Emeril Gone On FoodTV

[GlorifiedRice]

Emeril Lagasse is out at the Food Network. Contract negotiations between Emeril and parent corporation Scripps have broken down. Lagasse is leaving the Food Network as a result and the last day of production for Emeril Live will be on December 11.

Read more:

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/brea...twork_71613.asp

[handmc]

Wow......

[Morgan_Weber]

FINALLY! I am happy for him. FN has whored him out for too long. I wish him the best and thank him for all he has done for food and TV. He has inspired millions. Cheers Emeril.

[eatrustic]

FINALLY!  I am happy for him.  FN has whored him out for too long.  I wish him the best and thank him for all he has done for food and TV.  He has inspired millions.  Cheers Emeril.

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More to the point- FN pimped him out, he whored himself out. I hope the door didn't hit him too hard on the way out.

[Bree20]

Sorta saw this coming when they moved him to 7:00 time slot and no repeats after 12 midnight central time. To be honest I use to watch him all the time and did learn a lot at first then it seemed that he dumb down his show a bit I often wonder if this was due to his target group or if after a while hearing BAM and clapping for more garlic just got to be too much.

I hope he is going to focus on his resturants more now that he will have time.

I love his reaturants in New Orleans, but when my family and I were in Orlando we were warned by the locals to stay away and I have not heard anything good about the Atlanta resturant here I could not even tell you if it is still open here.

[eje]

Apparently, he is not entirely gone. They have stopped production of "Emeril Live," but will continue "Essence of Emeril."

Emeril Leaves Food Network

Food Network reps have emailed to clarify the situation:

There were inaccuracies in the post about Emeril Lagasse in today's Fish Bowl blog. Emeril is not leaving the network, Essence of Emeril will continue production and we will pursue specials and other opportunities in the future.

[Pierogi]

FINALLY!  I am happy for him.  FN has whored him out for too long.  I wish him the best and thank him for all he has done for food and TV.  He has inspired millions.  Cheers Emeril.

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More to the point- FN pimped him out, he whored himself out. I hope the door didn't hit him too hard on the way out.

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I think its probably somewhere in between. I can't really say I blame him for taking advantage of the situation, you know that old cliche about striking while the iron's hot. But he did go way over the top, and spent way too much time playing to the audience. No doubt, in large part, because that was the way his producers & FN staff wanted the show to go. Nevertheless, I can count on one hand the number of time I've watched "Live".

But deep down, I do believe he's a decent chef, inventive, talented and willing to push the envelope. Unfortunately, in his live shows he became a parody of himself. But you watch the earlier shows, and even the recent "Essence" programs where there's no audience, and even I really enjoyed him.

And regardless of anything else, he was a foundation of that network. He, and a few others, built it. He DID bring people into cooking and using fresh foods, and that's a positive thing. Its sad that even in a limited manner they can't see fit to keep him in their stable.

Speaks volumes about where FN's priorities are.

ETA, was being written while the above post about "Essence" still being produced hit.

Edited November 27, 2007 by Pierogi (log)

[mrsadm]

Seriouseats web site just published a retraction of this news. Seems Food TV said Emeril will continue to work with them, although Emeril appears to be free to do other things.

Emeril still alive at Food Network

[gfweb]

Emeril Live got very old a few years ago, but I worry what sort of abomination FN will put in its place. Prime Time with Sandra Lee? High School Cafeteria Challenge? 24/7 with Rachel Ray?

[Mayhaw Man]

Emeril can cook. Better than most.

We'll be glad to have him home. After a somewhat questionable absence directly after the storm, he came back with a vengeance and has been very, very active in some extremely important and worth causes, mostly concerning, either directly or broadly, the food industry in New Orleans.

And I'm sure that taking New York out of his already overloaded travel/oversight schedule will be a welcome relief for someone who has been doing the same thing, month in and month out, for so long.

As for FN, I haven't watched anything on there for years for more than, maybe, 10 minutes. The last thing that I regularly watched were the Japanese Iron Chef shows, which were great and highly entertaining, and since they disappeared I just kind of stopped. I already know how to cook garbage and I don't really care very much how Twinkies and jawbreakers are made or what it being served on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair.

[Morgan_Weber]

We'll be glad to have him home.

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Mayhaw Man, I hear he has already been spending more time in his NOLA eateries. Is this true? If so, that should be refreshing.

[Morgan_Weber]

FINALLY!  I am happy for him.  FN has whored him out for too long.  I wish him the best and thank him for all he has done for food and TV.  He has inspired millions.  Cheers Emeril.

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More to the point- FN pimped him out, he whored himself out. I hope the door didn't hit him too hard on the way out.

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Hehe...duely noted.

[Pebs]

Emeril Live got very old a few years ago, but I worry what sort of abomination FN will put in its place.  Prime Time with Sandra Lee?  High School Cafeteria Challenge? 24/7 with Rachel Ray?

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I totally agree. Or maybe Guy's Dumpster Dining Dives, or the Paula Deen "Survive My Cholestral Challenge". At least Emeril taught those of us who never went to culinary school some actual techniques and turned us on to new ingredients now and then. I hope, I hope, I hope it's not going to be prime time with the Latino bimbo who every once in awhile forgets to sound Latino. Her pushup bra is probably too tight.

[jmolinari]

People still watch FoodTV?

Hrm.

[hsm]

To quote Batali, who has lost a show and kept a show (or at least his temporary appearances on ICA)the FN is going more "mass market." Or maybe he said "ass?" Or maybe that's just what I heard.

I'm looking forward (way forward) to enjoying Emeril as an old creole-style chef on PBS one of these years. I will not miss (not have I watched in years) the hordes of hyenas losing their damn minds every time he threw too much garlic into a pot.

[fiftydollars]

I'm going to miss him.

[Kevin72]

Wow. Like Bree I knew something was up when they moved him but didn't think it would be this soon. Seems kinda cold. When's E of E even on?

Also echoing others on this thread, I'm dreading whatever even more sanitized, worst-common-denominator dreck they replace him with.

[scubadoo97]

Deal or no deal, meal or no meal....FN seems to be a game show network. They are moving to general entertainment. I have a lot of respect for Emeril. I really hated the live show though. Too much shtick, too much clapping, hooping and hollering for the garlic and the BAM. The food was a bit messy, but he was cooking live and throwing it together quickly. I liked E of E. More of the traditional cooking show. Hard to believe that they are keeping that show. One of the rare cooking shows left on FN.

[Kris]

I predicted this when the show was moved to the 7 p.m. timeslot. I told my husband that Emeril was slowly but surely being phased out (along with the real chefs like Mario Batali).

[Gifted Gourmet]

I predicted this when the show was moved to the 7 p.m. timeslot.  I told my husband that Emeril was slowly but surely being phased out (along with the real chefs like Mario Batali).

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Today I read, among the many articles on this, that the move to an earlier time slot made little or no difference .. the ratings were no higher ... and it is all about ratings ...

Maybe 10 years of anything, no matter how good, is enough ...

[Doodad]

Isn't Alton Brown also at the end of his contract? They have flogged him hard lately and I can only assume that has contributed to some of his less than friendly naratives on several shows.

[Shalmanese]

Apart from ICA, is that the last professional chef left on Food Network?

[RAHiggins1]

Deal or no deal, meal or no meal....FN seems to be a game show network.  They are moving to general entertainment.  I have a lot of respect for Emeril.  I really hated the live show though.  Too much shtick, too much clapping, hooping and hollering for the garlic and the BAM.  The food was a bit messy, but he was cooking live and throwing it together quickly.  I liked E of E.  More of the traditional cooking show.  Hard to believe that they are keeping that show.  One of the rare cooking shows left on FN.

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FN has followed the path of MTV who no longer even shows music videos but stuff like "Pimp my crib in the hood dog"...

[Mayhaw Man]

Today I read, among the many articles on this, that the move to an earlier time slot made little or no difference .. the ratings were no higher ... and it is all about ratings ...

Maybe 10 years of anything, no matter how good, is enough ...

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What those clowns at FN SHOULD be paying attention to is their overall viewership. I would like to know what that is. I can't imagine, even given the average tv audience, that they have gained many viewers in the last three years or so. Sure, they can bag Emeril, but, in reality, whether you liked the show or not, it was probably the most interesting thing going on there for the last two years or so-even if it was repetitive and dull to most folks who have an interest in learning anything about food and cooking.

It's funny, but several years ago (it was before the storm, so maybe 3?) I saw Sara Moulton speak here in New Orleans and she was brutally blunt about how screwed up the management was at FN and how ALL they cared about was some kind of middle ground entertainment for the masses and they didn't have any interest in any real cooking instruction or information (somewhere around here I wrote a long post about this, but I can't find it right now). I think that she called it perfectly.

[kalypso]

I think that she called it perfectly.

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I agree. I didn't always get a chance to see Sara's show, but I liked it when I did. I found it curious when they didn't renew her contract. Now Mario and Emeril are gone and all that remains is vapid programming. Can Alton Brown's exit be far behind...