Martha Stewart goes back in front of the cameras tomorrow, but her CBS bosses say they haven't decided whether to turn up the heat in the studio kitchen.
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Embroiled in the ImClone insider-trading scandal, the embattled empress of good things is slated to make her second consecutive weekly live appearance on "The Early Show."
During a bizarre segment last week that at times resembled a "Saturday Night Live" skit, Stewart hacked away at a head of cabbage as she was peppered with questions about her sale of ImClone stock.
But it is unclear whether the show's hosts plan to grill her like a pork chop with peach-tomato barbecue sauce this time around.
"We're going to make our decision closer to the interview, but if there are more developments in the story, we will address it," said Jennifer Tartikoff, spokeswoman for "The Early Show."
Tartikoff did not say whether recent reports about Stewart — including the fact that she's now the target of a criminal probe — qualified.
"No details have been worked out," she said.
Stewart's spokeswoman refused to comment, but she did issue a press release touting the summer highlights of the syndicated television show "Martha Stewart Living."
On the menu: "sizzling grilling techniques" — presumably the type practiced at a backyard barbecue, not a congressional hearing.
Meanwhile, the scandal didn't seem to have any impact on Stewart's TV popularity.
Her show's ratings are "virtually unchanged" since the ImClone investigation began, said King World Productions spokeswoman Jan Murray.
It got a 1.9 rating and 6% share of the viewing audience the last two weeks of June, down slightly from 2 and 7% in the preceding three weeks.
Despite the lack of any massive decline in viewership because of the ImClone controversy, Stewart's show remains well below top daytime syndicated programs such as "Oprah" and "Maury."
The insider-trading taint has made some of Stewart's magazine advertisers jumpy and sent shares in her namesake company plunging.
Stock in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia rose by pennies yesterday, but the shares have lost more than 40% of their value in the last month.
Stewart's troubles began when it was revealed she sold nearly 4,000 shares in ImClone, a biotech firm owned by her good friend Sam Waksal, just before a devastating ruling by federal regulators.
She says she received no insider information and simply had an arrangement with her Merrill Lynch broker, Peter Bacanovic, to sell when the stock went below $60.
But Bacanovic's assistant, Douglas Faneuil, has told Merrill investigators there was no prearranged stop-loss order.
Federal prosecutors who charged Waksal with fraud for allegedly tipping off family members to sell their ImClone shares are investigating Stewart, Bacanovic and others.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee also is investigating but is on hiatus this week.
