When you're a cable network and you're only reaching 55 million households and want to reach twice that amount, what do you do? If you're Scripps Networks, you rebrand the channel and give it a new name. That's why Fine Living will become the Cooking Channel in 2010.
The way I see this, since Scripps owns the Food Network, the Cooking Channel will be sort of a Food Network annex. Food Network 2.0. Food Network, Two. In actuality, a lot of the programming on Fine Living now is connected to Food Network. Old Iron Chef episodes, Emeril LaGasse and Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck ... all cooking shows that were once on Food Network.
Now that it's going to drop the Fine Living angle and concentrate on cooking, all the overflow from Food Network will have somewhere to go.
Given the popularity of the second-season opener of The Next Iron Chef, I figured it was a good time to pull out this interview I did with the show's host, Alton Brown, at the network's TCA party in July. It was definitely the tastiest party of the tour, as each Iron Chef contestant plied the critics with delectable morsels of their creativity at various stations.
In a bit of a surprise, one of the contestants, Amanda Freitag, was being assisted by her friend Ariane Duarte, one of the more popular contestants from rival program Top Chef's New York season (I was so flabbergasted by the turn of events, I snapped a pic of the two with my cell phone). When I pointed this tidbit out to Brown, his response was very interesting...
Even though I watch a lot of programming on the Food Network, I have to admit I missed almost all of the The Next Iron Chef in season one. Last Sunday, the second season of The Next Iron Chef blasted off with the best ratings for a series opener in Food Network history. Over two million viewers, a 1.1 rating among adults 25-54.
Why the big jump? Well, I think a lot of other people are like me. On Sunday, before I switched over to watch pro football, I clicked on Food Network where they were showing a marathon rerun of the first season of The Next Iron Chef. It only took half an episode for me to kick myself for not having watched the whole first season when it aired. It was terrific.
Yes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this a bit much. TLC has given the greenlight to BBQ Pit Masters, a new food show about American barbecue competitions. Does Bobby Flay, Mr. Food Network grill master himself, know about this? I can see him getting as red as his hair when he reads about it.
So, TLC is saying that this new show, a documentary about the über-competitive world of competitive grilling, will run for eight hour-long episodes commencing December 2. How this will be different from similar food competitions on other networks -- like Food Network -- remains to be seen.
Remember how in Miss America, the emcee would always say that in the event that Miss America cannot fulfill her duties, the first runner up would step in? Apparently that's how it works with The Next Food Network Star, too. Just three weeks after Melissa D'Arabian was declared the winner, her number one challenger -- the guy who placed second -- Jeffrey Saad has been given his own show. It's not on the network, but it's a show nonetheless.
According to Food Network honcho Bob Tuschman's blog, Jeffrey Saad will be doing a mini-series on the web site -- exclusively for now -- called The Spice Smuggler. The premise is based on the Alton Brown directed pilot that Jeffrey presented in the finale of The Next Food Network Star.
If you think this image of french fries looks delicious and appetizing, this post is for you.
There are so many cooking shows and food competition shows, everything from Hell's Kitchen to Top Chef to Man v. Food, but there's a new one that started up recently that I'm really, really enjoying. Maybe because it's just about the joy of eating! Whatever the reason, The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a winner.
A week ago -- in TV time -- Melissa D'Arabian was crowned the winner of The Next Food Network Star. Presto-chango and one week later, her new show debuted on The Food Network, called Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa D'Arabian. That wasn't the concept she was talking about during the competition, but within hours of last Sunday's finale, FN had decided that this would be the format for Melissa.
It was with a lot of curiosity that I checked out the debut of Ten Dollar Dinners. Would Melissa be able to adapt her "kitchen survival guide" and perky homemaker style to a skin flint, sawbuck a dinner concept? Would the personality -- that the judges harped on wanting to see -- come out in a slickly-made premiere episode?
Unless you've been living in a cave the past five years or so, you know that celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has emerged as one of the biggest stars on TV. But if you only watch Gordon on his Fox TV shows -- Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares -- you've only seen one side of the bellicose chef. On those shows, he's a screaming, cursing, demanding, hard-driving taskmaster. He's compelling, but you wouldn't want to be on the other side of one of his verbal tongue-lashings.
That's right, less than 24 hours after cleaning up the confetti, Ms. D'Arabian was handed a new show with a new angle. The title will be Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa D'Arabian.
I thought we already had a Lard Channel, only it's called Food Network.
This clip is from Jimmy Kimmel Live. It's the Lard Channel, where all of the programming is based around fat people, who seem to be all the rage these days. Before he is crucified for dumping on people who are overweight, please note that ending of the clip.
Good news is probably an understatement. It's really great news because with SVU moving to Wednesday, 9 p.m., the show really didn't need to shake up the cast at this point in time. Stability mattered and NBC found a way to bring the two stars into the fold, offering them both the flexibility they sought.
Once upon a time, Melanie Hutsell was on top of the world. And by "on top of the world," we mean she was on Saturday Night Live, doing characters whose signature dialogue quietly seeped into the mainstream conscious and were applauded on arrival by the studio audience. And then she vanished, only to become the butt of many a joke among SNL aficionados.
But we found her via butter enthusiastFood Network superstar Paula Deen, who somehow got word that the actress and writer had moved on from the Delta Delta Delta sorority sister, Di, to impersonating Deen herself. In fact, Hutsell had been impersonating Deen for several years, "anywhere they would have [her], in theaters, churches, temples - you name it."
Does Food Network think that we don't know that other networks do shows about food? The reason I'm asking the question is this: season four Top Chef finalist Richard Blais was a guest on Ted Allen's Food Detectives last week talking about how to freeze alcohol with liquid nitrogen to make really cool looking cocktails.
I recognized Richard right away, as did probably most other foodies who watched the show...but you'd never know about his Top Chef tenure if you listened to Ted's introduction. It was like the other show didn't exist.
I love British chef Gordon Ramsay. I love watching him on TV, whether it's his Fox shows -- Hell's Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares -- or the ones that have turned up on BBC America like Ramsay's Boiling Point and the most recent show, The F Word. The F stands for food, by the way. Much as I love him, though, I don't think I want him as a teacher.
Well, that's what he's going to be doing next. The Simon Cowell of cooking is plotting something new for the network. Ramsay's doing a special cooking show for Fox in the Julia Child tradition, teaching how to do what he does. The idea is for Gordon to create a three-course dinner while giving home viewers instructions about how to do it with him.
You know why Rachael Ray is smiling all the time? She's the richest food star in the world. According to the latest Forbes list of top-earning celebrity chefs, Rachael Ray leads the pack. In fact, of the top 10 names, all but two are TV stars.
Therefore, you better believe that all that exposure on Food Network, Bravo, Travel Channel, Fine Living, BBC America, and Fox -- not to mention syndication and appearances on talk shows and demonstrations on the Today Show -- makes a big difference.
When you're a cable network and you're only reaching 55 million households and want to reach twice that amount, what do you do? If you're Scripps Networks, you rebrand the channel and give it a new name. That's why Fine Living will become the Cooking Channel in 2010. 
Given the 
Yes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this a bit much. 
Remember how in Miss America, the emcee would always say that in the event that Miss America cannot fulfill her duties, the first runner up would step in? Apparently that's how it works with The Next Food Network Star, too. Just three weeks after 
A week ago -- in TV time -- 
While reading 
If you watched 
Well, that's a relief. After months of speculation that NBC would be bringing 
Once upon a time, Melanie Hutsell was on top of the world. And by "on top of the world," we mean she was on 
Does Food Network think that we don't know that other networks do shows about food? The reason I'm asking the question is this: season four Top Chef finalist Richard Blais was a guest on Ted Allen's 
I love British chef Gordon Ramsay. I love watching him on TV, whether it's his Fox shows -- 
You know why 
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