Food Network Shifts Toward Gastro-Entertainment -- Newsday.Com

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Newsday.com Food Network shifts toward gastro-entertainment

February 11, 2008

At 6 a.m. on Nov. 22, 1993, a handful of early risers turned on their TVs and were greeted by Donna Hanover and David Rosengarten, co-hosts of a show called "Food News & Views" on a cable channel called the TV Food Network.

At 7 a.m., Robin Leach, formerly of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," anchored the call-in show "Talking Food." For the next 22 hours, the two programs alternated with each other, along with two airings of "Getting Healthy" with former sportscaster Gayle Gardner.

Now, almost 15 years later, Hanover is famous for being the publicly spurned wife of then-mayor, now- presidential flameout Rudy Giuliani. Rosengarten edits the Rosengarten Report, a high-end gastronomic newsletter. Leach was last seen hosting VH1's "The Surreal Life: Fame Games."

And the Food Network is going strong. In 2007, it had 90 million subscribers, which, according to Derek Baine, cable analyst with SNL Kagan, puts it on a par with such cable stalwarts as ESPN, Nickelodeon and MTV. "It's a mature network, it's got almost-complete penetration in multichannel homes." Although 24-hour ratings fell a bit from 2006 to 2007, he said, the drop was not dramatic, and the prime- time numbers increased. "It's still growing," Baine said, "and cash flow is up about 10 percent since last year."

Since its inception, Food Network has spawned such larger-than-life personalities as Emeril Lagasse, Iron Chef's Chairman Kaga and Rachael Ray; it has introduced new exclamations ("Bam!," "Allez Cuisine!" and "Yum-O!" respectively), and taken cooking shows from the rarefied world of public television into the very heart of Middle America. It has changed the country's food scene, and it has transformed itself.

Mario Batali was there at the beginning. "That first year, I was a guest on Robin Leach's show," the chef- restaurateur-author recalled in a recent telephone interview. "It was filmed in a very scary apartment in the West 30s." Batali also appeared on "Chef du Jour," "a sort of testing ground for potential TV chefs," and the game show "Ready, Set Cook." "Molto Mario," a show that put both chef and network on the culinary map, debuted in 1996. Said Batali, "We both made each other famous."

"Molto Mario" stopped production in 2004, though episodes still air on Monday mornings. Although Batali is still one of the network's five Iron Chefs, his next TV venture, "Spain ... On the Road Again," a series about Spanish cuisine co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow and columnist-cookbook author Mark Bittman, will air this fall on PBS.

Lagasse, once the network's brightest star, is also dimming. In November, it was announced that "Emeril Live!" which premiered in 1997, won't be filming new episodes. The show was undeniably groundbreaking, but the format is no longer the network's stock in trade.

"The dump-and-stir is over," Batali said, using industry parlance for the straight cooking show. Indeed, if you look at the current prime-time lineup, you'll see what the Food Network considers the Next Big Thing: reality.

While Fox has "American Idol" and CBS has "The Amazing Race," Food Network brings you "Throwdown with Bobby Flay," in which the celebrated Southwestern chef shows up unexpectedly to challenge a lesser-known chef or home cook in his or her specialty, be it chili, meatballs or doughnuts. "Ace of Cakes" follows the travails of extreme-baker Duff Goldman and the staff of his Baltimore cake shop. Each episode of "Dinner Impossible" finds chef Robert Irvine confronted with some seemingly impossible task -- cook dinner for 1,000 Marines in the next five hours, make 20,000 hors d'oeuvres before the sun sets -- which, after much sweating and scrambling, he reliably executes.

According to Marc Summers, the executive producer of "Dinner Impossible" as well as host of the behind-the-product love fest "Unwrapped," the transition from dump-and-stir to reality was inevitable. "They have to grow," he said. "Look at VH1 -- they have no videos anymore. It's the same with the Food Network, they have to move beyond cooking. With all these other networks to compete with -- TLC, Bravo -- who are doing cooking shows, they have to keep changing."

The gold standard among reality shows are those that have a narrative arc to compel viewers to tune in each week. "A classic problem with cooking shows," Baine said, "is that they aren't sticky. When they're not serialized, if you miss one, you don't feel like you missed anything." Which is why, in 2005, the network introduced "The Next Food Network Star" in which a dozen or so contestants compete in various cooking and hosting contests for the chance to host their very own show.

"The Next Food Network Star" has broadcast three seasons so far and, said Bob Tushman, the network's vice president of programming, "it is the most-watched food cable program ever." (Implied in this remark was a rebuke to Bravo's "Top Chef," which premiered a year after TNFNS and is viewed by many at the network as a rip-off.)

One thing about the show is that at the same time it garners ratings, it primes viewers for whatever new show the winner hosts. Guy Fieri, the bleached-blond surfer-dude winner of Season 2 has gone on to be "one of our top stars," hosting "Guy's Big Bite" and the very popular "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." Next month, Fieri and Marc Summers will be co-hosts of "Ultimate Recipe Showdown," a sort of "Iron Chef" for amateur cooks.

If dump-and-stir no longer rules prime time, it is still the heart of daytime. "In the Kitchen" is the name the network gives to the block of programming before 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends. "After dinner, after work, our audience is looking to be entertained, Tushman said, "but during the day they are looking for cooking information." (The sole dump-and-stir in prime time is "Good Eats With Alton Brown," which airs weeknights at 8. But with his wacky science experiments and costumed skits, "Good Eats" is as much about entertainment as it is about cooking.)

"In the Kitchen" is a domain ruled by women. The frighteningly energetic Rachael Ray's "30 Minute Meals" is on three times every weekday. Close behind are Paula Deen's "Home Cooking," Giada di Laurentiis' "Everyday Italian," Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" and Sandra Lee's "Semi-Homemade Cooking."

These women could hardly appeal to more diverse audiences. Deen embraces her canned-soup Southern- gothic heritage with gusto and, like minor characters from a Faulkner novel, her sons Bobbie and Jamie are popping up on the schedule, too. Garten's low-key delivery and elegant Hamptons kitchen seem light- years away from Lee's signature dishes made from brand-name processed foods and overwrought "table. scapes." De Laurentiis' low-cut shirts and her show's boudoir-ready soundtrack distract from what a capable cook and teacher she is.

Says the Food Network, "Vive la difference!" Or, according to Tushman, "They inhabit different houses on the same very big block."

What these women share is precisely what has been the common thread linking all successful Food Network shows since the very beginning: personality.

"It's not just about food," said Marc Berman, a television analyst for Mediaweek. "Anyone can cover food, but it's about the personality of the person who presents the food." For example, he said, "You watch Oprah not because you're necessarily interested in the guest she has on, but because you like Oprah. It's the same with food shows."

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