[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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