Shooting Stars With Bob Tuschman

It was a week of surprises and turnarounds. Jamika and Jeffrey tumble. Debbie gets whacked. Cameras scare Michael. Katie shows some spunk. Melissa shines through. Here’s where my mind is at after this week:

Melissa: Momma Mia! What a week – in both food and camera. In Bobby’s Burger Challenge, Chef Flay was torn between putting her burger and Michael’s on his menu. On the Intrepid Challenge, her Skirt Steak Tostada was my favorite and the crowd’s: richly flavored, tender steak with an expertly sweet/hot/ smoky mango salsa. Impressive. Equally, she finally found the right energy for TV: genuine, bright, and warm. The soldiers loved her. I’m hoping all that mommy mayhem stuff is a thing of the past.

Michael: Cameras and Crowds. They’re different. The crowds love Michael – the soldiers were tickled by his bold, funny personality. The camera – not so much. If he can’t make friends with the lens, this ain’t gonna work. No such issues with food. His culinary talent shines brightly. Bobby, Susie and I have loved feasting on his skillful and creative Asian-influenced dishes. But that makes a restaurant star, not a television star. If he can master the camera, he’s got the personality and the food chops to have a shot.

Jeffrey: The runner stumbles. No doubt Jeffrey is one of the strongest cooks in the crew. Mostly, his dishes have been beautifully executed. In presentations, he’s been Prince Charming. And yet, his Lobster Pot Pie with Blueberry Infusion is among the worst dishes I’ve eaten. The soldiers take on Jeffrey? “Bland.” Just an off week? No one can describe food poetically like Jeffrey. But no one is having a harder time sharing anything personal about himself, his life, his world. Plus there’s a predictable evenness I want him to break out of. It’s what will determine if he’s an outstanding cooking teacher or a true Food Network star.

Jamika: Breakin’ My Heart. So far, she’s been a standout in my book for her effervescence, sweet strength and cooking skills. But this week, her culinary savvy was nowhere in sight. Unimpressive burger. Inedibly gluey potatoes. It’s like some of the magic dust that coated both her and Jeffrey wore off this week. Still, her presentation on the Intrepid was funny, sassy and memorable. And she glows on camera. So I’m hoping it was just a bad week.

Katie: Signs of life. The soldiers enjoyed her personality – they found her “cute” “relatable” and “down-to-earth.” She’s been struggling to find her food voice and to translate her spunky personality to the screen. Best week so far for the latter. But once again, meat and heat are doing her in (more raw food). Her almond cornmeal catfish finally showed off some cooking skills. I feel for this lovely young pro. So I’m really hoping she can get it together, really fast.

Debbie: Rough Week. We covered her swollen purple bruise with makeup, and I wish you could have seen it. Painful just to look at, so I give her points for soldiering on (no pun intended). Still, her chicken dish was mediocre at best. Covered in long chives, it looked like she had just mown the grass. But her warmth and humor came through to the crowd. OK, the pity party is over. I hope she can quickly get past this incident and regain her footing.

That’s the view from where I sit. Why do I know you’re not going to be shy about disagreeing with me?

I was overruled this week by Bobby and Susie. Hate that. As you saw, my vote was for Teddy to go. My reasons were many, and I’m suspecting a lot of you would have voted my way.

Most importantly, I was appalled by, and could barely follow, Teddy’s soviet style re-writing of history. The events of the day were pretty well documented (that whole camera-rolling thing). Debbie made the pasta. He made the dessert. They both made the meatloaf. Not complicated. But once it was clear the dessert was despised and the meatloaf was marvelous, Teddy claimed the meatloaf as all his own and renounced the dessert as Debbie’s.

I know the man has serious cooking chops. But this dessert was junior high school lunch line. Did no one remember the angel food cake debacle from episode one?

As for his on-camera work, he is still struggling to find a natural, relaxed, appealing persona. Too much forced salesmanship. Who is he really when he’s not performing? No clue. I always liked his boyish enthusiasm, but he better figure out a way to get that on camera stat.

As for Eddie, he is still a ramblin’ man. He gets lost in non-stop thickets of words. And I think his cribbing Paula Deen’s recipes showed he just does not have enough culinary experience yet. He’s a smart guy with true food passion. But I feel like he’s learning on our dime – and we’re in a recession. His dismissive treatment of Melissa was not impressive (and by the way, Melissa out-cooked both Eddie and the last guy to try to throw her under the bus, Brett).

So, while they each had good reasons to go, Teddy was still my choice this week. Unfortunately, I think Eddie’s time was up, too, and refused to fall on the sword to save him. If not this week, he would’ve been the next to go in my book.

Since Bobby and Susie saved Teddy, I’m wondering if he can turn it around. He’s got the cooking skills. He’s got charm that hasn’t made it to the screen yet. But he’s got some major repair work to do to stay in the game. Can he do that?

Ina: Just two words: Love her. Funny, warm, gracious – she’s the real deal. After working with her for almost 8 years, I still get excited spending the day with her. Having a long, lazy lunch at Ina’s home – including cocktails in the gazebo – is one of the all time great foodie experiences. It’s like: “OMG, I’m in an episode of Barefoot Contessa!” I’m thrilled she wanted to be on the show this year.

I really enjoyed reading all your posts this week – very thoughtful. Here’s what’s on my mind:

Debbie: Wow. I hadn’t expected the firestorm here. We all agree she made a big mistake by deliberately misrepresenting what happened. And she endangered her teammates by not buying every item they requested. No argument there. But I want to keep things in perspective. Her actions may have been self-serving and had negative repercussions, but she didn’t deliberately try to sabotage or undermine anyone. And everyone at the party agreed she was one of the warmest, funniest presenters, with a unique and compelling point of view, and the cooking skills to back it up. So, even with her missteps, I still don’t think she deserved to go home last week above Jen. Let’s just wait and see if she can redeem herself. As you saw, we put her on warning.

Brett: A lot of you felt his behavior toward the women came off as boorish and condescending. I understand that. And I didn’t like how he treated Melissa. Still, Brett is a sweeter guy than I think he came off here. The women finalists liked Brett and didn’t take offense at his nicknames. They just thought he was a character. Sometimes in searching for the strongest moments to put into the show, the softer, subtler ones are left on the cutting room floor. And there’s something about his big, brash, New Yawk persona that is fun to be around. And watch. For a while, anyway.

What really puzzled me about Brett was his total lack of creativity in both cooking challenges this week. It’s not that he lacks cooking expertise or technique at all. It’s that he totally AVOIDED both challenges and just cooked what he wanted. When we started, I thought he might be a dark horse in the race, but no such luck.

FN Stars: Some of you were upset by what you thought were unappealing comments on the part of some of our stars. We asked them to be honest, tough and precise in their feedback. This is a panel of experts who understands the demands of food celebrity and can articulate the hits and misses of the finalists as they tread this path. Still, I’m realizing it can be disconcerting to see a more serious, critical side of a star you’ve come to love. If so, this is our fault for putting them in this position, not theirs. They were just trying to be honest and say what they thought.

Keep those posts coming! I love hearing what’s on your mind.

The first episode is always the hardest elimination. Though we (judges) don’t have any attachments yet to any finalists, we also are just getting to know them. So figuring out who should stay and who should go is always a combination of intuition, a few pieces of evidence, and a lot of what you think their potential might be. Basically, you’re filling in a lot of blanks on your own.

But sometimes when I watch the final cut of the show as a viewer – out of the heat of battle, and fully edited with all the interviews and behind-the-scenes footage put in – I get a different point of view. In this episode, I’m not sure we sent the right person home.

The Food Network stars agreed that Jen had one of the worst dishes of the day. In both conception and execution, her green bean dish was below par. So I immediately questioned if she had the culinary expertise and technique to pull off her “Housewife 2.0″ conceit. But watching her interviews, I found her funny, bright and tart. Humor is a trump card – anyone who can make an audience laugh instantly hooks them. Jen is funny.

Eddie was the other candidate at the bottom of the pack. His BLAST bowl – inferior ingredients not elevated at all by cooking technique – was one of the other worst received dishes. When I was going through the buffet line I asked him about his culinary POV and got a torrent of words that made no sense. I asked him to say it in one line and he couldn’t. His presentation was earnest, no hint of humor or passion.

If I had it to do again, I probably would have voted to send Eddie home. But I’m hoping that it was just nerves that strangled Eddie into dullness. Otherwise, he’s got a killer combo of intelligence, looks, food passion and rebel personality that could pay off. With Jen on the other hand, I felt like she had already laid all her cards on the table. I liked her. I think both she and Eddie can probably cook better than either did on this one day. But I thought her point of view and culinary command would limit her greatly. Eddie just seemed to have many more possibilities.

Since we start the new season on Sunday night, I thought I’d take this chance to respond to some of the questions you’ve been asking me recently.

Why didn’t you pick _______ to win last year? Did the judges decide at the beginning who they wanted to win?
I’m always amused by this. First, Bobby, Susie and I rarely agree on anybody. You try getting Bobby Flay to say anything he doesn’t believe. Last year, we disagreed vehemently up until the final decision of the final episode. We each championed a different finalist. From what I could tell from the thousands of e-mails and postings, viewers seemed as equally split as we were between Aaron, Adam and Lisa. Everyone felt their favorite was the only reasonable choice. Ultimately, our final decision seemed the right one: Aaron’s show, Big Daddy’s House, has been one of our top weekend cooking shows since his debut last summer.

What can I look forward to this year?
You’ll see a lot more of our deliberations and our thinking process (and why I’m right and Bobby & Susie are wrong)! You’ll see top celebrity chefs – from our network and beyond. Even everyone’s favorite Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten, joins us for the first time this year. We’ll head down to Miami. You’ll see tougher challenges which really push the finalists to their limits. The most common thing I hear from our guest stars after tapings is “if I had to go through what they’re going through, I’d never have a show on Food Network.”

Whatever happened to (Season 3 Winner) Amy Finley?
After Amy won, her series The Gourmet Next Door quickly became one of the highest rated cooking series in our weekend cooking block. When I called Amy to tell her we were renewing her series, she informed me she did not want to do any more. She had moved with her family to France, and was very happy with her new life. I did what any good programming executive would do: pleaded, begged and whined. But to no avail.

How many people audition each year? How do I?
Between the tapes sent in, and the people who audition at our live casting calls around the country, we see several thousand people each year. FoodNetwork.com/Star is the best place to check in for info about auditioning – it’ll be updated as soon as we finalize our audition cities and locations.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Here are my notes from the final auditions for the remaining five finalists followed by my “Quick Take” on what I’ll be looking for when we start the show tapings.

Brett August, 32, an executive sous chef from New York, N.Y.
Good: Kramer (from Seinfeld), a character, funny, off-kilter, energetic, big personality
Bad: Not TV-ready, odd duck, what is his point-of-view?
Quick Take: He’s got an odd-Kramerish appeal, but there’s a sweetness underneath his brash New York exterior. Something about him gets everyone in the room laughing and talking. Will Brett be a breakout character on the show, or will people say “what were they thinking?”

Jamika Pesoa, 29, a personal chef from Atlanta, Ga.
Good: Strong, unflappable, gorgeous! Some cute stories. Best food.
Bad: Newscaster voice (not a compliment, I mean flat, nasal, fake), former marketing exec. and feels it, too controlled.
Quick Take: A lot of promise here. Probably the best dish we’ve had in three days. But can she lose the marketing speak (she’s done too many Power Point presentations) and lose her control to be an authentic personality?

Jeffrey Saad, 41, owner of real estate brokerage firm in Los Angeles, Calif.
Good: Handsome, charming, warm, dad, confident cook, very good food
Bad: Low energy, too relaxed, mild. Competitive enough for show?
Quick Take: Jeffrey charmed the room. He knows his stuff and can really cook. But is his easygoing west coast personality too mild to ever stir up a passionate following?

Katie Cavuto, 29, a chef/dietician from Philadelphia, Pa.
Good: Energetic, confident, fun, former gymnast, strong point-of-view, knowledgeable
Bad: Will “healthy” work? Her eyes pop (not a compliment) on camera. Too competitive?
Quick Take: Katie is likeable, warm, fun and has Rachael Ray-like energy. But can she tame her hyper-competitiveness and find a new and appealing way to sell ‘healthy’ to a wide viewership that may not want it?

Teddy Folkman, 32, a chef/restaurateur from Alexandria, Va.
Good: Excellent chef, (he beat Bobby Flay in the “Mussels” challenge on Throwdown with Bobby Flay), charming, smooth, dimpled smile
Bad: Memorable? Does he have a star personality? A chef without a distinctive point-of-view
Quick Take: I remember really liking Teddy when he was a guest on Throwdown. His cooking stood out during the auditions, and he definitely has a polished self-aware charm – which could be too self-conscious. Can this good looking chef quickly find a persona and point-of-view to propel him though the competition?

Next up: Final thoughts before we get up and running!

Question for you: You’ve now heard all of my first impressions. Check out all their bios and videos and tell me who you think is destined for stardom (and who’s not ready for primetime).

Friday, December 12, 2008

I’m sitting in the control room, around 2pm, watching Teddy Folkman, the last of our top 28 semi-finalists. Over the past three days, in order to test the culinary skills of our new crop, I’ve eaten the equivalent of 28 meals. And, I have still had a full dinner out every night. I have no idea why I don’t weigh 300 pounds!

As a way to introduce the top 10 finalists you will meet in the first episode (airing June 7 at 9pm/8c), I thought I’d share my actual notes from each audition (barely legible – I write like a second grader). After my notes, I’ve given you my “Quick Take” on each finalist as we head into the show tapings.

Debbie Lee, 39, a restaurant consultant from West Hollywood, Calif.
Good: Warm, bright, hearty laugh, fun Ina-voice
Bad: Culinary mis-statements, marketing speak
Food: Excellent! Curry pork with red wine, prosciutto cream sauce
Quick Take: She reminds me of Margaret Cho – funny, gutsy, warm. But she delivered some culinary information that was just wrong. Can she convince me she has the depth of culinary knowledge and technique to survive at the top of the food world?

Eddie Gilbert, 29, a sous-chef from Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Good: Smart, articulate, passionate about food, handsome, cocky
Bad: Cocky (it could go either way), a little hard, didn’t show a lot of humor
Quick Take: Eddie describes himself as a rebel, but he was also a successful executive in corporate America. He’s clearly a very smart guy and definitely loves food. But is his cocky surfer-dude personality for real – and will that be exciting or tiresome on television?

Jen Isham, 29, a sales manager from Orlando
Good: Sarcastic humor, bone dry, funny! Rosy cheeks (why’d I write that?), Housewife 2.0 (her joke)
Bad: Housewife 2.0 (good thing or bad thing?)
Food: Good, not great
Quick Take: Looks like Sandra Lee and shares a desire to help homemakers get food on the table. She calls herself “housewife 2.0.” Funny and dry. Cute. Can she convince me she has enough culinary expertise to speak to millions of viewers?

Melissa d’Arabian, 40, a stay-at-home mom from Keller, Texas
Good: Mom, funny, resourceful, laughs at self, Sara Moulton-like, solid home cooking, high energy
Bad: High energy (frantic?), too scattered, not sure she’s a culinary authority, is she cut out for this?
Quick Take: Melissa was immensely likeable and good humored about the challenges of raising four kids under the age of 3 (some twins). She worked as a live-in cook to put herself through grad school. Will this homemaker be out of her league?

Michael Proietti, 27, an executive chef from the Bronx, N.Y.
Good: Memorable, bright, funny, unpredictable, confident, excellent food
Bad: Scattered, tough, bitchy, too over the top
Quick Take: After the final auditions, Michael just missed making the top 10. But a few days before we started taping, one of our finalists dropped out. We put Michael in, and I’m glad we did. He’s quick witted, funny, daring, and is an unapologetic “big” character. I wonder if his “I’m so outrageous” act will get old, and if he’ll be able to find depth underneath it to avoid becoming a cliché?

Next up: I handicap the remaining five finalists.

Your assignment: Check out all the finalists’ videos and bios, and let me know who you think looks like a contender here! 

Thursday, December 11, 2008

It’s only 10:30am and I am already finishing off my sixth plate of pancetta-wrapped pork of the day. This is my 19th piggy (in every way) meal in just two days. I smell like I’m wearing Oscar Mayer cologne.

We’ve flown in our top 28 semi-finalists from around the country for three days of culinary tests, interviews and auditions inside our New York headquarters. Out of these 28, we’ll choose our ten finalists. Taping begins in just one month, on January 16.

Among other tests, each finalist must improvise a dish made from pork loin, pancetta, spinach and figs in just 30 minutes, all the while being sprayed with questions from our casting director and her evil minions.

Unbeknownst to them, I’m watching the camera feed from up in the control room with a team of other Food Network execs and producers. Every 30 minutes our culinary producer hauls up the next finalist’s dish for us to sample and discuss. Despite the fact that, after three days of this, I’m burstingly full, and pork-sated for life, I finish every bite of every dish.

I find it hard to take those little dainty “TV” bites. I can’t turn down good cooking, and this is a bumper crop of culinary experts. Well, most of them.

The last contestant we interview – a handsome young man from South Carolina who calls himself a caterer – looks intriguing. He’s funny, warm, and charismatic, and instantly has the control room crowd smiling. Everything we look for in a Food Network star. Except for one thing: his dish is a disaster! No technique. No texture. No flavor. No thank you. His dish is my swine-y swan song. Suddenly I’m full.

This is the true challenge of finding talent for Food Network. It’s exceedingly rare you find someone who’s a culinary expert, a great teacher and has a star persona all in the same body. The Rachael’s, the Bobby’s, the Paula’s, the Giada’s – are truly one in a million. But we’ve already found Guy Fieri and Aaron McCargo, Jr. (both are now among the top rated talent on our network), and we’re determined to find another.

Next up: I handicap the top 10 finalists.

Question for you: What would be your #1 criterion in choosing our next Food star?