Summer TV Gets Cooking

Summer TV Gets Cooking: "Here we are in June, with our favorite network series fading into memory as we stare down a summer largely full of reruns and bottom-of-the-barrel reality television. But it doesn’t have to be that way for TV cooking fans: Here’s a list of food-related shows set to premiere this summer that will keep your squawk box simmering through till September.

June Appetizers

Next Food Network Star: The competition is already under way, and at least one competitor has already slunk away in defeat. Will this year’s winner of Food Network’s popular show go on to rival Guy Fieri in popularity, or will we end up with another Amy Finley or Dan and Steve? Or will a runner-up again steal the spotlight, like Adam Gertler? Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern on Food Network, premiered June 7."

(Via Well Fed Network.)

Incidentally, Food Network doesn't make it simple to discover what's new on their web site. I was going back and forth from a press release to each individual show's web page to determine premiere dates, and I only got Chopped included because I happened to be watching Food Network at the time and saw a promo for the season premiere.

What will I be watching this summer? We don't get IFC, so Food Party isn't going to happen for me. I could watch online, but having come of age in the slow Internet era, I still am prejudiced against Internet video. Truth be told, even with our fast cable connection, it still refuses to start or buffers and skips all lot half the time. I prefer the retro simplicity of the real TV.

I'm looking forward to more episodes of 5 Ingredient Fix. I continue to look out for occasional new episodes of Good Eats (Did you see the parsnips one this week? Now I want to try parsnips.) and America's Test Kitchen.

I'll definitely tune in to see What Would Brian Boitano Make? at least once, if only for the funny title and for curiosity over a figure skater trying to morph into a TV chef. Still, the quirky sense of humor evident in that title is making me think this one will be a Canadian rather than American hit, like The Surreal Gourmet. Too bad if that's the case.