Food Network Unveils The Cooking Channel

[TheQueen]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/04/21/dining/21networkspan-1/21network_CA1-articleLarge.jpg

April 21, 2010
A Newcomer to Food Television Tries for a Little Grit
By ALLEN SALKIN

THE Food Network is trying to take it up a notch by taking it down a notch.

The people who brought the brassy calorie-pusher Paula Deen, the energetic spice-sprinkler Emeril Lagasse and dozens of other stars to a mass audience are furiously preparing to start a spinoff network on May 31.

Called the Cooking Channel, it is lining up low-key programs targeted at a hipper crowd interested in the grass roots of food culture.

Ms. Deen, for one, will not have a time slot. But three young guys from Canada who build taco vending machines and other weird contraptions for a show called “Food Jammers” will.

In another show, “Unique Eats,” taped earlier this month at Bark, a boutique hot-dog shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the cameras lavished attention on baked heirloom beans and franks topped with Columbia County sauerkraut.

The new channel, which announced its opening lineup at a presentation for advertisers in Manhattan on Tuesday morning and which will replace the Fine Living Network, is even considering producing documentary-style programming on topics like bulimia and obesity.

“The feel and style we’re going for is a little grittier, a little edgier, a little hipper,” said Bruce Seidel, the senior vice president for programming and production for the Cooking Channel.

Is America ready for some grit with its grits? The Cooking Channel is the Food Network’s effort to regain its pioneering status while overwhelming the competition with the sheer volume of its food programming, 48/7.

CONTINUE READING (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/dining/21network.html?hp)

[Christy]

Sounds good, hope it's not too "hip" though. :lol

[TheQueen]

I think they need a second channel that is "hip" whatever that means. The FN is just eh...kinda boring. How man cake contests can you watch without getting bored. All the shows kinda meld into one another. However I do like The Barefoot Contessa and Nigella Lawson. Their shows are definitely different.

[Katie4075]

I think I want a taco vending machine... :lookaroun

[TheQueen]

I think I want a taco vending machine... :lookaroun

Hmmm...I wonder if they have one in Japan. They had a fries vending machine there that I saw. I should go looking online to see if they do have one.

[pinkrose]

Hmmm...I wonder if they have one in Japan. They had a fries vending machine there that I saw. I should go looking online to see if they do have one.



How were the fries?

[TheQueen]

How were the fries?

LOL! Well, we kinda got sidetracked by the pizza and octopus ball vending machines.

[Katie4075]

Hmmm...I wonder if they have one in Japan. They had a fries vending machine there that I saw. I should go looking online to see if they do have one.

Freshman year we had a fries machine in my high school's main caf. They weren't bad, not great though either. When they took it out, kids were SO mad!

[Christy]

I think they need a second channel that is "hip" whatever that means. The FN is just eh...kinda boring. How man cake contests can you watch without getting bored. All the shows kinda meld into one another. However I do like The Barefoot Contessa and Nigella Lawson. Their shows are definitely different.

Those are my 2 favorites :) I mostly love watching Nigella because i'm always wondering how many new adjectives she'll throw in for her food today :goofy :lol

I agree about the cake contests (and all the contest shows really, I"m pretty sick of them) My "hip" comment was to the article's saying it would be hipper... usually that means, to me, "opposite of my life" :goofy I'll of course watch, and give it a chance, though.

[TheQueen]

My "hip" comment was to the article's saying it would be hipper... usually that means, to me, "opposite of my life" :goofy I'll of course watch, and give it a chance, though.

Well, there's hip, and then there's "Hmph..this smells of effort." Which is NOT hip.:rotfl Like if they try to hard. Watch us as we bake a cake while skydiving!! You know. That kinda stuff. But just having a variety of different cuisine shows is a plus for me.

[Katie4075]

Well, there's hip, and then there's "Hmph..this smells of effort." Which is NOT hip.:rotfl Like if they try to hard. Watch us as we bake a cake while skydiving!! You know. That kinda stuff. But just having a variety of different cuisine shows is a plus for me.

But the how to bake a cake while falling from the sky contest is so damn addicting!

[Christy]

Anybody been watching? First of all, TWO FAT LADIES IS ON IT! :circles :circles :circles I used to watch them all the time LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THEM! :love

And Nigella :love

and some guy who lives in Italy, forget the name of his show, but he's good.

It's good, it's nice to have more variety than Rachel Ray, Giada, Paula, and Sandra Lee. :lol They find a "star" and give them 3 more shows, I swear.

[TheQueen]

Anybody been watching? First of all, TWO FAT LADIES IS ON IT! :circles :circles :circles I used to watch them all the time LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THEM! :love

And Nigella :love

SHUTTTTTTT UPPPPPPP!!! I LOVE THEM!!! Where is this channel? I don't seem to have it!! I'm gonna go searching for it.

[Doug11]

while you are looking for new stuff, check out the show on HGTV with Daniel Faires tonight at 8:00 pm CST, called "Design Star." Proving "its a small world," Daniel used to work for my wife here on the MS Gulf Coast. The skills he used after Hurricane Katrina led him into a different career path and now he has his own show.

[Christy]

Cool! Gordon, it's on channel 158 here :goofy :lol

I gotta remember to enter HGTV's sweepstakes, $75k for home improvement, I think they said. I could go for that :lol

[BeeJay]

SHUTTTTTTT UPPPPPPP!!! I LOVE THEM!!! Where is this channel? I don't seem to have it!! I'm gonna go searching for it.

The story you posted said it's replacing FLN...so if you got that before, it's probably on the same channel.

[TheQueen]

I finally found it. Bobby Flay??? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. He's all over the channel's schedule. Talk about oil slick covering everything.

[Christy]

I finally found it. Bobby Flay??? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. He's all over the channel's schedule. Talk about oil slick covering everything.

That made me mad when I first saw he was coming after whatever show I was watching. How is this so different from Food Network??

[TheQueen]

That made me mad when I first saw he was coming after whatever show I was watching. How is this so different from Food Network??

Exactly!!! If they're just going to treat it as another channel for more of the same, PASS!!!

[Doug11]

Leslie's Facebook status update:

Hey Everyone...vote for my friend, Dan Faires, former co-worker and Mississippi Gulf Coast coastie who helped restore homes/offices post Katrina, Arkansas native (shout out to my AR JA friends, and general all around good guy and major hottie! He's Dan the Man! Vote everyday - 10 times a day - cause he's a 10!!!
HGTV Design Star Fan Vote

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-design-star-vote-for-your-favorite-designer/package/index.html?vty=dsvote

You should vote for your favorite Design Star, they could win their own show on HGTV.com.

[TheQueen]

Leslie's Facebook status update:

Kindly inform your beautiful wife that not only did I vote, I voted the maximum ten times.:thumbs

[TheQueen]

You know, I've seen three shows tonight while cooking and I like 'em. Something different.

[Christy]

:goofy We still watching? I'm slightly obsessed :lookaroun

First of all, I can't get enough of Nigella Lawson, and I want to be her neighbor... but I know I can't afford to be :sadbye

Second of all, I would not eat a single thing I've seen her make so far, but the "Spice Goddess" lady, I could listen to her talk all day long :dunno

Thirdly, I think my new favorite is Laura Calder, on French Food at Home. Again, there isn't a whole lot she makes I would probably attempt at home, but I just think she's so cool :lol

[tigsmom]

:goofy We still watching? I'm slightly obsessed :lookaroun

First of all, I can't get enough of Nigella Lawson, and I want to be her neighbor... but I know I can't afford to be :sadbye

Second of all, I would not eat a single thing I've seen her make so far, but the "Spice Goddess" lady, I could listen to her talk all day long :dunno

Thirdly, I think my new favorite is Laura Calder, on French Food at Home. Again, there isn't a whole lot she makes I would probably attempt at home, but I just think she's so cool :lol


LOVE Nigella! Had no clue she wasn't trained at all, just a home cook. Lenny used to get me to make her stuff when she was the food writer for the NYTimes. I LOVE Chuck's Day Off, I'd love to be his neighbor, he is always feeding somebody :love

[TheQueen]

I've been a HUGE Nigella fan since her shows first aired on the Style network. There's something very comforting and sexy about her.

[tigsmom]

I've been a HUGE Nigella fan since her shows first aired on the Style network. There's something very comforting and sexy about her.

She's not called the Queen of Food Porn for nothing! :lol

[Christy]

Ever notice how very seldom they shoot her full body? :lookaroun First time I saw her from the waist down I was like wait! What? :lol Her face doesn't let on that she is so, er, voluptuous :lol

[TheQueen]

You mean like this? I know straight guys usually like the stereotypical "lollipops" (stick thin with a big head and big boobs) but if I were into girls, I'd TOTALLY be into women like Nigella. I like curves.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01158/portal-graphics-20_1158006a.jpg
http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/nigella-lawson-415x289.jpg

[tigsmom]

:thumbs 2 kids, loves to eat, hates to work out and has curves and makes no apologies

Women were meant to have curves

[Christy]

Ok don't start the real women thing :lol :lookaroun

Yeah, she looks awesome, I didn't mean that, her face just stays so thin! And she still has a TINY waist, I don't know anybody who gets to look like that! It's not fair :lol

[Regina]

Ok don't start the real women thing :lol :lookaroun

Yeah, she looks awesome, I didn't mean that, her face just stays so thin! And she still has a TINY waist, I don't know anybody who gets to look like that! It's not fair :lol

As long as she's healthy :lol

Since she has a better body than me, I still hate her too :lookaroun :goofy

[figmentmom]

:thumbs 2 kids, loves to eat, hates to work out and has curves and makes no apologies

Women were meant to have curves


Ok don't start the real women thing :lol :lookaroun

Yeah, she looks awesome, I didn't mean that, her face just stays so thin! And she still has a TINY waist, I don't know anybody who gets to look like that! It's not fair :lol


As long as she's healthy :lol

Since she has a better body than me, I still hate her too :lookaroun :goofy

She's easy to hate AND easy to love, all at the same time. :lol

[Katie4075]

She's easy to hate AND easy to love, all at the same time. :lol

Any woman whose idea of a beer cooler is a bath tub full of ice, and sees no issue with serving chicken fingers at a fancy dinner party is my kind of lady! :lol

[figmentmom]

Any woman whose idea of a beer cooler is a bath tub full of ice, and sees no issue with serving chicken fingers at a fancy dinner party is my kind of lady! :lol

:thumbs

[ogryn]

I think they need a second channel that is "hip" whatever that means. The FN is just eh...kinda boring. How man cake contests can you watch without getting bored. All the shows kinda meld into one another. However I do like The Barefoot Contessa and Nigella Lawson. Their shows are definitely different.

*nom nom nom* :lookaroun

[figmentmom]

*nom nom nom* :lookaroun

:rollseyes :rotfl