room and whole process is so unorganized, uncomfortable and rude. Talk about a buzz-kill! Finally, we were brought inside the set. Gorgeous set! I LOVE the set! The warm up guy, RC, was very funny and put us at ease. All of a sudden Rachael appeared and wow, she is a gorgeous little thing! She spoke briefly and seemed so nice! As it turns out, the guest could not make it because of the storm. So the taping started and was so disjointed that it was not enjoyable. She started with a segment for the middle of the show. The other segments seemed a little forced and stretched out (“i know, right?” between RR and Greta one too many times). I am hoping that they will film more spots before airing the show or else it will be boring.
In between segments, RR did not interact or even look out to the audience. Um, hello!!!! We are all here (in this storm) to see you, Missy! While waiting for the pasta to cook, RR stood behind the cooking area eating shredded cheese while a young girl in a Yum-O T-shirt literally stirred the pasta. Yup, Rachael has her own pasta stirrer. Are you kidding me, i thought? I think RR may be a little out of touch. I mean, here we were on set and she seemed so far away and totally not into the process or her fans sitting right in front of her. She was quite stern with her staff, too, making a few sarcastic comments, blaming them for some mishaps and saying something about one of them ruining the meal.
So at the end of this really nonsensical taping, RR walks up the center aisle. As soon as the camera was off, that big smile of hers that can barely contain her own excitement, completely disappeared. No smile and absolutely no eye contact with anyone. And like that, she was gone. Attending the taping did not make RR seem more likable and relatable, it actually had the opposite effect.
Now here is the kicker: the wait time and process to exit the building was brutal. again, waiting in this line, then waiting in the room, then waiting for the elevator (six at a time). The staff/interns were so rude! we did get a RR magazine and a book from one of the guests but really, that will be the last RR mag i will be reading.
So overall, i was so disappointed in the whole experience. One more thing, Kelly’s show is taped LIVE and there she was coming down to the audience during commercials, taking pictures and answering questions. Then running back behind the desk to continue shooting. And Gelman was a dream. Kelly did not run out as soon as the cameras were turned off. She stuck around and did more pictures and talking. What you see is what you get with Ripa. Ray is a TV character. They don’t even know when the show we attended will air. It is not taped live so there was plenty of no-pressure down time that RR could have acknowledged her fans and seen as an opportunity instead of shoving cheese down her throat while berating her staff and ignoring her pasta-stirrer-girl. Rachael should attend some of Kelly’s taping to learn from a true professional.
Hi Kristin,
Thank you for the post and for sharing what I missed. Yikes. None of this speaks too well of Ms. Ray. It’s a shame, too, since her show is so enjoyable from the comfort of my own home. Guess that’s where we’ll be watching it – if at all – from here on out. You do make Regis & Kelly sound fantastic, though – I’ve gotta check that out. Take care & keep warm in this snow!
x
Pasta
PS: i am so glad i found your site. My sister has Celiac, i sent her your link and now we are planning a trip to NYC to check out some of the spots you have written about. Thanks so much, we will be visitng your website often. kristin
Aw thanks! You’ll have a blast here in NYC. This city offers so much for the gluten-free gourmand – & for foodie companions, of course
Keep in touch and let me know what spots you end up visiting when you’re in town. Looking forward to hearing your take on the classics & all the new gf gems you’ll find! x Pasta
Kristin,
I also was at Thursday’s taping. We braved the train delays and the storm to make it to the date stated on our ticket. It said to be online at 3:15. Because of the storm, we wanted to arrive at the studio early. We arrived at about 12:45, with the intend sitting at the local Starbucks. To our surprise, we saw a line of about 70 people already, and we were told by everyone online that the production company had members of the audience of the View and Regis come to the 1:15 show. In turn, everyone that had 1:15 show times were now on line for the 3:15 show because they were booted out of that show. So, we were advised to stay on line at that point, so that we get in to the RR show taping at 3:15. So, there we were, freezing on line for 4 hours! When they finally began to let in, they turned away everyone behind us that also waited that long, and who also had tickets for 3:15. Once we were in, We were appalled to see the rude staff at work. A man with braces on his legs, that had waited in the snow for the enterance into the show with his wife, was denied entry because they were filled to capacity. He had to use the bathroom. The obnoxious security told him he is not allowed to use their bathroom, and he had to walk (with his cane) through the snow, across the street to use their bathroom. This is after this poor man had waited all of this time to see RR! We were all horrified! They scooted us into an elevator, and I had no idea what they ended up doing with this poor man! I should have left at that point, I was so mad. They then put us into a small room, that was an absolute fire hazzard. They kept us in this room for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Finally, we were brought out into the studio, only to be told by Rachel Ray, ooops, sorry, the guest didn’t show up. (Now it’s 6pm) They gave us all VIP passes to come back…a small consolation prize! I wonder if Rachel Ray knows how incredibly rude her staff is, and what a horror her tapings are for her fans..Shame on her for allowing this to happen!
Hi Chris – Wow. Thank you for sharing this. It seems like we’ve uncovered a trend here with RR’s foul treatment of fans. I’m sorry you were treated so poorly – no one (especially not a fan loyal enough to want to attend a taping) deserves to be treated this way. I’m so glad you wrote this comment. I just don’t know if I can watch her show after reading how many people they’ve mistreated. Shame on RR – but cheers to you voicing your experience. Thank you & keep posting! x Pasta
I know this is an old post but I just came across it. My mom and I were in NYC and saw a live taping of the RR show. You have to get in line waaaaay ahead of time to get in. Anyway, you didn’t miss a lot. It was fun to see how everything is put together but honestly she was a GRUMP when the cameras stopped rolling and was very snippy with her employees. She barely interacted with the audience. It just seemed like she was overly tired.
I just got home from seeing a taping of RR. I have to agree with the other poster- you didn’t miss much. It was a shame because today is my mom’s birthday and it was my treat to take her out in the city and to see the taping. We arrived super early as per the advice of some friends who also got “chopped” like you- 930am for a noon arrival. We wound up being first on line, but within 10 minutes at least 50 more people arrived, so it was lucky we arrived as early as we did. There were a lot of unhappy campers from the 10am taping who were chopped, and standby ticketholders who had been waiting all day.
Let me add that, prior to showing up today, I emailed twice regarding the fact that I’m nursing my 3 month old so, while away from him, I have a breastpump I need to use every few hours. I wanted to be sure that the pump itself wouldn’t be an issue being carried in, and to find out if there was a private area I could use one or twice prior to or after taping to use the pump. I was told that it was no problem at all. Well, little did I know…
When I requested to use the restroom to pump at 11am, the security guard told me that the audience staff denied my request to enter early. I’m sorry, what? No there’s some mistake, here’s the email from Stephanie….so he called again, and again I was told they were “too busy to help me” and I’d have to wait until my admittance. After 45 minutes the very nice guard finally got an interior design company on another floor to let me use their restroom to take care of pumping. Despite being told that an audience staff member was coming to the lobby to explain the situation to me, no one ever showed up.
We were finally led down a narrow alleyway at 1215, where I promptly ripped my coat because we were scolded if we stepped passed a yellow line on the ground and were not firmly against the alley wall. Twenty minutes later we entered the lobby and began the slow process of bag checks and elevator rides to the studio, 6 at a time. The holding room meant for MAYBE 50 people was crammed with 130+ people. Although I appreciated the snacks, I was surprised that a cooking show gave out packaged Sara Lee muffins and bottled water. We were held there for over an hour and a half and had to be escorted to the restrooms by a staff member. Whenever anyone with a badge was in a hallway, we were asked to step aside to let them pass- or worse, asked to wait in the restroom and the door was not allowed to be opened until they passed.
The taping itself was boring. They taped several mismatched segments for several different shows, all out of order. Rachael was very nice, but we left disappointed and tired from the whole experience.