Next Food Network Star Winner 2

By JULIETTE ROSSANT [For the winner of The Next Food Network Star, Season 3, CLICK HERE.] By now, you should have heard that Guy Fieri is the second winner of The Next Food Network Star: congratulations, Guy! (Watch the winning moment online in video in WMV format.) The bigger winner overall was the ratings the show won for the Food Network last night. In comparison to NBC's heavily promoted and early canceled Celebrity Cooking Showdown (see previous article), the Food Network's second season of The Next Food Network Star delivered as promised -- and then more. For one thing, TVFN had found contestants who were even more photogenic yet homey than before. Let's look at the first runner-up, the stand-out Reggie Southerland (see video of audition -- and check Reggie on video as well). Reggie is a marvel of straightforward, metrosexual sophistication and down-home Carolina banter. Compare Reggie's hulk and simple clothing to the brainlessness of the celebrity contestants on Celebrity Cooking Showdown and a clear pattern emerges: content wins out over form. The Superchefblog acid test? Look away from your set, as if you had lost video, and just listen. Celebrity Cooking Showdown's soundtrack consisted primarily of the chanting of ridiculously enthusiastic audience members, interspersed with an explanation of overly complex rules by host Alan Thicke and then troughs instead of climaxes when judges made banal pronouncements. The Next Food Network Star, in contrast, was "quiet," focused, and clear. The Food Network seems so clear about this show that they add only one celebrity chef's presence to help audience attendance, namely Bobby Flay. In fact, it's rather refreshing to see TVFN folk come out from behind the scenes and openly take part in one of their own shows, like fellow judges Susie Fogelson and Bob Tuschman If web traffic is anything to go by, last night's final episode of The Next Food Network Star must have grabbed all the viewers who turned off Celebrity Cooking Showdown -- and then some. Nothing like a simple, straightford story. Don't take it from Superchefblog: take it from the wise little pig who starred in the surprise movie hit Babe several years ago: Baa-ram-ewe, baa-ram-ewe. To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true. Sheep be true . Baa-ram-ewe. That's why shows like Cooking Under Fire get doused (see previous article): that show was not true to its channel, PBS -- home of Julia Child & Co. A channel like NBC is much truer to itself when its adds a super chef like Wolfgang Puck to an existing show like Las Vegas (see previous article). Wolf was warmly received (see show bio) and both he and the restaurant fit both the actual city (in real life) and the atmosphere of the show. Wolf is not stellar on the show. He's not the center of attention. He's simply there, a presence -- and his presence works. The Next Food Network Star provides two more interesting findings. First is that channel founder Reese Schonfeld (see previous article) really did dream up a winner concept for the Food Network when he started it in 1992. Second is that he really found the basic winning approach to a niche cable TV channel. He turned TVFN's talent hunt into its first show of that kind, Chef du Jour (see Super Chef, pp. 154-155), where TVFN discovered Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (see Super Chef, pp. 131-174), airing them as "The Too Hot Tamales." Such methods landed TVFN most of its stars, from Emeril Lagasse and Sara Moulton onwards. The Next Food Network Star has refined Reese's earlier recipes, bringing out the essence by reducing the sauce and stregthening the flavor, as it were. Stay true, Food Network. Video: Winner announced (WMV format) Guy Fieri audition (WMV format) Reggie Southerland audition (WMV format) Previous articles: Celebrity Cooking Showdown: Shown Off Celebrity Cooking Showdown: Low-Brow Wolfgang Puck on 'Las Vegas' Cooking Under Fire: Doused Winner of Next Food Network Star Next Food Network Star's Multimedia Blitz Todd English: American Chef Gone Wild Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog