Emeril’s Revenge
A lot of people were shocked in December when the Food Network ended production of new episodes of Emeril Lagasse’s Emeril Live!
The network didn’t dump Emeril altogether. It is happy to show reruns, and it is keeping his other show, The Essence of Emeril, in its afternoon lineup
Still, it was a surprising move to scrap new episodes to what had amounted to Food Network’s prime-time cash cow.
Sure, Lagasse owed the network for helping to make him a star. But Emeril was the centerpiece of a pool of talent that helped make the Food Network what it is today.
Looking at the network today, though, it’s clear how much it has changed. It has moved further away from cooking shows to those that present food as entertainment. Viewers who don’t like it have flocked to the “pure” cooking shows on PBS.
Of course, Emeril was always a hybrid — half cooking, half entertainment show. Remember his band?
I always felt a bit sorry for Emeril. On the one hand, his cooking on the show was sometimes sloppy — a fact often pointed out by other, more precise and less showy, chefs. On the other hand, I felt that he knew more than he sometimes appeared to know; in other words, the show was dumbed down, whether by design or chance.
If you like Emeril, you’ll be happy to know that Emeril Live! is coming back — but to the Fine Living Network. Beginning July 7, FLN will show Emeril Live! every night at 7. From July 7 to 11, the network will show all new episodes. Then beginning July 14, it will show a new episode on Mondays, and reruns the rest of the week.
So Emeril gets his revenge. Or as he might say to the Food Network execs, “Bam!”
