Looks like the Food Network people are spinning off a new channel. The NY Times article about it is here.
This article does not give me much confidence that the "Cooking Channel" will be all that different from the current FN. There's more Emeril, more Rachael, more (God help us) Bobby Flay. There's a show centered around people who build "taco vending machines and other weird contraptions". There's more of the people-running-around-the-country-eating-at-strange-restaurants stuff. (So what happens when these shows have finally hit every restaurant in the country?) Supposedly, the big difference with the new network is that they're going for a hipper, grittier style. Great. Hipper, grittier versions of Giada and Paula Deen are not anything I'm much interested in watching. They do list a couple of shows that might be interesting, assuming people actually cook on them. Laura Calder's cookbooks are pretty good, so I'd give her show a try. Darryl Robinson's cocktail show might be fun. Any show that has people slaughtering chickens on it is promising.
Overall, though, it's run by the same execs who have made the FN what it is today. That's a pretty damning indictment and reason enough to stay away.
