King World To Launch Home Arts Show Featuring Food Network's Rachael Ray

King World Productions, looking to capitalize on a seemingly current home-arts theme of daytime talk shows, says it will launch a new weekday daytime show featuring Food Network's Rachael Ray.

The show, to be produced with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions, will be made available to stations in fall 2006.

As with many niche cable talents, King World will look to broaden Ray's appeal beyond just food into other home areas. King World says Ray won't rely on celebrity interviews--only where it fits. King World executives say Ray's show will be a "can-do" show, which will help people lead simpler, better lives.

Ray will continue to appear on Food Network, where she hosts cooking and travel shows--including her main effort, "30-Minute Meals," which has been on the network since November 2001. She has written 10 cookbooks.

This will be Harpo Productions' first project since it launched "Dr. Phil" four years ago. Ray, who has been a regular on "Oprah Winfrey," will continue to make appearances on the show.

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For some months, King World had been toying with a daytime show featuring another home arts personality--Paige Davis of TLC's "Trading Spaces," according to programming executives. King World executives would not comment on Davis.

Ray's effort might be in competition with another home arts-themed show--"Martha," starring Martha Stewart, from NBC Universal Television Distribution, which debuted some weeks ago. That program started strongly to 2.0-plus household ratings in recent weeks. Recently, those numbers have fallen off.

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