Opening Soon (TV show)

FoodZealot · August 16, 2003

http://www.fineliving.com/fine/opening_soo...E_11237,00.html

ABOUT THIS SHOW:

Opening Soon

Opening Soon captures the ambitions of restaurateurs, the bustling staff and the inevitable crises that surface before opening the hottest new restaurants. Go behind-the-scenes and into the heart of the action for every step of the process, from designing the space to opening night.

Does it seem odd to anyone else that the same people that own Food Network put a show about designing and opening restaurants on a different network? A new channel that has shows about things like antique shopping, travel guides and interior design? No restaurants on FoodTV? What next, no music on MTV?? Oh, wait...

~Tad

Lounge Lizard · August 16, 2003

Not sure why it is not on Food Network where you are but we have had this show running on Food TV Canada for awhile. All have been Canadian restaurants.

tanabutler · August 16, 2003

Restaurants, gay guys, restaurants, gay guys, restaurants, gay guys.

Queer Eye for the Straight Restaurant? Queer Restaurant for the Straight Guy? How can we best mix the elements from the top shows of the summer? Hmmmm.

And where does Tony Bourdain fit into this mix? I know, he's straight—or I believe him that he's straight. I would love to see the Fab Five take a gander at him. Carson Kressley would throw up his hands and retire. "Would you look at these arms on this book cover?!"

I have never watched so much television—not since I was a teenager—as I have between Queer Eye and A Cook's Tour.

FoodZealot · August 16, 2003

Not sure why it is not on Food Network where you are but we have had this show running on Food TV Canada for awhile. All have been Canadian restaurants.

Perhaps some discrimination against Canadian restaurants?

~Tad

herbacidal · August 16, 2003

Not sure why it is not on Food Network where you are but we have had this show running on Food TV Canada for awhile. All have been Canadian restaurants.
Perhaps some discrimination against Canadian restaurants?
~Tad

i would speculate it's a business decision.

the cable companies are not willing to pay the possibly exorbitant rates that the company that owns both foodtv and fineliving wants to charge for fineliving. perhaps it is because they already are paying an exorbitant amount for foodtv, which they would catch bigger hell for not having.

therefore the owners of foodtv have decided, in order to increase demand for fineliving from the customer side, we'll put this show that we think a lot of people will want there, and advertise it heavily as being there. include specific mentions of calling your cable operator and logging into fineliving website to push demand from customers pushing on cable companies for fineliving.

rhubarbz · August 17, 2003

FYI - Master Sommelier Andrea Immer, who did a Q&A here earlier this year, has a new show launching on this network, too. It's called Simply Wine and i believe it begins in early October.

menton1 · December 30, 2003

The show "Opening Soon" on Fine Living Network is terrific. It gives one an insight into what it takes to open a restaurant. They also have run the gamut from big corporate-sponsored restaurants to mom 'n' pop places that are investing their life savings. It also shows all the vicissitudes involved in starting up a restaurant, from the contractors, to the permits, to the furnishings, and the staff hiring. I have found it fascinating. A quality show. I guess they won't show this on Food Network, it's too good a show!!

SWoodyWhite · December 30, 2003

Fine Living and FoodTV are both owned by the same people. They also own DIY and HGTV.

Jake · December 30, 2003

And Food TV Canada has been showing it since the fall. Seen the episode on Stephen Bekta's new place in Ottawa?? Just what Canada needed!

menton1 · December 30, 2003

Fine Living and FoodTV are both owned by the same people. They also own DIY and HGTV.

Yes, Scripps TV. But Fine Living is far superior IMHO. And that's why I question why they won't put this excellent show on Food TV.

herbacidal · December 30, 2003

Fine Living and FoodTV are both owned by the same people. They also own DIY and HGTV.
Yes, Scripps TV. But Fine Living is far superior IMHO. And that's why I question why they won't put this excellent show on Food TV.

so as not to hurt itself.

fine living was probably started to get all the people who don't watch foodtv anymore.

I imagine DIY was started to build on HGTV and target people who wanted to move from just watching all the stuff and actually doing more of it.

SteveW · December 30, 2003

Unfortunately in Canada last year, Food Network Canada repeated the same old episodes over over over over over .... again, that I & others got sick of the show(those episdoes aired for more than a year). Now I'm leaning myself back to watching the new episodes of the second season.

-Steve

ExtraMSG · December 31, 2003

For me, on Comcast, Fine Living is another price bump. FoodTV is part of the standard digital cable purchase, but Fine Living is part of a more premium package. I can't believe I spend so much on TV as it is. If stupid Headline News was on just basic cable, I don't think we ever would have purchased up. Now that I get most of my news from the internet, I wish we'd go back but my wife is hooked on Law and Order three times a day.

chezlamere · January 2, 2004

Unfortunately in Canada last year, Food Network Canada repeated the same old episodes over over over over over .... again, that I & others got sick of the show(those episdoes aired for more than a year). Now I'm leaning myself back to watching the new episodes of the second season.
-Steve

couldn't agree with you more, everything is repeated to death. Both american and canadian. I've got both the american and the canadian, and the canadian is better, less emeral. I wonder if there's a foodtv.uk?

SteveW · January 2, 2004

I know there's some type of Food Network in the UK(no connection with the US-based Food Network), but don't know if it's any good.

-Steve

SteveW · January 2, 2004

Unfortunately in Canada last year, Food Network Canada repeated the same old episodes over over over over over .... again, that I & others got sick of the show(those episdoes aired for more than a year). Now I'm leaning myself back to watching the new episodes of the second season.
-Steve
couldn't agree with you more, everything is repeated to death. Both american and canadian. I've got both the american and the canadian, and the canadian is better, less emeral. I wonder if there's a foodtv.uk?

At least Food Network Canada, doesn't air any infomericals during overnights which the US-based Food Network does.

-Steve

SteveW · January 4, 2004

Unfortunately in Canada last year, Food Network Canada repeated the same old episodes over over over over over .... again, that I & others got sick of the show(those episdoes aired for more than a year). Now I'm leaning myself back to watching the new episodes of the second season.
-Steve
couldn't agree with you more, everything is repeated to death. Both american and canadian. I've got both the american and the canadian, and the canadian is better, less emeral. I wonder if there's a foodtv.uk?
At least Food Network Canada, doesn't air any infomericals during overnights which the US-based Food Network does.
-Steve

Take back some of my comments on Food Network Canada. They do air the dreadful informercials. It's during weekend mornings(Saturdays & Sundays), from 8:00am to 10:00am.

-Steve

Jason Perlow · March 10, 2004

I've been asked to post this on behalf of the company that produces the show:

Hello,
My name is Rina Barone and I am with the documentary/reality television
series Opening Soon for the Fine Living Network and Food Network Canada.
The show is a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to transform a raw
space into a finished restaurant ready for opening night. We focus on the
characters involved, as well as the food, design and overall concept. We
look for interesting characters in owners and chefs, as well as a strong
food philosophy and an exciting concept.
Some of the high-profile restaurants we've documented include: Marcus
Samuelsson's Riingo (NYC), Iron Chef Morimoto's Morimoto (Philadelphia),
Ralph Brennan's Ralph's on the Park (New Orleans), Mark McEwan's Bymark
(Toronto) and Mitch and Steve Rosenthal's Town Hall (San Francisco protégés
of Wolfgang Puck). That said, we're also interested in smaller ventures.
Some of our best stories have been first-time restaurateurs with tight
budgets.
Our characters are the heroes of Opening Soon - we see everything through
their eyes - from the challenges of building the space to creating the menu
and testing the food. We like to be involved in a story early, so that we
can get a strong sense of the "before" as well as the particular
problems/challenges of building the restaurant. Fabulous restaurants don't
just suddenly appear, they are the result of an incredible amount of thought
as well as risk. Even when our characters are chefs and restaurateurs at the
top of their game, they too have challenges. We believe this only makes
audiences more interested and appreciative of what they are able to create.
Opening Soon is not an investigative report, or an expose. We are not
interested in looking at anyone's books or probing their finances. We do
like to know what the budget of the restaurant is and where the money is
coming from in a general way - just in terms of what our characters have on
the line. And we want people to let us in on what some of the
problems/challenges are of building the restaurant.
We are always looking for new restaurants to profile on the show.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Regards,
Rina Barone
Researcher, "Opening Soon"
Red Apple Entertainment
1 St. Clair Avenue West, Suite 503
Toronto, ON M4V 1K7
T: 416-324-8537 ext. 231
F: 416-324-0942
email: rbarone@redapple-entertainment.com
www.redapple-entertainment.com

fresco · March 10, 2004

A few shows have migrated from Food Network Canada to Fine Living. In an earlier thread, I speculated that the thinking probably is that Opening Soon and other programs (Thirsty Traveller comes to mind) are more "niche" programming than mass market, and therefore better suited to Fine Living than FN USA.

Kenk · March 11, 2004

Opening Soon overall is a very good show. One of the best episodes of any show on the Canadian Food Network was the Opening Soon special that revisited some of the earlier restaurants. It really showed the ups and downs of the different people behind these ventures.

The worst episode of Opening Soon was the one featuring Mitch and Steve Rosenthal's Town Hall in San Francisco. The whole episode was of these guys playing to the camera. Most uninteresting.

Daddy-A · March 15, 2006

Just wanted to let everyone know that the "Opening Soon" episode featuring Century Restaurant in Vancouver will air for the first time on Monday the 20th at 7:00 p.m and then again on Tuesday at 10:00 p.m.

There's an eGullet connection here as member ssherwood is one of the owners, and Mike Mitchell is the manager.

HERE is a thread on Century currently running in the Vancouver/Western Canada forum.

A.

MarketStEl · March 16, 2006

While we're at it, I see that one of their recent episodes focused on the opening of Righteous Urban Barbecue, the Kansas City import much discussed on the New York board.

Guess I'll have to catch it in repeats on FLN.

Comcast Center City Philadelphia customers get FLN as part of their basic digital cable package, along with the Tangentially-About-Food Network.

menton1 · March 16, 2006

Just as a reference, Directv offers Fine Living Network as part of their basic package.

Daddy-A · March 16, 2006

The worst episode of Opening Soon was the one featuring Mitch and Steve Rosenthal's Town Hall in San Francisco. The whole episode was of these guys playing to the camera. Most uninteresting.
←

I agree, from a TV POV. It was a snoozefest.

From a "personality" standpoint however, the worst IMO was The Geisha House ... bunch of Hollywood ... um ... never mind :hmmm: The best part was when one of the owners walks into the kitchen to tell a sushi chef with 12 years of experience his California roll needed more mayo!

A.

Junior · March 19, 2006

We did receive a phone call from the producers of the show to be on a new episode but unforuntaly we were to close to opening to have them come in and do something. The producer I talked to was was very disappointed that we had not gotten in touch with them earlier. We did however point them in the direction of another restaurant here in Saskatoon that is to open in a few months. I don't know if anything has transpiried (sp?) with that or not.

My word of advice if you are opening a spot up, call them. I found talking to the producers that are always on the lookout for interesting people and places to do. Don't think either that you have to big budget, they want the little guy to.

I have to agree with Arne that Giesha House episode was funny watching the guy in the kitchen. Generally the show is very good and is an interesting way to see how other people handle the stess of opening a restaurant. Our restaurant has been open for 2 days now and I know that having someone following me and my wife for thepast 2 months would have been... interesting. I think back to some of things I have done or not done and wondered would have I done that if I was going to be on national TV ?

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Opening Soon (TV show)

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