The concept behind this program showcases Ray's culinary skills. She brings various celebrities on screen to discuss their accomplishments in the entertainment, sports, and media industries. Ray asks for tips and strategies for staying healthy and safe from various health and lifestyle experts, she includes make-over segments, and features musical performances, all of which are features along the same lines of The Oprah Winfrey Show. She does, however, keep cooking in the forefront by including at least one cooking segment at the end of each episode, and sometimes inviting her celebrity guests to join her in the kitchen. According to Ray, "People know me for my love of food, but I have so much more I want to share."[4] The set has the audience seated on a large turntable that rotates so that the audience can always see the "action" on the circular stage that surrounds them. At the end of each show, with the exception of a few more guests after Ray's cooking segments, Ray's tagline is, "We'll see you when we see you."
On March 9, 2007, Entertainment Tonight revealed that the show's theme music was written and recorded by Ray's husband, John Cusimano. The original theme song to the show was performed by R&B, Soul and Jazz group The Neville Brothers. Their song had the same rhythm and melody as their classic hit "Yellow Moon", but with different lyrics. Aaron Neville sang the song. Starting with the fifth season, the original theme was retired. With the start of the seventh season, the show relocated to Chelsea Studios in the Chelsea section of New York, the same facility where The Wendy Williams Show and Sherri tape in a second studio.[3]
During its first season, the show averaged about 2.6 million views daily, making it one of the highest viewed daytime shows. Not long after it debuted, it was revealed that Rachael Ray was renewed through 2010, adding two years to the already two years it had received. In June 2009, Rachael Ray was renewed for two more years, till 2012, making 6 seasons.[5]Rachael Ray was the only one of the four syndicated daytime talk shows that premiered for the 2006–07 season to be renewed. By the show's third season in 2008, ratings had dropped to a 1.8.[6] However, ratings leveled off in 2010 with 1.5 and roughly 2 million viewers for the fifth season.[7] At the start of its sixth season in 2011, the show's ratings rose to 1.7.[8]
