Upfronts: It's That TIme of Year Again
Wednesday, April 09, 2008 | posted by Mike
I'll be honest that my radar for the "New York" scene isn't what it used to be. Frankly, it never really was, but it's that much worse now that I spend my days in Philadelphia. An example: I used to always know when upfronts were being held. (Click the link to see my post on last year and to read about upfronts if you're not familiar.) I wasn't in advertising myself, but I did have my desk on the same floor as my old company's advertising department, so I could count on those days being gloriously neighbor-free!Anyway, I'm not as plugged in, but fortunately Broadcasting & Cable is and they have a nice roundup of Food Network's presentation at the event. What piqued my interest?
Food Network is adding another cooking competition show to TV’s mix. Chopped will pit four contestants against each other to find the nation’s top sous chef.After the extremely enjoyable Next Iron Chef, this looks like it could be another good blend of top-of-their-games food pros and fun-for-everyone challenges. It will be interesting to see how the "sous chef" aspect makes this different than the shows like Iron Chef and Top Chef, which stress both technical proficiency and the kind of creativity we expect from a top-tier culinary genius chef. I know I'm simplifying these roles, but I'm pretty sure there's a point in there somewhere.
And that wasn't the only good news for sous chefs everywhere:
New talent coming to primetime includes Anne Burrell, Mario Batali’s sous chef from Iron Chef America, who will answer viewer e-mails;We told you about another installment of Feasting on Asphalt -- this time in the Caribbean -- and that was confirmed.
Be sure to check out the B&C article for a few more new shows.
Labels: Food Network
