TVSquad

Some people say that President Obama has been on TV too much since he became President a year ago, but his wife is about to make a big splash on one of Food Network's most popular shows.

First Lady Michelle Obama will reveal the secret ingredient on the January 3 special episode of Iron Chef America (I don't think it's the season premiere because we're in the middle of new episodes right now). There's no specifics yet on what the secret ingredient will be, but it is something that grows in the White House garden and ties in with the First Lady's "Healthy Kids Initiative" to get kids eating better and exercising. Beyond all that, this sounds like its going to be a great episode of the show. It will pit White House chef Cristeta Comerford and Bobby Flay against Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse.

You know what I'd like to see as the secret ingredient on Iron Chef America? Ring Dings. Or how about Atomic Fireballs?

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.

... not who you think.

AskMen.com has released the list of the 49 most influential men of 2009 (not sure why it's 49 and not 50) and there are several TV people on the list, including FOX News anchor Shepard Smith, chef Mario Batali, and Seth MacFarlane.

But the number one person? The person who AskMen thinks is the most influential? He's from TV too, and he's actually fictional.

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.

Book? What book? That would seem to be the bone of contention, if you will. Ben Karlin, former headwriter for The Daily Show, has filed a lawsuit against TV chef Mario Batali and actress Gwyneth Paltrow claiming they did not pay him for work he did for a book on which they were collaborating. Karlin, who shared authorship of America (The Book) with Jon Stewart, says he was assigned to "conceptualize and oversee" a book to compliment a PBS series starring Mario and Gwyneth in which the stars take a cultural and gastronomic tour of Spain. The series, which may be called Spain...on the Road Again, will premiere this fall.

Fishbowl New York is reporting that negotiations between celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse and Food Network have gotten nowhere and he won't be returning to the cable channel. The last day of taping for his show is December 11, though reruns will continue on the network, probably forever.

First Sara Moulton, then Mario Batali, now Emeril. I can't say I'll be sorry to see him go though. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but his Emeril Live show is unwatchable. I mean, come on, a live studio audience and a band? That's just ridiculous. The audience has orgasms every time he mentions that he's going to put garlic into a recipe, and applauds when he adds alcohol. And his "oh yeah, babe" is even more annoying than his "bam!" I'm sure he'll pop up on TV some place else.

Who will be next to go? Alton Brown? Sandra Lee? Bobby Flay? Nah, I say all of those people stay on for a long time.

Update: Food Network e-mailed Serious Eats to say that only Emeril Live is ending. Lagasse will continue to do the audience and band-free Essence of Emeril on the network.

The normal icy stigma against appearing on TV for film stars has been thawing as of late. Damages has Glenn Close, Saving Grace has Holly Hunter and now PBS has Gwyneth Paltrow.

Paltrow, the star of Shakespeare in Love and the upcoming Iron Man movie, will be traveling to Europe this fall for a new cooking show exploring the usually overlooked world of Spanish cuisine.

• At 8, ABC has a new Ugly Betty, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and October Road.
• CBS has March Madness all night.
• FOX has a new Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at 8.
• The CW has a new Smallville at 8, then a new Supernatural.
• At 9, NBC has a new Scrubs, followed by new episodes of Andy Barker, P.I. and Raines.
• HGTV has a new Divine Design at 9.
• Also at 9: Mario Batali is the subject of a new Chefography on Food Network.
• At 10, Spike has a new Pros vs. Joes.
• TCM has Island in the Sky at 10.
• Showtime has a new Penn & Teller: Bullshit at 10, followed by a new This American Life.
• At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Showbiz Show With David Spade.

Check your local TV listings for more.