cooking shows

Yesterday we treated you to the premiere of a ridiculous new web series devoted to parodying the lives of foodies, and today we've got none other than Charlie Sheen's cooking show! The actor, who has been everywhere lately, has made a video with Funny or Die called Charlie Sheen's Winning Recipes. While I've been avoiding the Sheen hype, I couldn't help but laugh at his chain-smoking one-liners that are spot-on with the food industry trends. Watch the video and let me know what you think in the comments!

If you're a fan of the Food Network but haven't been watching The Cooking Channel this Summer, there's a good chance that you'll change your mind come September. Its star-studded Fall lineup includes new original programs from Food Network vets Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, and Kelsey Nixon, among others.

Rachael Ray's Week in a Day, which premieres Sept. 25, will be the media mogul's first food-focused show in nine years. It'll feature cooking a week's meals, from scratch, all in one day. Bobby Flay's Saturday show now has a tech-savvy name, Brunch @ Bobby's, and a focus on sweet and savory recipes, including some of his family favorites. The program, which is filmed in his Hamptons kitchen, will premiere Oct. 16.

The Cooking Channel is also giving former Next Food Network Star cheftestants Kelsey Nixon and Jeffrey Saad another shot at the small screen. Nixon's new show, Kelsey's Essentials, is all about basic kitchen techniques, while Saad is set to host the tentatively titled United Tastes of America. His show will explore the history, science, and cultural impact of iconic foods like burgers and pizza.

Also in the pipeline? The Minimalist, based on the food column of New York Times writer Mark Bittman; My Life in Food, a portrait of lives transformed by food, produced by Al Roker; and Bitchin' Kitchen, a cooking show based on one comedienne's witty web series. Which shows do you think you'll catch?

Watch your back, Rachael Ray: another celebrity chef will be returning to TV this Fall with a show focused on 30-minute meals — and it will be none other than UK wonder Jamie Oliver.

Oliver's show, which has the familiar title of Jamie's Thirty Minute Meals, will feature him cooking a "varied and seasonal" meal from scratch in half an hour and is set to air on Britain's Channel 4 during the late afternoon hours. He has reportedly signed up to make 40 episodes of his latest show for a whopping £20 million.

I suppose it's possible for this show to take on a different perspective from the 30-Minute Meals that we know so intimately in the United States, but I'll have to see it to believe it. For the moment, I'm skeptical and think the concepts are too similar. What do you say?

The James Beard Awards may be over, but the culinary accolades continue as award show season soldiers on. Today, the nominees for this year's Daytime Emmy Awards were announced, and the list included a number of notable culinary programs and food figures.

PBS and Food Network each have two shows that'll compete head-to-head for the title of Outstanding Culinary Program. For Public Broadcasting, it's America's Test Kitchen and the new travel show, Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth; for Food Network, the shows are Giada at Home and Tyler's Ultimate.

Vying for the Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host award are a number of Food Network stars — Bobby Flay, Ina Garten, Paula Deen, and Giada De Laurentiis — as well as Martha Stewart for her syndicated talk show. Food Trip With Todd English, Eric Ripert's Avec Eric, and De Laurentiis's Giada at Home are also up for honors in outstanding directing.

I'll be rooting for new shows Avec Eric and Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth when the winners are unveiled on June 27. What cooking shows will you be cheering on?

In an interview yesterday with PopEater, Food Network star Sandra Lee discussed her upcoming season of Sandra Lee's Money-Saving Meals, talked about her bake sale for charity, and revealed that Semi-Homemade will be returning this Fall.

Semi-Homemade, which isn't currently in production, has been a hotbed of controversy since it first aired in 2003. She's been dubbed the "Anti-Julia" for her use of 70 percent ready-made products like salad dressing mix and condensed cream of mushroom soup. Her suggestive tone and her ridiculous preference for the word "delicious" have even been mocked in a widely watched YouTube video.

Although I've never been a huge proponent of Sandra's 70/30 semi-homemade philosophy, this show is obviously back by popular demand. Will you be tuning in?

Two months ago, the big buzzword in the food world was koodies — kid foodies. And while the concept has been around for a while, it looks like the word has a brand-new poster child. Watford, England's, Archie Coffer is only 2 years old, and already he's being nicknamed "the miniature Jamie Oliver." He's one half of the father-son duo starring in My Daddy Cooks, a video and recipe blog with an international following. The toddler's father, Nick Coffer, has already signed with an agent, been filmed by the BBC, and has a book deal in progress.

Watch the father and son tag-team to make a vegetable frittata, after the jump.

Looks like Food Network's switching gears to focus less on cooking expertise and more on entertainment. On the roster for 2010: more Brian Boitano, and a new show, Worst Cooks in America.

Worst Cooks in America, which premieres Sunday, Jan. 3, features 12 "hopeless cooks" who are divided into two teams, one under the tutelage of network vet Anne Burrell and the other led by Arizona chef Beau MacMillan.

The show's premise: bad cooks undergo a five-week "culinary boot camp" where they will learn kitchen techniques from Burrell and MacMillan that they must apply in weekly elimination challenges.

After the contestants have been narrowed down to two, they will compete for a grand prize of $25,000 in a final challenge that has them preparing a three-course meal for a panel of food critics who think the dishes have been prepared by chefs Anne and Beau.

For even more entertainment, Brian Boitano fans should also stay tuned for the return of the Olympic medalist, who's back with a second season of the screwball show What Would Brian Boitano Make? in March. Will you tune in to watch either of these shows — or are they too far a departure from the classic cooking shows that once dominated Food Network?

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Don't enjoy amateur cooks facing off on TV? Maybe you'll have different sentiments if you're watching them in person. At least, that's what Emeril Lagasse is hoping as he launches his new Atlantic City game show: Taste of Emeril's Cooking Challenge. It begins Oct. 21 at Caesars Atlantic City, and will run several times a week through Nov. 12.

Each night, the casino show will choose six members from the audience to square off onstage at two cooking stations, first competing in two teams, then facing elimination until the last two standing face off to take home the prize. Emeril will appear via the big screen to offer taped commentary and critique. While he admits the casino show is risky, the veteran culinary personality said he was looking for the right show that could be marketed to audiences at a reasonable price.

Tickets are only $35 each, but for that amount, I'd still expect to see more than video footage of Emeril. What about you? Do you see the "interactive cooking competition" being a success?

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