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Food

Food Network, night & day

The cable channel blends two tried-and-true recipes for ratings success: whipping up dishes by day, but letting the whisks fall where they may after dark.

By JANET K. KEELER
Published September 13, 2006

	Ace of Cakes • Thursdays at 10:30 p.m.
	Paula’s Party • debuts Friday, Sept. 29 at 10 p.m.
	30-Minute Meals • Weekdays at 2:30 and 6 p.m.
	Emeril Live • Weeknights at 8 p.m.

Everybody's got an opinion about Food Network programming. There's too much chatter, not enough cooking. This host looks like a bobblehead; that one shows too much cleavage.

Commentary on the popular foodie Web site Chowhound.com is indicative of the praise and poison. Take, for instance, the chatter about the recent cancellation of Mario Batali's Molto Mario. Never fear, Mario fans: With hundreds of shows in the can, Molto can live for years at noon weekdays. He's also one of the network's Iron Chefs.

* "Good! I never liked anything he made on his shows."

* "Love, love, love Molto Mario."

* "Anything over Mario."

Snarky and sincere postings on just about any topic are as prevalent on the Internet as extra-virgin olive oil at a Rachael Ray family reunion. But those types of comments aren't what drive Food Network programming.

It's all about viewership numbers. And according to Bob Tuschman, vice president of network programming, viewers are watching stalwarts Ray, Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown and Tyler Florence, plus newcomers Jamie and Bobby Deen (Paula's sons) and Duff Goldman, the rocking Ace of Cakes.

The perpetually upbeat (some might say exhaustingly so) Ray, whose kingdom includes four shows in rotation on the Food Network, more than a dozen bestselling cookbooks and a magazine, is poised to jump from her niche market to a national platform. Her Oprah Winfrey-backed syndicated daily talk show debuts Monday. (It will be shown locally at 3 p.m. on WFLA-Ch.8, leading in to Oprah.)

Tuschman says Ray, who started on the Food Network in 2001, is committed to continuing 30-Minute Meals and Tasty Travels. Production of $40 a Day and Inside Dish has ended, though they are still on the network schedule.

"We're trying to be flexible with her time, and she's incredibly loyal to the Food Network," he says. "It's been a pleasure to see her rise. We think she deserves every bit she gets."

Maybe so, but Ray is another network host who is the subject of lots of Internet chat, some positive, but much of it downright vitriolic. Those nasty notes would include the Rachael Ray drinking game, in which players take a swig of something strong every time she utters one of her trademark comments such as "EVOO" (extra-virgin olive oil), "sammie" (sandwich) or "yum-o," emphasis on the O.

Her Tasty Travels is among the Food Network's five most popular shows this month. The others are Iron Chef America, Throwdown With Bobby Flay, Road Tasted (the Deen brothers) and the new Ace of Cakes ("a huge hit right out of the gate," Tuschman says).

All five air in prime time, which the network has earmarked for food entertainment shows. Daytime and weekends are for cooking, a reflection of how we are starting to view cooking: as a hobby.

"Viewers have different needs at different times of day," says Tuschman. "We don't do any less cooking shows than we ever did, but we put them on at different times of day. At night, people want the information in a more gentler way."

This programming philosophy was adopted by the Food Network several years ago, and though it irks some longtime viewers who want recipes rather than cooking competitions, it has attracted a new audience, Tuschman says.

The Food Network reaches 90-million homes in the United States, and individual shows are aired in many other countries, including Japan, France, South Korea and Egypt. The core audience, says public relations director Carrie Welch, is age 25 to 54, more female than male.

However, male viewership jumps and the average age of viewers falls at night, which is why shows that take their lead from competitive sports, such as Iron Chef and Throwdown, succeed in evening time slots. It's curious, though, that Deen's new show, Paula's Party, is debuting in a 10 p.m. spot. The premiere is Sept. 29.

At 59, the warmhearted, salty-tongued Southern cook, who never met a stick of butter she didn't love, doesn't seem the obvious match for a younger, more male audience.

But part of the network's philosophy is to build nighttime shows for its most popular daytime personalities. That, they hope, will attract daytime viewers to night while still entertaining the fun-seeking evening viewers.

"I call it Paula unplugged," Tuschman says. "In person, she is quite outrageous - really, really funny."

The one host who seems to stay constant at the Food Network is Lagasse and his 8 p.m. Emeril Live (live on tape, that is), complete with house band and adoring, cheering audience.

"Emeril is 8 p.m.," Tuschman says. His appeal is strong enough to keep him anchored there Monday through Friday.

Other show hosts, like Sara Moulton and Ming Tsai, have quietly slipped away. Tsai has a show on the Fine Living Network, and Moulton, executive chef at Gourmet magazine, is reportedly developing a cooking show for public television. Sara's Secrets is in reruns on the Food Network at 12:30 p.m. weekdays.

Jill Ager of Tampa is representative of the many women who stumbled on, then fell in love with, the Food Network, which was launched in 1993. She was a stay-at-home mom when she moved from Indiana to Florida in 2000 and found the cooking instruction helpful and many of the hosts friendly.

Today, she tunes in for Deen and Florence because they cook food "real" people eat, but she can only take Ray in small doses. Sandra Lee, the semi homemade diva? No thanks, her tablescapes are "nuts," and what's with all the cocktails? Ager, 43, a middle school secretary, would like to see more cooking and fewer cookoffs in the evening.

But with the success the network is having with its food-tainment programming, that's not likely to happen soon. If you want to know exact measurements, you'll need to tune in before 7 p.m.

Janet K. Keeler can be reached at (727) 893-8586 or jkeeler@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 12, 2006, 11:02:26]