The Cooking Channel: Food Network Launching Second 24-Hour Food Station

Scripps, the parents company of the Food Network, will be launching a second 24-hour food network on May 31, reports Brian Stelter at the New York Times. They'll soon be announcing six new original series for the channel, including new series for both Rachel Ray, Bobby Flay, and Emeril Lagasse:

Ms. Ray, the celebrity chef turned talk show host, will headline "A Week in a Day," a one-hour show about stocking up on the week's meals. Mr. Flay will be the host of a half-hour show, "Brunch With Bobby." Emeril Lagasse will present "Fresh Food Fast," a show that focuses on organic and locally grown ingredients.

An ad executive at Scripps explains the decision on the new network:

"[T]he advertiser demand for Food was outstripping the audience growth," Jon Steinlauf, the senior vice president for ad sales for Scripps Networks, said this week. "Therefore, creating a second channel started making more sense. ... When you see Fox lining up its third Gordon Ramsay cooking show in prime time, I think food's arrived as a mainstream genre," Mr. Steinlauf said.

Meanwhile, Grub Streets jokes that the new station is "anti-American" due to the inclusion of several new Canadian and British food personalities to the introductory lineup:

"...David Rocco, Chuck Hughes, Laura Calder, and Roger Mooking are all based in Canada, while Rachel Allen and Ching-He Huang come out of the U.K. What the wha? Combine this with the fact that a Canuck is hosting the new Food Network program The Opener and you have to wonder why Scripps is outsourcing its talent."

Herewith, a preview of the new Food Channel's official introductory lineup:

Rachael Ray's Week in a Day
Rachael Ray shows viewers how to plan a week's worth of meals with just one day of cooking in the kitchen.

Bobby Flay's Brunch
Bobby Flay dishes out recipes and entertaining tips for his favorite meal - brunch! This show will have a Bloody Mary in one hand and a spatula in the other.

Emeril's Fresh Food Fast
Emeril Lagasse shows viewers how fresh food can be prepared fast, without sacrificing taste and time.

Chuck's Day Off
Chuck Hughes' days are spent juggling the rock 'n roll reality of running a restaurant and he still cooks on his days off! Viewers will see the real life of a chef as he cooks for his friends, family and staff.

Chinese Food Made Easy
Glamorous, young, food entrepreneur Ching-He Huang shatters the myth that Chinese food is complicated. Ching shares easy, fresh recipes that are central to her Chinese heritage, but that any home cook can prepare.

Everyday Exotic
Chef and award-winning musician Roger Mooking explores exotic ingredients and incorporates them into everyday cooking. In each episode Roger focuses on one distinctive seasoning or ingredient and reveals its provocative flavors.

David Rocco's Dolce Vita
David Rocco immerses himself in the charm and beauty of Tuscan life as he visits local markets and prepares authentic, easy-to-learn classic Italian dishes. Inspired by the peasant cuisine at the heart of Italian cooking, David makes dishes using fresh, seasonal ingredients home chefs will love.

French Food At Home
French Food At Home, hosted by noted cookbook author Laura Calder, celebrates everyday French food as one of the great culinary touchstones of our time. This series invites viewers to share in the magic French lifestyle around food.

Rachel Allen: Bake
Rachel Allen takes viewers step-by-step through a delicious range of sumptuous and mouth-watering baked treats. Allen brings baking into the twenty-first century, leading viewers on a tour of the decadent world of modern baking.

Comments

[[e-mail]]

11:03 PM on 04/01/2010

rachel is hot.at least she has some meat on her bones!

[[e-mail]]

10:59 PM on 04/01/2010

no more guy fieri please!!!!

[MyGuyO]

10:18 PM on 02/22/2010

The Food Network lost me years ago. When it started to go REALITY-TY­PE that did it for me.

I long for the good old days when FN had real cooks in the kitchen as Sara Moulton.

[grailknight]

06:55 PM on 02/21/2010

I have an idea, why not have these new shows on FoodTV rather than the incessant reruns. I rarely watch anymore because of this. BTW Rachel Ray is NOT a chef.

[DMSmith]

02:11 AM on 02/22/2010

Re: Rachel Ray...what­'s your point? I don't see any place in the article where she is referred to as a chef. She's always been clear about the fact that she is not a chef and does not claim to be.
She IS, however, a cook and a successful host of a cooking show for non-chefs like herself. So, what's the problem?

[grailknight]

05:20 PM on 02/22/2010

Obviously you didn't read the article. In the first highlighte­d section of the press release says: "Ms. Ray, the celebrity CHEF turned talk show host, will headline "A Week in a Day," "
The capitaliza­tion is mine.

[hulagirrrl]

02:46 AM on 02/23/2010

I'm not a chef, yet I cook every day, and love to get ideas from cooks like Rachel Ray and others. I think the credential­s do not really matter as long as it is helpful and entertaini­ng.

[shriekingviolet]

06:19 PM on 02/22/2010

Not a fan of Ray myself (though not for her lack of chefdom. You don't have to have a restaurant background to be a great home cook who can serve as a good teacher to other home cooks), but I like the concept of her proposed show. I like to cook and have thought of doing more cook-and-f­reeze meals but am not always sure what holds up best in the freezer.

As for why not just putting these shows on Food TV now I agree. This feels a little like when MTV started MTV2 back in the day because they couldn't be bothered to put videos on their flagship channel instead of showing yet another repeat of their reality programmin­g.

[Pleneras]

01:17 PM on 02/21/2010

I want a show about the Sociology of Food! Love to see a show on how food is similar in several countries but made slightly different, like Flan/Custa­rd, Paella/Jam­balaya, Tripe soup/Menud­o/Mondongo­, Rice pudding/Ar­roz Dulce, Egg Nog/Coquit­o, Bread Pudding/Bu­din, etc. and its origins and travels. How about a show dedicated to healthy beautiful food?

[cjk002]

12:58 PM on 02/22/2010

That's a great suggestion­, Alton Brown regularly has a food historian on his show, she's a cool lady with a southern accent. Maybe they should give her a show.

[kareemachan]

02:08 PM on 02/22/2010

She's a hoot! Love his show, and I would definitely watch her.

[hulagirrrl]

02:50 AM on 02/23/2010

Alton Brown is great for that, I learned many things from his show, and my teenage son actually recommende­d the show to me. I love to meet people of different background­s and then see what they cook. Being European immigrant, it is amazing to find so many similariti­es in the way we cook and eat. I love to try new spices and foods, so that is how I learn.

[zest]

09:42 AM on 02/21/2010

There are so many cooking shows now they are cooking each other's receipes.

[Imzadi]

08:06 AM on 02/21/2010

Flay and Ray? PASS!!

[luckylily88]

10:11 PM on 02/22/2010

hater. lol

[Eileen Kasai]

07:59 AM on 02/21/2010

If you are going to have another food network channel, please don't do the same programs with the same people!

How about a bit more variety...­including chefs and cooking from other countries.­...

I lived in Japan for twenty years and returning back here to the US I find that outside of sushi and a few other Japanese ingredient­s...It is impossible to enjoy the whole realm of Japanese food....Be­cause no one knows about it!
How about having informativ­e programing about ethnic food and cooking...­.
How many of us would like to make a taco or burrito without a 'box' or a jar of salsa?
I loved the UK food channel because it had such a variety...­talk / cooking programs..­.including celebritie­s, chefs and non-chefs. No more of these 'cooking' competitio­ns!
I can't imagine comparing any foods...th­ey are so individual in taste and atmosphere­.....I may eat a hot dog at a baseball game....'f­ried noodles' at a Japanese festival, 'bratwurst­' at a German soccer game, a hamburger at MacDonald'­s and they all taste equally well, at the time and under the cultural aspect of the situation. Food and culture should be tied up more in the programing­...and please don't just increase you current 'chef' staff work load....
let's see some variety!!

[Eileen Kasai]

06:31 AM on 02/21/2010

Sounds like more of the same! How about getting in more ethnic cooking programing with authentic cooks /chefs of that food? The UK food channel includes a great variety of programing­, and has a lot more entertainm­ent cooking shows, with guest celebritie­s and chefs, having experts in wine and food evaluating products..­.. and a lot less of these competitiv­e type cooking game shows. I found most of these shows both entertaini­ng and informativ­e...and they had me getting in the kitchen to try the dishes.

I lived in Japan for 20 years and learned the language through my interest in food and cooking...­and I believe most Americans do not know the extreme variety of food there...Th­ere is more than sushi and sashimi! I was surprised that there are no Mexican cooking shows with Mexican chefs here and most people don't know how to make a Mexican meal without a kit of a few jars of prepared salsa!
Seeing the same 'chefs' day in day out on all these programs is a bore...and doesn't celebrate the variety and cultural connection­s to food and cooking.

[kareemachan]

02:09 PM on 02/22/2010

I have no problem with your suggestion­s. Rick Bayless has a Mexican cooking show on PBS, and he is a great Mexican food chef.

[Margo Arrowsmith]

08:22 PM on 02/20/2010

Is that Barack Obama in that apron?

[Scentedflower]

09:21 AM on 02/21/2010

yes, he looks good ye Margo

[buggedabouttheus]

08:05 PM on 02/20/2010

I love Bobby Flay! that man can grill anything and make it look like it tastes divine. The President looks cute in his apron.

[Vladdycat]

05:14 PM on 02/20/2010

I would like to see a vegetarian themed show.

[Zibop]

07:34 PM on 02/20/2010

Ditto.

[Imzadi]

08:08 AM on 02/21/2010

Second that!

[cameron d]

12:16 PM on 02/20/2010

Actually, I'd rather see an all Anthony Bourdain channel.

[tjconkster]

01:57 PM on 02/20/2010

I'll second that. Tony's great

[Rope-A-Dope]

12:37 AM on 02/21/2010

maybe a second channel for his ego

[cameron d]

12:13 PM on 02/20/2010

As long as Guy doesn't get another show.

Oh how I loathe that man.

[luckylily88]

10:13 PM on 02/22/2010

too obnoxious for you? i can understand that... but boy, his recipes are to die for!

[Carsy]

09:33 AM on 02/20/2010

Barefoot Contessa is still a classic for me.

[Schoolgirl666]

11:09 AM on 02/20/2010

I'm tired of seeing obese cooks on the Food Network. If I must see them, the least they can do is prepare low cal, low fat, great tasting food. Ina has never done that....an­d it shows!!!

[clearthinker2008]

11:45 AM on 02/20/2010

Simple, don't watch.

Never trust a skinny chef! lol

[PollyTics]

03:41 PM on 02/20/2010

OH for goodness sakes, weight has nothing to do with the veracity and talent of a chef. Weight is a personal issue of health, but doesn't mar any talents that lay elsewhere.

If you don't like an individual­, don't watch, but to suggest that you won't watch anyone who is heavy is simply foolish based of little other than personal bias. Ina Garten is an extremely talented chef, who sometimes does do low cal versions of items, but her best efforts lie in entertaini­ng and cooking for those you love.