For American women of a certain age—let's say, somewhere around the Ricki Lake/Rachael Ray generation—the utterance of the very name John Cusack is enough to instantly reawaken first stirrings of celebrity puppy-love ecstasy. Give those women their own talk shows and a captive audience with the boombox-hoisting object of their romantic adolescent fantasies, however, and things can quickly get pretty awkward.

Fresh from being tricked on The View into asking Lake on a date, now watch in amazement as the 30-minute-meal guru hovers over Cusack like a freshly baked broccoli, cheese and bacon casserole. As Ray tosses aside a cue card obviously compiled by some Cusack-illiterate to ask her own questions, the Better Off Dead star's reaction can only be described as being about as enthused as someone who's just been gifted with a bag of rocks and screwdrivers from an overzealous fan.

• Rachael Ray Show

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