Food Network’s Edgy Little Brother

Food Network has been around for 17 years, and within that time we’ve seen the network devolve to a channel about food to a channel about personalities. Real cooking shows are more utilitarian and classroom-like that what Food Network has been producing for the past 10 years. In an effort to make cooking for the “home chef” seem interesting, shows are given a quirky host with a story that supports their entree theme. When it becomes too challenging to manufacture personalities, the network has made strides to obtain new talent via their competition shows such as “The Next Food Network Star” and “Food Network Challenge”. The E.W. Scripps Company, which owns Food Network, DIY, Fine Living, HGTV, and several other lifestyle cable channels, has decided to create a new network with a focus on cooking, aptly named The Cooking Channel.

So what does a network do before it jumps the shark? It creates a younger, hipper offspring. ESPN birthed ESPN2, the network with the promise of showcasing new and alternative sports. MTV made way for MTV2, the channel that actually plays music videos. Lifetime needed to reach more women with Lifetime Real Women. Nickelodeon gave birthday to a litter with Nick Jr., Teen Nick, and Nick at Nite. All of these cable channels spin-off networks with the promise to get back to basics and do what the originals failed to do: stay true to their mission.

For most networks, this change in mission is less about the success of the programming as it is about the funding from advertisers. In the world of cable television, success breeds success. Spin-offs are easier to create and bank on. Food Network’s success as a network has led to a full consumer products line and a slew of business opportunities for their talent. For all the success Food Network has found with the likes of Paula Deen, Rachel Ray, Emeril Lagasse and Bobby Flay, the programming is centered around supporting the character of the host more than food.

According to a USA Today article, Michael Smith, network manager claims the Cooking Channel is ”a little grittier, a little more about food and information and a little less about pure entertainment.” Where have I heard this one before? Excuse me for being cynical, but several promising networks have become nothing more than a venue to rerun programming on. The Cooking Channel is already airing a healthy portion of Food Network reruns. The “grit” seems to come from a few of their original shows, all of which have younger hosts that cook up ethnic cuisine (Chinese, French, Indian).

Maybe I’m too cynical about The Cooking Channel. After all, good programming evolves over time. Food Network is trying to create an alternative brand for a difference audience (gen X, Y, millennials). Will this new format fizzle out in five years to become it’s own brand, or will it simply become the rerun channel? Time will tell.

To check out The Cooking Channel, check your local listings. The network went live last week in the US (basic cable). If you’ve been watching The Cooking Channel, tell me about your favorite show and what you’d like to see on the network. I’m thinking sushi.

Photo: The Cooking Channel

Preview Songs from “Glee” Season Finale

If you’re a ‘gleek’ then you have got to listen to the songs from the latest Glee album, Glee: The Music – Journey to Regionals. This new EP will be released on June 8 and include all the songs from the season finale of Glee. To listen to the songs, check out the Flash player below and click play. Can’t see the player? Then be sure to download or upgrade your Flash Player.

For more music from Glee, visit gleethemusic.com. There you’ll find links to all the sources that sell the albums and singles. Listen to the EP of “Journey to Regionals” below. My favorites are Bohemian Rhapsody and Over the Rainbow. What are yours? read more

The Nominees Are…Inappropriate

Tonight is the premiere of the Nickelodeon 2010 Kids’ Choice Awards. The cable TV awards show directed at kids age 13 and below. For the show’s 23 year run, there has been an attempt to sanitize popular culture to keep the kid-friendly theme. Nickelodeon has built a brand that has not only become synonymous with children’s entertainment, but has also dominated nearly every medium for age groups under 18 years old. Unlike Disney, Nickelodeon originally embraced a spirit of rebellion. It was the first network for kids and reveled in the “kids only” exclusivity. On Nickelodeon, parents were slimed or had a pie thrown in their face for unjustly enforcing chores and homework. Nickelodeon understood kids and gave their audience a sense of mutual understanding on the condition of childhood.

Of course the rebellious spirit of the up-start network began to wain in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when parent groups began criticizing children’s television for sending the wrong message. Nickelodeon relented and toned down the anti-parents sentiment, expanding their brand into new demographics, including toddlers (Nick Jr.), tweens (TeenNick), and families (Nick@Nite). A kernel of rebellion still lies in within at least one show that airs annually on the network: the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards.

The problem with doing any award show for kids is that the nominees have to be age appropriate. For the most part, Nickelodeon is always suspect of using the show to nominate and award their own products. Although several of the categories have Nickelodeon programming as nominees, many are devout of any Nickelodeon, Viacom, or Paramount media. For the most part, the Kids’ Choice Awards seem objective enough to not become a giant network-promoting commercial. Unfortunately the efforts to stay objective bite Nickelodeon in the ass when it comes to the music categories.

Despite all the cable network efforts to milk their programming into hit selling records, most children’s music aims to satisfy preschoolers or teens, with not much in between. The 2010 music nominees include:

Favorite Music Group

• Black Eyed Peas
• Coldplay
• Jonas Brothers
• Linkin Park

Favorite Male Singer

• Jay-Z
• Sean Kingston
• Mario
• Ne-Yo

Favorite Female Singer

• Beyonce
• Miley Cyrus
• Lady Gaga
• Taylor Swift

I’m not sure if this is due to padding the nominees or lack of appropriate artists, but the lists almost all seem to have only 1 or 2 artists that could even be considered acceptable as a winner. Many of the nominated artists have lyrics that either play with sexual innuendo or mention the aspects of drinking and partying. Here are a few examples:

• Mario, song: Apple Bottom Jeans
  “The way you move in them Apple Bottoms…Every thug in the club wan’ holla…”
• Black Eyed Peas, song: Ring-a-ling
  “hello hello hello hello hello…then the girls want ding a ling a ling ling….ding a ling a ling ling, ding a ling a ling ling”
• Jay-Z, song: Venus vs. Mars
  “Shawty get it in…Daddy go hard…Shawty get it in…Venus Versus Mars”
• Lady Gaga, song: Love Game
  “Let’s have some fun…This beat is sick…I wanna take a ride on your disco stick”
• Linkin Park, song: Bleed It Out
  “Hand grenade pins in every line…throw ‘em up and let something shine…Going out of my fucking mind”

While the true meaning of the lyrics will be lost on young children, many parents still snicker at the innuendos. Before I’m called a prude or uptight, I will say that many children listen to music with adult themes and are ignorant of the meaning of the lyrics. Today “clean” versions of a song are often played on the radio, eliminating offensive words. Nickelodeon is pushing the boundaries of their demographic by nominating artists and films that skew a bit too old.

In order to see if I was a total stick in the mud, I glanced at the ratings of several nominees on Common Sense Media, a child advocacy group that rates media. Most of the artists were suggest for ages 15, 16, or 17 and up, based on the content. While the ratings are subjective, the site explains the reasoning with each rating. Common Sense Media does not campaign the media to change, but rather inform parents to become smart consumers. This does not stop groups from trying. Nickelodeon has become a bit spry and indignant in it’s old age. Last year, when singer Chris Brown’s brought up on felony charges of physically abusing his then girlfriend, Rihanna, parents started a petition to have him removed completely from the program. Nickelodeon stood by him and refused to de-list Brown as a nominee for favorite male singer or favorite song.

Although I doubt the network actually supports of the theses artists or their messages for kids, they do love advertising. The Kids’ Choice Awards is a huge ratings boost to a network where the core audience goes to bed by 8 PM. Being loyal to the obscene is par the course in television. In the end it’s up the parents and their willingness to battle the relentless pleas to tune into Justin Bieber. If you were (or are) a parent, would you let your children watch?

Photo Credit: Nickelodeon

Discovery Channel makes ‘Life’

Fans of nature films from PBS to National Geographic have some prime time viewing this weekend with the upcoming natural history series, Life. This BBC and Discovery Channel co-production was over 4 years in the making. It comes from the same people that created the massively successful Planet Earth series in 2007. The 11-part series will explore the adaptability and diversity of life on earth. From the bizarre to the fascinating, cameras go inside the animal kingdom like never before.

“Life embodies Discovery’s 25-year mission to satisfy viewers’ curiosity about the world and its inhabitants. We want to give as many viewers as possible the opportunity to experience LIFE in its premiere telecast; we are confident they will be astounded,” said Clark Bunting, president and general manager, Discovery Channel and president, Science Channel. read more

Zombies, Demons, & Ugly Americans

Comedy Central is showing off the ugly side of America with their new series, Ugly Americans. The series comes from the mind of illustrator Devin Clark. It is about an alternate New York in which Mark Lilly (voiced by Matt Oberg) a human social worker, helps ordinary people as well as creatures from horror, fantasy, and sci-fi films, adapt to life in New York City.

In addition to Mark Lilly, the “Ugly Americans” cast features Randall Skeffington, Mark’s zombie roommate (voiced by Kurt Metzger), Callie Maggotbone, Mark’s demon boss and office fling (voiced by Natasha Leggero), Leonard Powers, an aging drunken wizard (voiced by Randy Pearlstein), Twayne, a terrorizing demonic bureaucrat (voiced by Michael-Leon Wooley) and Lt. Grimes (voiced by Larry Murphy), a law-enforcement officer who despises non-humans. Additional characters are voiced by Mike Britt, Devin Clark, Pete Holmes and Julie Klausner.

The series was developed and executive produced by David M. Stern, former writer of The Simpsons, The Wonder Years, and Monk. In an interview with TV.com, Stern discusses how he landed the gig as a head writer and his embarrassing stint as a production assistant on Mystic Pizza. The series is animated by Augenblick Studios, the same company that brought Superjail! to Adult Swim and animated segments to Nickelodeon’s Yo Gabba Gabba.

Ugly Americans will premiere tonight on Comedy Central at 10:30pm e/9:30 pm c, right after the premiere of South Park‘s 14th season. Watch a clip from the show by clicking below.

You can watch more clips and previews of Ugly Americans on the official website.

Photos: Comedy Central

Marvel at The Magic Kingdom

On Monday, August 31, 2009, the worlds of the Marvel Universe and the Magic Kingdom collided as The Walt Disney Company announced plans to buy Marvel Entertainment for slightly over $4 billion. Almost immediately, the Disneyana types were excited and the Marvel Zombies were mortified.

Will Mickey Mouse become the newest member of the X-Men? Will Wolverine become a star on Disney on Ice? Will Hannah Montana dress up like Dazzler on an episode of her series? Will they pit Marvel’s Hercules versus Disney’s Hercules? Will Pinocchio be accused of being a mutant? Will The Incredibles fight against and later with the Fantastic Four? Actually, I’d like that one to come true to tell you the truth.

Most critics of the acquisition fail to realize that the same studio that gave us Hannah Montana, Winnie the Pooh, Cars, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and G-Force also gave us Gargoyles, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Lost, Scream, Kill Bill, Trainspotting, and Clerks. Needless to say, the initial reaction has cooled down compared to what happened upon the announcement. Now, a little clarity is in order. read more

20 Funny Minutes of C-SPAN

Last Friday comedian Wanda Sykes entertained at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This is by far the funniest thing I’ve seen on C-SPAN in years. She poked fun at President Obama and the first lady. The result is something more similar to a Comedy Central Roast than a presidential event. Even if you’re not a fan of Wanda, she pretty much lampoons the president over many of the recent fluff stories and rumors (Michelle’s sleeveless dresses, Obama giving the Queen an iPod, always being photographed shirtless).

Some of you may remember Steven Colbert’s roast for President Bush in 2006, which was a bit more surreal than funny. Its nice to know that this administration has a sense of humor too. read more

Burger King uses sex to sell my daughter a kid’s meal

“Booty is booty,” said Sir Mix-a-Lot, insinuating that he doesn’t care the shape of his “baby’s back.” However his newest preference seems to be for the square, spongy, yellow variety. At least that’s what the “Burger King” would have us believe with the new Burger King kid’s meal commercials featuring the old-school rapper doing a modified rendition of his hit “Baby Got Back.”

It’s like MTV run amuck with girls waving around their enormous square butts to the beat of “I like square butts.” It looks like the same thing you’d see on any rap video sans handguns and 40’s. I’m going to go with–entirely inappropriate and a little freaky. Watch the offending ad below… read more

Ashton & Oprah Team Up to Kill Twitter

As if you didn’t have reason enough to hate him, Ashton Kutcher has ruined everyone’s favorite micro-blog site, Twitter. In an effort to make a charitable donation seem more exciting and to generate some self-publicity, actor Ashton Kutcher waged a bet against cable news channel CNN. The first to have 1 million followers by the end of the competition would win. Kutcher agreed to donate funds for 10,000 mosquito nets to charity for World Malaria Day if he won, and 1,000 if he lost.

In true Hollywood douche fashion, Kutcher tried to spin the competition after he had won it. He claimed the victory to be a sign of individual/web user empowerment over corporations. As Ad Age so eloquently points out, Kutcher doesn’t address the fact that CNN aired his web clips as part of their broadcast or that his entire career was created and fostered by the big media conglomerates he claims to have overcome. It’s easy to bite the hand that feeds when someone is already full. read more

Canned: A Quick Guide for This Year’s Canceled Television

Remember when Fox canceled “Arrested Development” and fans collectively exploded, flooding the internet with petitions to keep the Bluth family on the air in the process? Well, nothing like that is going to happen this year. I’ve always enjoyed when networks take out shows that aren’t pulling their weight. It’s the television equivalent of a dangerous crash diet. Several shows are getting the cut this year, most of which hardly merit mentioning (“Life on Mars,” “Trust Me”) but there are a couple shows facing their doom this year that stand out:

Guiding Light
Some people complain that “The Simpsons” has been on television for too long, but the 15,638 episodes of CBS’s “Guiding Light” makes the “The Simpsons” 437 episode run feel paltry. Earlier this month, CBS announced their intentions of canceling the longest running television drama in history, citing the show’s other accolade of being the lowest rated soap opera on any network for the last twelve years as their reason for dropping the ax. Those eager to find out if Mallet and Marina will be able to adopt their Bosnian baby after being put on a no-adoption list because of their former mob ties shouldn’t fret too much, the show will live on streamed on YouTube. Which is just sort of pathetic, really.

Mind of Mencia
A show so bad that it took Comedy Central four seasons to remember to cancel it. Despite drawing in high ratings for the network, Mencia’s show seemed universally reviled. The comedian drew a number of accusations of joke plagiarism during the show’s run, and even Maxim magazine, of all publications, ranked him as one of the worst comedians ever to pick up a microphone. The world is a better place. read more