Move over Martha Stewart because Rachael Ray’s souffle is rising.

In a year that saw the share price of the once-mighty Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia sag precipitously, Stewart dropped off Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women.

Ray, meanwhile, strengthened her claim as America’s new domestic diva in 2007. She signed a new contract with Food Network, and pulled down $16 million for her thriving year-old network television talk show.

If you’re familiar with the phrase, “You know you love me,” you’ve been tuning into one of the latest guilty pleasure TV shows: Gossip Girl.

The new drama is from writer and producer Josh Schwartz, best known for creating the The OC, which went off the air in February 2007.

Awkward. That’s the best way to describe John Bowman’s position in the writers strike that began today. He is chairman of the negotiating committee for the Writers Guild of America, but also executive producer of the new series, “Frank TV,” starring comedian Frank Caliendo.

By striking, Bowman is walking away from his producer job.

This is the first industrywide writers strike since 1988. About 12,000 movie, TV, radio and animation writers are involved.

He claims he IS America in the title of his best-seller, I Am America (And So Can You!). So why is it so surprising that Stephen Colbert has announced he’s running for president?

For starters, Colbert is running only in South Carolina. And he’s a comedian.

There are many ways to meet one’s fate on The Island. ABC’s Losties have perished because of a man-killing smoke monster, gunshot wounds, deadly illnesses and drowning. Add another character-killer to the list: DUI.

In Hawaii, where the series is filmed, several Lost stars have been caught driving under the influence and it seems the punishment for the offense goes beyond the courthouse punishment. All actors who have been arrested in Hawaii during filming have had their characters killed off on the show.

Fans of NBC’s hit comedy series The Office have spent many Thursday nights waiting and hoping for the central star-crossed couple, Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly, to finally start dating.

After sitting through Pam’s engagement to Roy and Jim’s relationship with Karen, Jim and Pam enthusiasts got their wish in the season three finale. Jim turns down a position at Dunder Mifflin’s corporate headquarters in New York, dumps his current paramour, and asks Pam to dinner.

Bad times for newspapers can be good times for newspaper lobbyists.

Major publishers, which often cover K Street as a hotbed of corruption, spend thousands each year to advance and protect their own interests.

Yet one issue that has fueled the Washington media lobby for years may soon disappear. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin has drafted a plan that would abolish rules forbidding companies from owning both a newspaper and broadcast outlets in the same city.

Oprah Winfrey just got a little richer.

NBC Universal announced today that it would buy Oxygen Media, the cable TV network founded by Winfrey, CEO Geraldine Laybourne and three TV producers, for $925 million.

The purchase is yet another indication from NBC Universal that it is targeting women viewers. Other Universal properties with significant female audiences include iVillage, Bravo and the Today show.

TV can be a goofy business, but this couldn’t be the script the boys in Hearst Tower had in mind when they offered $600 million a few weeks ago for the small piece of Hearst-Argyle Television they don’t already own.

A special committee of Hearst-Argyle directors advised against the deal last week, calling it “inadequate” and saying it is “not in the best interests” of stockholders, other than Hearst.

Tom Scott, already half of a business-world power couple, is bringing new focus on the affluent through his broadcast network, Plum TV.

Scott is a co-founder of Nantucket Nectars, the beverage company bought by Cadbury-Schweppes in 2002. His wife, Emily Scott, founded J. Crew.