BY ERICA MARCUS
February 21, 2008

At 6 a.m. on Nov. 22, 1993, a handful of early risers turned on their
TVs and were greeted by Donna Hanover and David Rosengarten, co-hosts of
a show called "Food News & Views" on a cable channel called the TV Food
Network.

At 7 a.m., Robin Leach, formerly of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,"
anchored the call-in show "Talking Food." For the next 22 hours, the two
programs alternated with each other, along with two airings of "Getting
Healthy" with former sportscaster Gayle Gardner.

Now, almost 15 years later, Hanover is famous for being the publicly
spurned wife of then-mayor, now-presidential flameout Rudy Giuliani.
Rosengarten edits the Rosengarten Report, a high-end gastronomic
newsletter. Leach was last seen hosting VH1's "The Surreal Life: Fame
Games."

And the Food Network is going strong. In 2007, it had 90 million
subscribers, which, according to Derek Baine, cable analyst with SNL
Kagan, puts it on a par with such cable stalwarts as ESPN, Nickelodeon
and MTV. "It's a mature network; it's got almost-complete penetration in
multichannel homes." Although 24-hour ratings fell a bit from 2006 to
2007, he said, the drop was not dramatic, and the prime-time numbers
increased. "It's still growing," Baine said, "and cash flow is up about
10 percent since last year."

Since its inception, the Food Network has spawned such larger-than-life
personalities as Emeril Lagasse, Chairman Kaga of "Iron Chef" and
Rachael Ray; it has introduced new exclamations ("Bam!," "Allez
Cuisine!" and "Yum-O!" respectively) and taken cooking shows from the
rarefied world of public television into the very heart of Middle
America.

It has changed the country's food scene, and it has transformed itself.

Mario Batali was there at the beginning. "That first year, I was a guest
on Robin Leach's show," the chef-restaurateur-author recalled in a
recent telephone interview. "It was filmed in a very scary apartment in
the West 30s." Batali also appeared on "Chef du Jour," "a sort of
testing ground for potential TV chefs," and the game show "Ready, Set,
Cook." "Molto Mario," a show that put both chef and network on the
culinary map, debuted in 1996. Said Batali, "We both made each other
famous."

"Molto Mario" stopped production in 2004, though episodes still air on
Monday mornings. Although Batali is still one of the network's five Iron
Chefs, his next TV venture, "Spain … On the Road Again," a series about
Spanish cuisine co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow and columnist-cookbook
author Mark Bittman, will air this fall on PBS.

Lagasse, once the Food Network's brightest star, is also dimming. In
November, it was announced that "Emeril Live!," which had its premiere
in 1997, won't be filming new episodes. The show was undeniably
groundbreaking, but the format is no longer the network's
stock-in-trade.

"The dump-and-stir is over," Batali said, using industry parlance for
the straight cooking show. Indeed, if you look at the current prime-time
lineup, you'll see what the Food Network considers the Next Big Thing:
reality.

While Fox has "American Idol" and CBS has "The Amazing Race," Food
Network brings you "Throwdown With Bobby Flay," in which the celebrated
Southwestern chef shows up unexpectedly to challenge a lesser-known chef
or home cook in his or her specialty, be it chili, meatballs or
doughnuts. "Ace of Cakes" follows the travails of extreme baker Duff
Goldman and the staff of his Baltimore cake shop. Each episode of
"Dinner Impossible" finds chef Robert Irvine confronted with some
seemingly impossible task — cook dinner for 1,000 Marines in the next
five hours, make 20,000 hors d'oeuvres before the sun sets — which,
after much sweating and scrambling, he reliably executes.

According to Marc Summers, the executive producer of "Dinner Impossible"
as well as host of the behind-the-product love fest "Unwrapped," the
transition from dump-and-stir to reality was inevitable. "They have to
grow," he said. "Look at VH1 — they have no videos anymore. It's the
same with the Food Network; they have to move beyond cooking. With all
these other networks to compete with — TLC, Bravo — who are doing
cooking shows, they have to keep changing."

The gold standard among reality shows are those that have a narrative
arc to compel viewers to tune in each week. "A classic problem with
cooking shows," Baine said, "is that they aren't sticky. When they're
not serialized, if you miss one, you don't feel like you missed
anything." Which is why, in 2005, the network introduced "The Next Food
Network Star," in which a dozen or so contestants compete in various
cooking and hosting contests for the chance to host their very own show.

"The Next Food Network Star" has broadcast three seasons so far and,
said Bob Tushman, the network's vice president of programming, "it is
the most-watched food cable program ever." (Implied in this remark was a
rebuke to Bravo's "Top Chef," which had its premiere a year after "The
Next Food Network Star" and is viewed by many at the network as a
ripoff.)

One thing about "Star" is that at the same time it garners ratings, it
primes viewers for whatever new show the winner hosts. Guy Fieri, the
bleached-blond surfer-dude winner of Season 2 has gone on to be "one of
our top stars," hosting "Guy's Big Bite" and the very popular "Diners,
Drive-ins and Dives." Next month, Fieri and Summers will be co-hosts of
"Ultimate Recipe Showdown," a sort of "Iron Chef" for amateur cooks.

If dump-and-stir no longer rules prime time, it is still the heart of
daytime. "In the Kitchen" is the name the network gives to the block of
programming before 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
weekends. "After dinner, after work, our audience is looking to be
entertained, Tushman said, "but during the day they are looking for
cooking information." (The sole dump-and-stir in prime time is "Good
Eats With Alton Brown," which airs weeknights at 8. But with his wacky
science experiments and costumed skits, "Good Eats" is as much about
entertainment as it is about cooking.)

"In the Kitchen" is a domain ruled by women. The frighteningly energetic
Rachael Ray's "30 Minute Meals" is on three times every weekday. Close
behind are Paula Deen's "Home Cooking," Giada di Laurentiis' "Everyday
Italian," Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa" and Sandra Lee's
"Semi-Homemade Cooking."

These women could hardly appeal to more diverse audiences. Deen embraces
her canned-soup Southern-gothic heritage with gusto, and, like minor
characters from a Faulkner novel, her sons Bobbie and Jamie are popping
up on the schedule, too. Garten's low-key delivery and elegant Hamptons
kitchen seem light-years away from Lee's signature dishes made from
brand-name processed foods and her overwrought "tablescapes." De
Laurentiis' low-cut shirts and her show's boudoir-ready soundtrack
distract from what a capable cook and teacher she is.

Says the Food Network, "Vive la différence!" Or, in Tushman's words:
"They inhabit different houses on the same very big block."

What these women share is precisely what has been the common thread
linking all successful Food Network shows since the very beginning:
personality.

"It's not just about food," said Marc Berman, a television analyst for
Mediaweek. "Anyone can cover food, but it's about the personality of the
person who presents the food." For example, he said, "You watch Oprah
not because you're necessarily interested in the guest she has on, but
because you like Oprah. It's the same with food shows."

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