[Sca-cooks] Emeril & Food Network
Susan Fox
selene at earthlink.net
Wed Nov 28 10:21:25 PST 2007
Jennifer Carlson wrote:
> The different shows are each geared to a specific kind of cookery audience.
>
> Bobby Flay – “manly man” gourmets with an outdoor gas grill
> Tyler’s Ultimate – people who like to cook comfort food notched up a level or two
> Rachel Ray – busy, modern moms
> Sandra Lee – power women who don’t cook but occasionally have to entertain (she’s scary)
> Paula Deen – comfort food goddess, everyone has a great aunt like her
> Alton Brown – cooking geeks
> Emeril Lagasse – those seeking the wise man on the mountain
> Iron Chef – contact sport spectators
>
> You get the idea. The network tries to provide programs for all kinds of cooks, so you get a spectrum of programs.
Well, it could be worse. The frickin' geniuses at Sci-Fi Network put
Pro Wrestling on there one night a week, just because "audiences like
wrestling" even though it's nothing to do with Sci-Fi. Fantasy, maybe?
Emeril is nowhere near old enough for a "wise man on the mountain" nor
is his expertise broad enough in scope. James Beard hadn't done cooking
shows in decades, even before he took the Truffle Nap. <grin> The
closest thing they had to that was wee cute Sara Moulton, who hosted a
phone-in show there for years. Could any of the current crop handle
questions in real-time, even as screened as they are? Very few, I think.
Meh. We of this list are just not the target audience anymore, we know
too much. Where are the shows for "advanced cooks"? I miss the
Japanese Iron Chef reruns, I actually LEARNED a lot from that.
My ideal Food Network job: to be Alton Brown's sidekick on Iron Chef
America. Fukui-San and Doc Hattori's dialogue kept the action moving;
Alton just talks to the audience directly. A subtle difference in
presentation but noticeable. Alton knows all the Science but not all
the Lore of cookery and he needs some backup. Seriously.
Selene
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