Ray is the darling of the Food Network and its viewers, with series including "30 Minute Meals" and "Inside Dish." Her show is produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions (with King World), and Winfrey will make an early appearance, something she didn't do for her last protege, Dr. Phil.

Ray is "not going to do a sit-on-a-couch-and-talk show," says Terry Wood of King World. "She'll try anything. ... We don't want to try to fit Rachael into daytime. We want to bend the TV around her."

Ray will cook, but don't expect her to spend all her time in the kitchen. Topics also will include travel, entertaining, and "all facets of life and good living." She'll have some celebrity guests, and they may even shoot some hoops.

"We're talkers in my family. My mom is one of 10. My grandfather is a very gregarious, outgoing guy. My dad is from Louisiana. You know, he's loud. We're just very loud, volatile, talkative people where I come from."

A stand-up comic specializing in observational humor, Behrendt became a consultant on HBO's "Sex and the City" and coined an all-purpose explanation for failed relationships, telling women, "He's just not that into you." That became the title of a book, written by Behrendt with his wife, Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt.

Behrendt promises to bring the style of "a recovering rock 'n' roller" to the show, which will tackle "all kinds of relationship issues, from dating to marriage, from friends to family, from the workplace to the weekend and beyond."

"I'm a comedian and have been for some time, but all of my comedy's always been directed at the idea that you have a short ride here on this planet. You should have an awesome life, and you should figure out how to get there. And so my goal is ... to make sure that people get that awesome life every day possible and also get to laugh at it, because life is really pretty funny."

Renaissance man Ablow is a writer whose works include "Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson," examining the California husband convicted of killing his wife and unborn child, and a series of crime novels starring FBI forensic psychologist Frank Clevenger. He's also a psychiatrist, a frequent expert witness in trials and has offered self-help strategies on "The Tyra Banks Show."

Ablow's plan, which he'll outline in today's series opener, is to help individuals, couples and families cope with personal challenges. Early topics include probing the mind of John Mark Carr, who falsely confessed to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey; counseling four generations of one family plagued by addiction; and helping teens accept a parent's new mate.

"I don't have a perfect life. I don't know anybody with a perfect life. What I do know is that ... if we were to stand up and tell one story about what we're challenged by, what hasn't gone so well, this miraculous human quality called empathy would be born in this very room and we would feel connected to each other."

Among the faces that won't be seen in St. Louis this fall are Megan Mullally and Martha Stewart. No local station picked up Mullally's new talk show, which produced a pilot episode deemed "blah" by one general manager. And KTVI (Channel 2) dropped "Martha" after two seasons.

"Martha just didn't do the ratings we expected her to do," KTVI general manager Spencer Koch says. "We're sorry if people are upset, but we gave her every chance. We wish her well in finding a new home in St. Louis."

That hasn't happened. No other local station has picked the show up, and a "Martha" spokeswoman confirms that it won't be seen here this fall.

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