Posted by USA TODAY on December 24, 2009 at 08:02:55:
TV
Critic's Corner
Food shows are whipping TV networks into a frenzy
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
Holiday revelers might overindulge this weekend, but viewers are gorging on food television shows.
Fox has made a cottage industry out of curmudgeonly Gordon Ramsay (Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmaresand next year's Master Chef). Networks not known as foodie havens have found solid ratings: Bravo's Top Chef and TLC's Cake Boss are their networks' top series, while others ranging from IFC to Planet Green are opening their cupboards to new food shows.
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And Scripps Networks, which saw prime-time ratings for its Food Network spike 29% this year to a new record, is turning its underachieving Fine Living Network into a 24-hour Cooking Channel next May.
Scripps chief John Lansing says the sprouting of more food shows on other channels simply "broadened interest in the category," and much of the growth is coming from younger viewers. It's a long way from Julia Child— portrayed by Meryl Streep in summer's Julie & Julia — and her TV successors, Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray.
Food Network's ratings took off only when the channel sidelined "stand-and-stir" demonstrations from prime time in favor of competitions (Iron Chef America, Next Food Network Star) and celebrity-chef series.
The network airs a Jan. 3 Iron Chef special, featuring star chefs Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali with White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford and an appearance by the first lady.
Programmers say a recessionary trend toward home entertaining has driven the genre. "Culturally right now, food is a comfort device," says TLC chief Eileen O'Neill, who's peppered her network's schedule with shows about barbecue pitmasters, dwarf chocolatiers and that New Jersey cake guy, tapping more male viewers.
The audience for Bravo's Top Chef, among the top-rated food shows, is the new norm. "It tends to be people who enjoy eating and are interested in food (more than) people who want to do it themselves," says programming chief Frances Berwick, who's prepping a spinoff built around desserts.
The age-old emphasis on following recipes is outmoded, O'Neill says, because "a lot of that information is now readily available online." And Food Network magazine, published with Hearst, climbed to a circulation of 1 million since launching last summer.
Like other reality series, food shows spawn stars of their own.
Next Food Network Star's first-season winner Guy Fieri, who hosts the channel's top regular series, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, was tapped last week to host new NBC game show Perfect 10.
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