Cooking Channel...Premiers May 31st-Excited?

I was happy to hear about a new 24/7 cooking channel, until I found it is owned by Food Network. This doesn't give me very high hopes contentwise. Here's a link to the NYT article from 4/20. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/dinin ... gewanted=1

From the article- "“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."

Not sure why, but I get visions of the boardroom that was responsible for The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show...

Jeff

jvalentino wrote:Not sure why, but I get visions of the boardroom that was responsible for The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show...

Network Exec: We at the network want a cooking channel with attitude. It's edgy, It's "in your face." You've heard the expression "let's get busy"? Well, this is a channel that gets "biz-zay!" Consistently and thoroughly.
Krusty: So it's proactive, huh?
Network Exec: Oh, God, yes. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.

Well, count me optimistic, but perhaps we'll get a few more shows where they actually cook, as opposed to contests, visiting restaurants, or dumping several pre-processed products into a pan and calling it haute cuisine. (I'm looking at you, Sandra. Well, actually, not.)

If they can break out of the "stand and stir" mold of your classic Galloping Gourmet/French Chef model, they might get some ratings bumps.
Good Eats certainly does that well. Emeril Live (not on Food TV anymore) is still a stand-and-stir at heart, but adds some variety show je ne sais something or other. The Neelys, if they could stop shouting at the camera, have some playful banter. Guy's Big Bite is best when he's got a buddy helping out.

Heck, if they ran 2-3 hours of Good Eats reruns a day, it'd be a success in my book.

If they were new episodes of Good Eats, I'd be with you there. I've seen every episode at least twice now and crave new content. I've gotten used to Alton's new look too ~ when he first debuted his new body, he looked skeletal to me, now I think he looks awesome and should be rightly proud of his weight loss.

I've really been enjoying What Would Brian Boitano Make? on Sundays and would love if that became a long term program on this new channel. Brian's recipes are fabulous and I find him hilarious (YMMV). He really has a great camera presence.

Thundercat wrote:If they were new episodes of Good Eats, I'd be with you there. I've seen every episode at least twice now and crave new content. I've gotten used to Alton's new look too ~ when he first debuted his new body, he looked skeletal to me, now I think he looks awesome and should be rightly proud of his weight loss.

the Food Network is airing new Good Eats episodes - last night's Paella episode was new.

wrt his weight loss: I was impressed at his willingness on that episode to show his very unflattering "before" pictures! he does have good reason to be proud.

Khaopaat wrote:

jvalentino wrote:Not sure why, but I get visions of the boardroom that was responsible for The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show...

Network Exec: We at the network want a cooking channel with attitude. It's edgy, It's "in your face." You've heard the expression "let's get busy"? Well, this is a channel that gets "biz-zay!" Consistently and thoroughly.
Krusty: So it's proactive, huh?
Network Exec: Oh, God, yes. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.

LOL!!! thank you for this, it's exactly what I thought of when I saw the promo with the dumb trucker-hatted hipster dudes.

Let's not get too excited. They gave a show to Adam Gertler, Tyler Florence, Michael Symon (teaching techniques). However, they will do some vintage broadcasting of Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet (hopefully BEFORE he stopped drinking)

I've read that the Cooking Channel will be taking the place of FLN (Fine Living Network). If that is the case, where oh where will I be able to watch Whatever, Martha!??????

I also hope they will continue to air the old Japanese episodes of Iron Chef

*fingers crossed*

Khaopaat wrote:Network Exec: We at the network want a cooking channel with attitude. It's edgy, It's "in your face." You've heard the expression "let's get busy"? Well, this is a channel that gets "biz-zay!" Consistently and thoroughly.
Krusty: So it's proactive, huh?
Network Exec: Oh, God, yes. We're talking about a totally outrageous paradigm.

LMAO! Might as well shut the thread down after this one. What else need be said?

=R=

I've read that the Cooking Channel will be taking the place of FLN (Fine Living Network). If that is the case, where oh where will I be able to watch Whatever, Martha!??????

I have precisely the same concern. I am completely hooked on this show, for the same reasons I was hooked on Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (which had an identical format). I like that it gives Alexis Stewart a relatively constructive hobby, too.

Sharona wrote:I've read that the Cooking Channel will be taking the place of FLN (Fine Living Network).

This is confirmed.

Cooking Channel Blog wrote:You’ve been asking, so here’s what we’ve got so far…
5 Things To Know About Cooking Channel (right now):
1) It’s a brand-new cable network for food people, by food people.
2) It launches on Memorial Day, 2010.
3) If you currently get the Fine Living Channel, it replaces that on May 31st — same channel.
4) If Fine Living seems to be missing from your guide, you can call your local cable / satellite provider to see if they’ll carry Cooking Channel. We’re putting up an easy Locator on the blog soon to help you find or request it.
5) We LOVE food and cooking and can’t wait to start talking about it with you.
5.5) We’re on Facebook and Twitter if you’re bored while you wait.

So far, it appears that their programming will include Anjum Anand hosting a show called "Indian Food Made Easy", "Everyday Exotic" hosted by Roger Mooking, "Unique Eats" about extreme (sigh) dishes at restaurants around the world, "Foodcrafters" that will "unearth hidden, handmade food discoveries that will inspire you to skip work, fuel the RV and food roadtrip...", and I saw an ad on FoodTV about a Caribbean cooking show hosted by some dude in dreadlocks.

I want to know how long it'll take until they add an HD version of the channel. It seems insane to launch a new channel without getting at least one of the satellite or iptv networks to carry the HD version..

sundevilpeg wrote:

I've read that the Cooking Channel will be taking the place of FLN (Fine Living Network). If that is the case, where oh where will I be able to watch Whatever, Martha!??????

And Iron Chef Japan is homeless once again.

*sigh*

And Iron Chef Japan is homeless once again.

FLN never, ever showed any of the older Rokusaburo Michiba episodes, anyway. Just the same Morimoto, Morimoto, Morimoto, over and over and over. Yeeeesh.

food network has been totally boring. I used to really love it but not now. I'm looking forward to this.

from what I have read this channel is being marketed as: "a trendier sister channel to FN that targets younger audiences".

FN isnt great, but a "trendier" version of anything doesnt appeal to me. I get enough "yummo", "yummy", "delish", "sammich", and other cutesy crap on FN.

With that said Ill probably check it out once or twice for laughs if nothing else.

I still suspect that The Cooking Channel still won't put together programming as good as PBS Create!, which is free with an antenna.

I'm glad I cancelled cable.

eatchicago wrote:
I'm glad I cancelled cable.

me too, satellite is much better.

Too bad yinz South of the Border can't get Food Network.ca, which has a bunch of pretty kühl shows. The weirdest is The Wild Chef, featuring Au Pied de Cochon's Martin Picard romping around out in the Québec woods. Man knows how to have a good time whilst cooking. The lineup of shows on FN.ca is quite different from FN.com—I like it a lot better. What's *really* a hoot is to follow along on google during the endless series of Restaurant Makeovers in order to see how soon the resto crashes after the RM crew leaves.

Geo

All right -- I've watched a couple of shows on here today -- and the result is not edgy or trendy. It's Canadian.

About 6 of the chefs are from Canada. I'm guessing this is being fed from Food Network Canada -- which may or may not still exist -- I really don't know. I'm kind of hoping that Robin Sparkles will show up and do a video....

Although -- anyone who woudl give Mo Rocca his own show can't be tooo horrible.

So far -- I'm not at all wowed. All the shows seem to have the Giada de Laurentis feel to them -- filmed, "jazzy" music in the background -- lots of closeups of the chef's hands pouring rice, the occasional b roll shot of going to the market -- that sort of thing. Nothing new. Nothing exciting. In these instances, it will only be the the food that will keep me watching. Oh and an envy about their fake tv kitchens. They're always sooo pretty...

Back to the STNG marathon on BBC America. At least I know that beast.

Shannon

I will say this: Food Network Canada is, and has long been, far superior to food network USA. Much better actual cooking programming. I'm guessing Scripps is using Canadian programming to seed the network, much like they do on HGTV (for rent, income property, holmes on homes, etc)

Part of the reason there's so much good Canadian programming is that the government there heavily subsidizes local productions, and mandates that Canadian-produced content make up 60% of overall programming, and 50% of primetime programming. Since they're doing it to meet these requirements, and because they're getting so many grants, they can put on somewhat less advertiser-friendly programming.

earthlydesire wrote:...All the shows seem to have the Giada de Laurentis feel to them -- filmed, "jazzy" music in the background -- lots of closeups of the chef's hands pouring rice, the occasional b roll shot of going to the market -- that sort of thing. Nothing new. Nothing exciting. In these instances, it will only be the the food that will keep me watching. Oh and an envy about their fake tv kitchens. They're always sooo pretty...

I don't know about later seasons, but Giada's first few seasons were filmed in actual home kitchens they would rent for the season. Kind of bizarre, but probably cheaper than building the sets. Tough part is probably having decent camera angles, and making sure there's a good island counter.

Anybody know what channel it is on Comcast (Oak Park)?

earthlydesire wrote:All right -- I've watched a couple of shows on here today -- and the result is not edgy or trendy. It's Canadian.

About 6 of the chefs are from Canada. I'm guessing this is being fed from Food Network Canada -- which may or may not still exist -- I really don't know. I'm kind of hoping that Robin Sparkles will show up and do a video....

You and I must've been watching at completely different times. I watched two episodes featuring an Indian-British girl and two episodes featuring a Taiwanese-British girl (who made a disgusting-looking "egg foo yung" that was basically a burnt, overcooked omelette rolled around boiled chicken & honey-baked ham) before I got bored & switched over to the Science Channel for their all-day "How It's Made" marathon.

gleam wrote:I will say this: Food Network Canada is, and has long been, far superior to food network USA. Much better actual cooking programming. I'm guessing Scripps is using Canadian programming to seed the network, much like they do on HGTV (for rent, income property, holmes on homes, etc)

Part of the reason there's so much good Canadian programming is that the government there heavily subsidizes local productions, and mandates that Canadian-produced content make up 60% of overall programming, and 50% of primetime programming. Since they're doing it to meet these requirements, and because they're getting so many grants, they can put on somewhat less advertiser-friendly programming.

not only Canada, but a lot of the rest of the world that has subsidized television has better quality programming... I prefer to watch channel 20(wycc?) cooking shows nowadays..Perfect Day(Scandinavian), Endless Feast, etc..

zoid wrote:Anybody know what channel it is on Comcast (Oak Park)?

If you had FLN/Fine Living Network, it has taken its place on most systems. At least it did so on DirecTV.

JoelF wrote:

zoid wrote:Anybody know what channel it is on Comcast (Oak Park)?

If you had FLN/Fine Living Network, it has taken its place on most systems. At least it did so on DirecTV.

Actually, this substitution happened for anyone who once received Fine Living Network - Scripps Networks pulled the plug on Fine Living, and replaced it with Cooking Channel.

It looks like it should be channel 124 (former Fine Living channel) for Comcast in Oak Park.

I watched a few hours in the morning yesterday. Yup, a Canadian show and one Brit (an Irishwoman, I'm guessing from her accent). Pleasant at about the level of the public television cooking shows, I thought from what I saw. The British woman, a baker named Rachel Allen, was fun but gave measurements in metric, so as I listened I was trying to remember all the conversions just to get a sense of what she was doing. She was sort of the anti-Gordon Ramsay. She has a cooking school where she is sweet and kind and encouraging to her students (at least on camera!).

I caught some shows on demand today-Food Jammers, Chucks Day Off, and Everyday Exotic. My vision of the Itchy, Scratchy and Poochie boardroom is being affirmed...in Canada. I'll try a few more, but it looks like I'll be sticking to Create on PBS, and Molto Mario on hulu for a while.

Mid 30's = unhip I guess,

Jeff

It is also lots of Food Network reruns: Emeril Live, Everyday Italian (with Giada) Molto Mario, Nigella, etc. Just a few new shows. Watched an old drunk "Galloping Gourmet" that was about 30 yrs old based on his tie and shirt. A couple of times a week they will have "Cooking with Julia" in the afternoon for you Tivo fans

On Comcast in the city, it's channel 124