Cablevision Be Damned, Food Network Gets Highest Ratings EVER on Sunday Night

Well, even though approximately 3 million cable subscribers in the Tri-State region weren't able to watch, Sunday, Jan. 3 turned out to be the highest-rated, most-watched night in Food Network history.

Two big premieres—Iron Chef America: Super Chef Battle and Worst Cooks in America—attracted a combined average audience of 3.7 million viewers, according to the network.

Additionally, the 7.6 million viewers who watched the super chef battle helped make Food Network the most-watched cable network on Sunday night.

That's a pretty big achievement!

Still refusing to negotiate, Cablevision?

***************

I watched some of the Super Chef Battle, but honestly found myself flipping around after a bit. Even though it was cool to see the White House and Mrs. Obama, that portion of the special was rather short. They were in and out of DC in what seemed like 10 minutes. Then, the rest of the battle was just a bit too drawn out for me.

Maybe if Mrs. Obama had made more of an appearance and they had featured a little more on the actual garden and what goes into cooking the White House meals I would have been more interested. (Truth be told, I sometimes get bored watching regular one-hour Iron Chef episodes, so I'm surprised I stayed on for almost 2 hours with this one.)

Did you watch? What did you think of Mrs. Obama and the "secret ingredient" that wasn't much of a secret.

Emeril Live Might Be Coming Back... But Not on Food Network

Despite fading away into the Food Network oblivion nearly two years ago, Emeril Lagasse recently hinted that his namesake "live" show Emeril Live may resurface soon... on a major network?!


"Somebody does not want 'Emeril Live' to go away. They just want it to be a little bit better," Lagasse said. "It is not the Food Network. It will be a major network and hopefully it will be a weekly prime time show."

Uhhh... remember how your last primetime show on a major network went, Emeril? (And WTF, Sherri Shepherd was in that?)

"It will be more variety I will have a lot of my celebrity friends on. Musicians and chefs and it will be a lot of fun. We will cook a little laugh a lot and we will keep it energized. I plan on making the big announcement this week but wanted to tell you."

We shall see about this, Emmie. I acknowledge that he's a good TV talent and great chef, but I just never got into Emeril Live... and I doubt a snazzier set or celebrity friends will do much to raise its blood pressure.

And just since it might be coming back, here are my original 4 reasons why I was fine with Emeril Live ending:

1. It wasn't live. True, Emeril was "alive" during the taping and in front of people, but it still--even after ten years--looked like an infomercial.

2. I hated that he came out from a bookcase in the beginning. Why enter through a bookcase? Did he have to jiggle the candlestick on the wall to get back through?

3. Even though it was live, it was incredibly old school with all the swap-outs used. Swap outs are done. This isn't a segment on morning television.

4. It really looked like an infomercial. I know, I know... there was many a cooking tip to learn during each episode, but I thought at any minute Mr. Lagasse might try to sell me something that could dehydrate meats and blend me a margarita at the same time.

*************************************

Hope everyone is enjoying their Wednesday. It's a rainy day here in the Northeast. If you're in the US and getting the day off for Veterans' Day, have a great one.

Mario, Emeril, & Bobby Get 2 hr White House Special - A Sign of Importance or a Consolation Prize For Dwindling Network Time?

When you get an invite from the White House you send in the big guns. And at Food Network, to many people, those would be Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, and Emeril Lagasse... or they would have used to think that. Apart from Bobby and his ever-presence on the channel, Mario and Bobby have all but disappeared into rerunville.

So when I read that the three big boys would be appearing in a two-hour Super Chef Battle episode of Iron Chef America, featuring Michelle Obama and White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, I wondered... is this a sign of who's really important at Food Network, or just a consolation prize to Mario and Emeril?


Food Network stars Mario Batali, Bobby Flay and Emeril Lagasse travel to the White House to take part in an unprecedented culinary competition in Super Chef Battle, a special two-hour episode of Iron Chef America. Greeted by First Lady Michelle Obama, the chefs are joined by White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford and receive their challenge: create a meal for America using The White House Kitchen Garden’s produce as their secret ingredients.

For one, Emeril isn't even an Iron Chef. Why was he asked to come along and not, say, Cat Cora, the only female Iron Chef?

Alton Brown is coming along for his commentary, and Ted Allen will serve as a guest floor reporter.

Even Food Network kind-of star Nigella Lawson (she's huge in the UK; hasn't entirely caught on here for whatever reason) will serve as one of the judges, which would normally be a bit of a no-no. Ted Allen had inferred in recent interviews that he wouldn't serve as a judge anymore due to his more established relationship with Food Network as host of two series, Chopped and Food Detectives.

It makes sense that Food Network stars shouldn't serve as judges, actually. Alex Guarnaschelli used to judge Iron Chef America battles, and now her new show Alex's Day Off is produced by Bobby Flay. Who knows how her vote might get swayed if she had to choose between Bobby and the challenger.

Soooo... I'm not really sure what to think of the addition of Mario and Emeril in this special. I mean, it makes sense they didn't ask Sandra Lee or, uhhh, Mary Nolan (that one worked out well, FN) to the White House. But is it a real sign their presence is valued on the network? We shall seeeeeee....

The special episode premieres Sunday, January 3rd at 8pm ET/PT.

Emeril: I'm Concerned

Former Food Network star Emeril Lagasse showed up at a few New York events recently looking a bit... disheveled. What's going on, E?!




That's Emeril attending a benefit screening of Up on top and him outside of the Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC before an appearance on David Letterman, bottom.

It's not good when Mario Batali looks more in shape than you in a pic!


Come on, Emeril! Use some of that $50 million you got from Martha Stewart to get a trainer. You gotta stay healthy if you're gonna be BAMing for much longer.

Stars Turn Out for Food Bank for NYC's Can-Do Awards

The Food Bank For New York City's Sixth Annual Can-Do Awards were held this past Tuesday night at Abigail Kirsch's Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers, so naturally everyone in the food world got zipped into their tiny little gowns (which was hard for Emeril Lagasse) and hit up the piers.


Former President Clinton, Jon Bon Jovi, REM's Michael Stipe, Anne Burrell, Billy Joel's sort-of wife Katie Lee Joel, and even my favorite SVU actress Mariska Hargitay (get that collapsed lung healed!) were in attendance.


Food Bank for New York City aims to end hunger throughout the city's five boroughs. Hope they raised lots of money!

*************************

I'm so glad it's Thursday. This week has been rough and I'm looking forward to a bit of rest this weekend. Might be going to New York, though, so that's pretty much the opposite of rest. Hmm... I need more coffee. Hope you all have a great Thursday!

2009 SoBe Wine & Food Fest Grand Tasting / Culinary Seminars

My favorite part of the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the Grand Tasting & Culinary Seminars, definitely did not disappoint this year. The weather was great, the food was tasty, and the wines were flowing.


It was so hot in 2008 (90s), but we really lucked out with the weather this year. Saurday was comfortable and in the mid 70s. Sunday was a bit warmer, but not unbearable. The two, GIANT tasting tents were filled with hundreds of food and beverage vendors, eager to pass their product and hopefully leave a good enough impression for us to go out and buy/visit them in the future.

Any talk of recession seemed completely absent all weekend, and the tents felt just as packed as ever. You can barely move around in there, so rest breaks are a necessity.

And where else can you get these views during your rest breaks:




Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Needless to say, I kept my eyes to the left most of the time.









The culinary/lifestyle seminars were excellent this year, for the most part. It was great seeing Secrets of a Restaurant Chef star Anne Burrell on Sunday, who did a very engaging demo on fresh pasta-- just like on Iron Chef America ("You gotta put your body weight into it!")

Sunny Anderson also got a quick visit (and smooch) from Mr. Emeril Lagasse himself. It was her appearance on Emeril Live that really gave Sunny her "in" at Food Network, so it was neat to see her thank him personally. Not sure if that was Sunny's first meeting with Emeril since, or not.






You gotta stay hydrated while on the beach, so Amstel Light, an Aperol cocktail, and a swig of Evian are all a must. I loved them all this year. Evian, a big sponsor of the event, even had a bottle designed by Jean Paul Gaultier on display this year, along with special water sommeliers who taught attendees about "sipping notes." I didn't get to examine any "sipping notes," but I did love the mist of evian they were giving out to heated attendees.




One of our favorite additions this year was new sponsor Whole Foods, who in addition to sponsoring the Grand Tasting Village, had its own mini-buffet set up offering made-to-order coffee and espresso drinks, fresh fruit, scones and pastries, and other yummies to enjoy while resting under one of their umbrellas. Loved it!

Like I said, the tents were so packed that I felt like I barely had time to learn anything about the vendors. You had to push your way up to the front of the table, grab the bite, and then push your way back to a small walkway, where you still got ran into by the thousands of other attendees. That's really my only complaint about the weekend. I'm not sure how they could fix it, save for limiting the number of attendees or dividing the grand tasting into two timeslots, each day (like they did in NYC).

I have lots of fun video to edit and will hopefully share very soon. If you love food, wine, and being on the beach in February, then SoBe is where it's at. I love it. Can't wait for 2010.

Emeril Lagasse To Guest Judge Top Chef Finale

Emeril Lagasse isn't letting his nearly complete absence on Food Network get him down. He's got a new show on the Planet Green cable network, got $50 million in spending money from Martha Stewart, and still has episodes of his classic Food Network show Emeril Live airing on sister network Fine Living.

And now he's going to Bravo!



Lagasse will be the guest judge on the final episodes of Top Chef: New York, set to air on Feb. 18 and 25. Bravo says a "shocking twist" will narrow the four down to three on the 18th, with the winner being revealed on the 25th.

Also, the supersized finale was filmed in Emeril's hood of New Orleans.
"In Louisiana, we have an amazing selection of local ingredients: andouille sausage, frog legs, turtle, catfish and rabbit. I was interested in seeing if the chefs would venture out and really try to explore our local flavors and culture. The challenge for some was finding a balance between the bold spices we love and their own personal style. All I can say is that you'll definitely want to go back for seconds for some of their final dishes!"

************

I've been a bad Top Chef viewer this season (yes, I do watch other networks), so I'll have to catch up before the 18th. I'm sure Bravo will have about 7 mini-marathons before then to help me.

Emeril Inks Deal for 10 More Books, Martha Stewart Gets Richer

Emeril "I belong to Martha" Lagasse has signed a 10 book deal with the new HarperCollins imprint HarperStudio.

TEN BOOKS!


The first book--set to focus on indoor and outdoor grilling--is scheduled to release in May 2009.

Emeril is taking a bit of a gamble on his popularity and ability to sell books, though. HarperStudio splits the profits with the author and provides a "modest" advance as opposed to forking over huge advances (like they'd traditionally do with a big author like Emeril). The practice is also supposed to "help eliminate the costly practice of allowing booksellers to return unsold books" (Crain's)... like what was probably happening to Sandra Lee back in March

So this could be a great deal for Emeril (and Martha) if fans continue to buy those books up.

Buy will you be buying TEN more books by Emeril?

[Source]

New Emeril Live Eps Coming on Fine Living

From July 7-11 at 7pm ET, five new, never-before-seen episodes of Emeril Live will air on the Fine Living network to kick off the show's premiere week and migration from Food Network.

After that premiere week, a new Emeril Live episode will air every Monday at 7pm ET, with episodes from the Food Network library airing every other night of the week at the same time.

Lotsa Emeril for yah.

Fine Living set up a pretty nice web space for Emeril, too--complete with embeddable videos.


Food Network's website has gotten a bit better at building out mini-sites (the ones with video, recent episode info, links, and more) for its lineup of shows. Pretty much all of the news shows have one, even though some of the more "classic" shows like Barefoot Contessa continue to stagnate in the land of Web simplicity.

Hopefully these new episodes will help to calm the angry few who continue to lament the state of Food Network and its demise ever since Emeril's so-called "departure."

Or not.

********************************

Sidebar to "real" journalists out there:

See? I wrote an entire post about Emeril Lagasse without using the word "BAM!" or referring to anything as being "kicked up a notch." It can, in fact, be done. Thank youuuuuuuu.

Too Bad She Couldn't Have Paid Him to Go to Prison For Her

Martha Stewart is doing something with Everyday Food that she's never done before in the magazine's five year history -- putting herself and her main man Emeril Lagasse on the cover.


Ditching its tradition of putting mouthwatering food on the cover, the July/August issue of Everyday Food will feature the new business partners on the cover, further cementing the monumental deal Martha made back in February where she purchased the rights to Emeril's cookbooks, TV shows, and cooking products for $50 million in cash and stock.

Sadly, $50 million isn't enough to get people to stop saying "It's a good thing" and "Bam!" every time they see these two.

Emeril Leaving FN Primetime

Hold onto your apron strings... the Emeril fans are about to go crazy again.

Emeril Lagasse is leaving the Food Network's prime-time schedule for the Fine Living Network, a move the chef hopes will mean a second course of "Emeril Live!"



The AP reports: The Food Network will air reruns of Emeril Live! in the afternoon. But corporate sister the Fine Living Network will pick up the show at 7 p.m. starting on July 7.

The show will air seven nights a week in that time slot. In its first week, five original episodes will be shown and, for about two months, a new episode will be shown each Monday while the rest are reruns.

Fine Living is carried in about 50 million homes, fewer than half the nation's 110 million homes with television. The Food Network is in more than 90 million.

"As you know in television, things have to evolve and this is a little evolution for me," Lagasse said.

Lagasse held out hope that if the reruns do well on Fine Living and on the Food Network during the daytime, corporate owners the Scripps Networks would decide to order a new run of "Emeril Live!" episodes.

"Who knows what's going to happen?" he said.

*************************************************


And isn't it convenient that Emeril will now be paired on the same network as Martha Stewart, the woman he sold his soul to allowed purchase the rights to his cookbooks, tv shows, and kitchen products for $50 million.

If the switch turns out well, Fine Living could turn into the "Food Network Classic" station. Get those Two Fat Ladies up!

No Stopping Emeril and Martha

With all the craziness over the past week at the Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Fest, I almost forgot that Martha Stewart bought the rights to a whole-lotta Emeril to the tune of $50 million.

The newly formed business partners showed up on Letterman last week to do their own Top Ten list. I wonder if Martha paid extra to get the better jokes.




It was announced today that Emeril will debut a new show for Planet Green, Discovery channel's new network. The show, Emeril Green, will be filmed entirely on-location at Whole Foods stores around the country.

I love Whole Foods, but can't really imagine an entire show filmed there.

How long before Oprah buys them both?

No More BAM! Please

By now you know that Martha Stewart has purchased the rights to Emeril Lagasse's franchise of cookbooks, television shows and kitchen products for $45 million in cash and $5 million in stock.

If not, you must have been avoiding CNN, The Washington Post, ABC News, E! News, E! Online, Animal Planet, Fox News, and the Disney channel. (I think they all covered it)

I'm convinced that until the end of time every headline involving Emeril Lagasse will involve a "BAM!" or a reference to something being "kicked up a notch"... regardless the point of the story.


Possible future headlines:

Emeril rushed to the hospital: BAM! Emeril's heart explodes! Drs. hope to kick it up a notch!

Emeril endorses Obama: Emeril kicks up his support for oBAM!a a few notches!

Emeril's funeral: No more notches left to be kicked up! Emeril BAM!'s his way to the afterlife!

... you get the idea.

[Photo Source]

Tampa Trib Gets It Wrong

Umm... you might want to double check your story before you publish it, Tampa Tribune:

Food Network, Now With One-Third Less Body Hair

After 10 years on the air, the Food Network canceled Emeril Lagasse's "Emeril Live" show. The network also canceled Mario Batali's "Everyday Italian" series.

Obvs, Everyday Italian is not Mario Batali's series, nor was the show I believe the writer intended to refer to (Molto Mario) "canceled." New episodes haven't been filmed for years.

*******************************

Ugh! I'm still not feeling well. I'm in bed right now watching Giada on Today. She's getting better. Good for her.

Happy new year, folks.