Watching Rachael Ray

Today we start out at the kitchen table where Rachael is joined right off the bat by Eric McCormack! It’s been 11 years since Will and Grace (no way, 11?!), but he hasn’t been just sitting around, and now he’s back where he belongs - primetime, with TNT’s new series Trust Me. Where Madmen is about the beginning of the ad age, Trust Me is about the end, and the struggle in this DVR age, how do you get them to listen, and he becomes the boss of a friend and there’s more tension.

When deciding what to do - he didn’t want to do a sitcom, because he was spoiled with the first one, and he kinda wanted to be straight for a change. He didn’t want to be a lawyer or doctor - and here comes advertising where it’s cut throat and creative. He hit it off right away with co-star Tim Cavanaugh, and says that whoever invented caffeine got the idea from him. The show is written by two ad men who were on the Chicago scene, and is about their friendship, so there’s lot of chemistry, and the ads they do are real and can be real campaigns and it’s a huge product placement thing sometimes. Eric jokes that the SAG is screaming in pain. He says it’s an interesting marriage though, because the product owners now can’t tell them how the characters react and talk about the product itself.

When Debra Messing was on, she matched Hollywood starlets with their ex-husbands in The Ex-Factor, so Eric tries to beat her time by pairing famous TV characters with their on-screen bosses in Who’s the Boss… can he do it? Debra’s time was 45 seconds, but Eric does his group in just 25! Click here for some backstage moments with Eric.

Next up, it’s a meal fit for a President, and Executive Chef Andre Cote took us behind the scenes at the Bi-Partisan Dinner where President Obama honored Senator John McCain, and 1,100 of the nation’s elite. Talk about pressure! But Cote says, beaming “Anytime you can serve a president, it’s quite an honor!”

Is YOUR closet a disaster? Gretta is on hand with some tips and tricks as she helps out Alicia who is in desperate need of a closet makeover. Alicia says her closet is so bad she doesn’t even know what’s in there anymore - and she ends up recycling the same hoodies and sweaters over and over again. She even has clothes in her son’s room! It’s G to the rescue!

Not only that, but Rachael’s friend gets the help of Amy Sui to organize her daughter’s closet, through the use of the Elfa system from the container store, bins, pullout drawers and huggable hangers that helped alphabetize the clothing. Amy also suggests keeping like items with like, and no overflow - only keep what you love and use. She also says to keep the closet inviting - pop the back wall with a bright color, and use curtains instead of doors to make it ‘friendly’.

Check below, after the cut for some closet organizing tips from Gretta - and hey, what’s for dinner? Greek Baked Ziti and No-Time-for Breakfast biscuits.

• If you have shelves, line them with wrapping paper or kitchen contact paper to keep them smooth. You want to avoid rough surfaces or splinters that could damage your clothing.

• Install a double hang, which can be found at the Container Store. “The moment you put these in, you have more closet space,” Gretta says.

• Categorize your items using Garment Organizers, plastic dividers that you can label just like you see on racks in department stores: “Formal,” “Skirts,” “Dresses.” Gretta says, “This way, you’re never searching for anything.” Gretta organizes Alicia’s closet into three areas: “Wow!” contains items that are for special occasions; “Work” has all of her business clothes; and “Weekend” has all of her jeans and other casuals.

• Gretta puts together five complete outfits (including accessories) so that Alicia has fool-proof ensembles ready to go at a moment’s notice — saving her from last minute trips to the store!

• The basic rule is that if it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind, Gretta says. Use open containers to store scarves and accessories, and don’t bother using the tops of your shoe boxes. Or, get rid of the boxes entirely and display your footwear on shoe trees.

• For your knits, use clear containers instead of hangers, which could cause unwanted stretching of the fabric.

• Gretta explains that the ideal height for your clothes is eye level, but that all the space above the curtain rod often goes unused. The solution is the pull-down closet bar from Organize-It, which gives you a double row of hanging clothes and allows you to easily pull down the top row to eye level.

The Container Store, and the Organize-It pulldown bar.