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?

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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.

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.

Stars Come Out for NYC 'Julie & Julia' Premiere

Giada De Laurentiis looked kind of lonely out there at the L.A. premiere of 'Julie & Julia.' She would have had better company at the New York City premiere last night. Take a look:


Ever-present Katie Lee Joel showed up because she has to be at things like this (probably pitched a few more shows to Food Network while in attendance) and 5 Ingredient Fix host Claire Robinson did her best Rachael Ray impression.

Oh wait... Rachael really was there!


Looks like Rach is trying to one-up Sandra Lee's sideboob pic from Out magazine! (Actually this is starting to be a common look for Ms. Ray).

And then, the couples I'm sure are on a double date tonight: Anthony Bourdain and his wife & Sandra Lee with boyfriend Andrew Cuomo.


You know Aunt Sandy couldn't let Bourdain just walk by without a word from her! In a blog post he entitled "A Drive By Shooting," Bourdain describes his encounter with the mistress of tablescapes:

"Now, I've said some unkind things over the years about Sandra. Far too many and far too terrible things to ever apologize for. Plus, I pretty much meant every word. Once you've seen Sandra making Kwanzaa Cake on YouTube, there's no backing down . My head is reeling with the thought that one phone call from Cuomo and my last twenty years of tax returns are getting audited . I'm paralyzed, wondering what the statute of limitations is on various things I may or may not have done twenty years ago."

Ha! It's always interesting to hear about what happens when people like this run into each other. I'm waiting for the day that Guy Fieri confronts me... not exactly shivering in my boots, though.

Have a good weekend!

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Ted Allen's 'Chopped' Picked Up for 26 More Episodes

I've been a bad Chopped watcher. I don't think I've even seen an episode all the way through. It's sad, I know. I should just set the TiVo.

Anyhow, I'll have a lot more episodes to watch soon, as the Ted Allen-hosted competition was just picked up for 26 more episodes.


"I’m pleased to report that “Chopped” is doing great in the ratings, and that Food Network has ordered a new season of 26 episodes! We start shooting March 30, a week after we wrap season two of “Food Detectives” (no rest, as they say, for the wicked), and the network will have them on the air sometime this summer," writes Ted on his official blog.

Those casting directors will have their work cut out for them. Since each self-contained episode features 4 chef competitors, that means they gotta find 104 new contestants!

Good luck!

Accidental Unnecessary Quotes or is Food Network's Homepage Trying to Tell Us Something?

I was just checking out the FoodNetwork.com homepage and saw this little mention of the second season of Ted Allen's show Food Detectives, which promises "all new" questions and answers. Do those unnecessary quotes really imply questions and answers you've probably already seen on Discovery Health or TLC?



I'm not sure.

Regardless, it doesn't beat my favorite example of unnecessary quotes, seen in this pic I actually took in NYC last September.




Truth be told, I did get my "free" cone that day. And it was both "new" and "certified organic!"

Ted Allen's 'Chopped' Premieres Tonight

Ted Allen, host of Food Network's Food Detectives, takes up hosting duties on the network's new cooking competition Chopped, which premieres tonight at 10pm EST.


I coulda chatted with Teddy yesterday, but the interview conference call completely slipped my mind. Dang! Luckily, you can still read my first interview with Ted here. Also, the folks at The Deadbolt remembered the call and chatted with Ted. Here are some highlights:

On how Chopped is different than Top Chef and other cooking competition shows:
[T]here are a lot of bloggers out there with extrasensory perception, evidently, because I should point out the show has never been broadcast yet. I was alluding to this before, there are a shockingly large number of cooking contest shows out there now, and it isn’t even just on cable. Obviously Hell’s Kitchen is on Fox, which is sort of a network, not counting the news part. And there’s a new one coming out, I think it’s in D.C. with Marco Pierre White, who is the great three star Michelin chef who trained Mario Vitelli, who has an ego the size of, you know, Texas. Bad example. I should’ve said something European.

Our show is different from all of those shows. Well, first of all, I think all of those shows have their own character and I think Chopped very definitely has its own vibe. It’s mainly different in that all of our episodes are self contained. So we have four chefs in each episode, one person wins, takes $10,000 and goes home. It’s also different in a sense that it’s strictly a cooking contest, there’s really no reality component to it. So they don’t live together and we don’t take away their phone. They’re just there for one day to cook three courses and leave, if they’re lucky. Some only get to cook one course and then they have to leave.

But I guess I should acknowledge that Magical Elf, who are the people who have made Runway and Top Chef, and several other shows, that they definitely are influential on all kinds of television, because they’re so good at what they do. I don’t know, but I’ll let you guys judge for yourselves. When you watch Chopped, I think you’ll see it’s got its own thing going on.

On the rules of the show:
The rules are pretty simple. You can do whatever you want, but for each course there is a basket of mystery ingredients. That can range anywhere from three to five things and you have to use all of them in your dish. You can use a little bit, you can use a lot. It’s not like on Iron Chef where you have to make one of them the focal point. But I have to say it’s really difficult to cook with when you have to use all five things or all three things. They might not necessarily seem to go together in an obvious way. We’re not going to give you like Soba noodles, salmon, ginger, and soy sauce. It’s never going to be that simple, and then you only have thirty minutes to think of the dish, execute the dish and place the dish. It’s actually really hard.

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I will be watching tonight, but I'm not sure if Chopped will have the same kind of addictive quality that Next Food Network Star does. Obviously, without a focus on the chefs' personalities, living situations, arguments, etc. we're not going into the "characters" all that much. Hopefully the drama of the cooking will be enough. We shall seeeeeeeee.

Amuse-Bouche: Surgery, Bears and Chocolate

• A Weston, Connecticut home with an all-white kitchen served as the set for last night's Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Holiday Special.
  
• No peace and quiet this holiday season! Rachael Ray's vocal chord surgery called off.
  
• Nigella Lawson criticized by animal rights groups for saying she'd kill a bear and wear it.
  
• Alton Brown tells The Miami Herald: "I'm a very private person. I'm kept protected, and I am painfully shy in public."
• Ted Allen on his favorite Iron Chef dish.
  
• Alex Guarnaschelli (love her!) shows us how to make chocolate shortbread cookies.
  

Ted Allen Will Host FN's Chopped

So maybe this is another reason why Ted Allen won't be returning to Top Chef?

Ted Allen was announced as the host of Food Network's new competition-style show Chopped, which I talked about back in August.


Chopped
Premieres: Tuesday, January 13th at 10pm ET/PT
Passion and expertise rule the kitchen on the fast-paced new series, Chopped. Hosted by Ted Allen (Food Detectives), the series challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. After each course, a contestant gets "chopped" until the last man or woman left standing claims victory. Each week, a rotating panel of culinary elite judges including Alex Guarnaschelli, Aaron Sanchez, and Geoffrey Zakarian will decide whose dishes shine the brightest and award the winner $10,000.

This sounds like a much better fit for Ted. We already know how he is on a food competition show, so this should be no sweat. And I know I'm making the Top Chef comparison above, but it's really not all that surprising that a cable network would create a "copycat" show. Anyone following the Project Runway scandal between Bravo and Lifetime? Bravo already has several "copycat" shows in the bag if PR really does leave for the other network.

People may complain, but the fact is people watch and get much more into these types of shows than traditional, instruction-based cooking shows. Sorry peeps, but it's true.

Still... the $100,000 prize on that other show just sounds a bit more tempting that the $10K Chopped is apparently offering. Oh well... looking forward to Ted, at least!

Ted Allen Won't Return to Top Chef

... at least not this season!

Tom Colicchio, head judge of Bravo's Top Chef, recently let it slip that Ted Allen would not be returning to Top Chef this season since Ted's Food Network show Food Detectives was renewed.

"Okay, maybe he's busy shooting new episodes," I said outloud to myself, as I normally do when reading newspaper articles online.


But Tom doesn't say it's a scheduling conflict preventing Ted from returning.

Instead, he says: "They [the Food Network] have a policy that they can't do our show."

This would appear to contradict what Ted has said in previous interviews about his unique relationship working with both Food Network (on Iron Chef) and Bravo (with Top Chef). He had indicated that both networks were okay with the arrangement.

Perhaps FN was fine having him work for the competition while he was just judging Iron Chef... but apparently not any longer.

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That's sad. I liked Ted on Top Chef. He's being replaced by Toby Young, a British food critic and author. [Delaware Online]

Food Detectives Gets Second Season

Food Network's Food Detectives, hosted by Ted Allen, is getting a second season.


"[Food Detectives] launched in July to very good ratings and we’ll be shooting our second season in December," Ted tells the Gay & Lesbian Times.

I HATE to say this, but I'm kind of surprised it's getting renewed. I had the pleasure of meeting Ted this past February in Miami and, later, interviewing him over the summer; he's a great guy and wonderful TV talent. I just don't think this show is the best fit for him.

Not sure if it's a personal choice, but Ted's delivery style sounds strangely robotic. I know he doesn't really speak all choppy like that, sooooooo... why do it on the show?

Food Network Addict Interview: Ted Allen

Ted Allen rose to fame as the food and wine expert on the critically acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning Queer Eye—a truly groundbreaking show. I went out and bought a French Press the next day after seeing Ted demonstrate one in an early episode.


Ted is also a favorite on the popular food competition series Iron Chef America (Food Network) and Top Chef (Bravo), having increased his appearances on both shows in every season on both shows.

But Ted's new Food Network show, Food Detectives, puts Ted in the hosting chair on this non-competition based show that tests out the most puzzling food mysteries and explains the history behind interesting foods.

I spoke with Ted yesterday by phone. Being from Illinois and having spent a great deal of time stranded at Chicago's airports, it seemed fitting that Ted—also a onetime Chicago resident—was stuck in Chicago due to weather.

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Food Network Addict: Part of doing this blog involves reading every article out there about everyone on Food Network, so I already know what your show is all about… so, I’m going to try and ask you some different questions that you haven’t heard a hundred times already.
Ted Allen: Okay

For one, did you know TedAllen.com goes to a babysitting website?
There’s a funny story about that. The man who owns TedAllen.com bought that website for his young son Teddy. Two year olds don’t need websites. When my book came out, the publisher accidentally put TedAllen.com in the book jacket, so I tried being nice and sending the site’s owner an email explaining the accident with the book and offering to buy the website. That didn’t work. Then, I sent him an autographed copy of my book. He still owns the .com. If you Google me, you can find my website (TedAllen.net).

For the less informed readers out there, can you tell me a little about your show Food Detectives?
I explore food myths and food legends to find out the truth behind them. My cast of “henchmen” from Popular Science--that we call the Food Techs--help me test them out. For example, to figure out what really cools your mouth off after eating spicy food, I’ll make my henchmen eat a bunch of hot habanero salsa and try a bunch of different things to see which one really cools their mouth down.

You've been in talks with Food Network for a few years about finding a show. How did this one come about?
I didn’t really want to do a cooking show, since there are already a number of great ones out there. I’d prefer to watch Barefoot Contessa than try and make a better one... and I probably wouldn't. I’ve wanted to do a show that had humor and involved pop culture.

I caught a bit of the show's sneak peek Sunday night. Were you able to watch?
Well, the good thing about being stranded in Chicago and having lived here is that I still have a lot of friends in the area, so we all got together and watched it. It was my first time seeing it in HD, which is always terrifying. My makeup artist is wonderful, though.

Any Chicago food myths you’ll be tackling?
I think the first thing you think of when you say "food" and "Chicago" is deep dish pizza. I suppose the myth would be is deep dish any good. I tend to prefer crispy crust.

A lot of us have been stranded at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. What about the myth that it’s impossible to get a decent meal in an airport?
Wolfgang Puck actually has a number of restaurants in airports [including O'Hare]. It’s not like you’re sitting at Spago, but if he owns the place you know the food is going to be good.

There’s also an “interactive” element to Food Detectives in which viewers are able to upload videos with their own food questions and myths. Any of those get tested out yet?
We have shot several, actually. One was about whether celery actually has negative calories. Another guy wanted to know why his ice is always cloudy. It turns out, it’s incredibly hard to get crystal clear ice… and not worth it. [You have to use distilled water and boil it twice.]

Some of the myths you tackle can get kind of, umm, gross… for lack of a better word. Think you’d ever get your Queer Eye costars like Carson or Jai to eat garlic for days or gorge on beans just to experiment on them?
Carson was actually fine getting into gross situations, so probably.

You’re a very busy guy—doing this show plus episodes of Iron Chef and Top Chef, plus you do a lot of events for Robert Mondavi and food festivals around the nation and write for Esquire and other publications. How will you fit it all in if Food Detectives takes off?
I’ve wanted to find a show of my own for a while, so [Food Detectives] is what I'm focusing on now, as much as I love judging the other shows. We'll just have to see how the production schedules look when the time comes.

Unlike judging a reality show, I actually have to learn lines now... it’s a lot more work, but I'm enjoying it.

Food Detectives premieres tonight at 9pm ET on Food Network.

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Thanks so much to Ted for talking to me, and to Lisa for setting it up! It was great talking to Ted again after our first meeting at the Versace Mansion back in February. Good times.

Bobby Flay and Kim Cattrall Do the James Beard Awards

Bobby Flay and Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall hosted the "Oscars of the food world," The James Beard Foundation Awards, this past Sunday at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Fresh off the non-stop, red carpet premiere train for Sex and the City, Kim Cattrall managed to whip on yet another new gown and pose for pictures at the foodie-focused event.







Check out the complete list of this year's winners.

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Ted Allen Joins Food Network in "Food Detectives"

Yay! I just got word that culinary expert and food television superstar Ted Allen will be hosting a new primetime Food Network show called Food Detectives. It premieres Tue., July 29 at 9/8c.


Food Detectives mixes a healthy dose of humor with a wealth of fascinating factoids. Aided by willing culinary techs and the brains from the leading science and technology magazine Popular Science, the series will conduct experiments to find the truth behind the most interesting food myths. Ted and his team will dig deep to answer questions like: Does it really take seven years for gum to digest in your stomach? Is the five-second rule true? Can an “apple a day” really keep the doctor away? Viewers can also get in on the fun by submitting their most puzzling food conundrums for potential show experiments.

"We’ve wanted to work with Ted for years on a series of his own and we’ve found a great fit in Food Detectives," said Bob Tuschman, Senior Vice President, Programming and Production for Food Network. "Not only will this show provide a wealth of interesting information for our viewers, it also gives Ted an opportunity to show off his wit and culinary knowledge."

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I was very fortunate to meet and talk to Ted while attending the Amex After Party last Feb. in Miami. If you've followed his career on shows like Queer Eye, Top Chef, and Iron Chef, you know he's a very smart, funny, and adept talent. I look forward to the show muchooooo.

Ted Allen Debuts New Blog

Ted Allen (Queer Eye, Iron Chef, Top Chef, et al), who I had the pleasure of meeting when I was down in Miami, just debuted a new blog on his personal website.



All righty, then: Helllooooo! Ya know, with so few options available to those of us who like to read about the minutia of other people’s lives, I thought it was high time I provided a fascinating glimpse into the glorious cycle of song that is my own. So, welcome!

In his first entry, Ted answers the question "What are the best and worst dishes you've tried on Iron Chef?" (Answer: both were prepared by Mario Batali. Who knew?!)

Ted is also blogging for Bravo's Top Chef, where he'll be serving as a regular judge this season. I love that he can be so frank in these blogs, even going so far to denounce the passé fauxhawk that several male contestants are still sporting. ("2003 called; it wants your hairdo back.")

Bravo has of course (hint hint Food Network!) nearly a dozen official blogs dedicated to the "#1 food show on cable," a claim that Food Network trys to dispute. Hmmm...

Well, TC's season premiere garnered more than 2 million total viewers. Let's see if this summer's The Next Food Network Star can beat that.