Salon.com has an interesting article this week on how Suzanne Somers and the huge success her home-shopping ware empire has been overlooked by the cultural writers at large because she flies below their "upscale" radar:

"Because while we have all thoroughly mulled more upscale lifestyle/spiritual pashas like Martha, Oprah and Dr. Phil, Suzanne Somers has gone about her business largely unnoticed -- that is, except to the millions who have, in some way, bought into her brand."

While this may be a somewhat overbroad assessment, I love articles like this in which the author diagnoses a cultural phenomena. Read up if you're interested!