TV food expert Alton Brown getting new show Atlanta Journal Constitution, USA - 4 hours ago
For the intro of Episode 184 of his hit Food Network show "Good Eats," Alton Brown last month asked his prop crew to show off knives in a fun way.
For liability reasons (and the lack of a big special effects budget), he couldn't have knives flying around his 15,000-square-foot Atlanta production studio. So they hooked an 8-foot-long magnetic knife holder to a camera dolly, stuck 20 knives on it and had it rise before him as if it were a body's soul floating from the grave. Brown watched the installation, bemused.
Joey Ivansco/AJC
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During a 'Good Eats' episode on knives, host Alton Brown explains which cutting boards are evil. He's also the director, and writes many of his own scripts. In addition, he's color commentator on 'Iron Chef America' and will host 'The Next Iron Chef,' which debuts next month.
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"This," he observed, "looks like a bad execution device from a Kafka novel."
Fortunately, Brown's career path has been far from Kafkaesque. Rather, the Marietta culinary expert with the thinning, unkempt
hair and mischievous smirk has become Food Network's go-to guy. He's on three shows, with a fourth on the way.
And just look at the numbers: During the week of Aug. 20, Brown was on the network a whopping 23.5 hours, luring 19.3 million viewers. In comparison, Rachael Ray was on air 10.5 hours; Savannah's Paula Deen, 10 hours; and Emeril Lagasse, a mere eight.
In fact, the network recently rewarded Brown's signature show "Good Eats" with the coveted 8 p.m. prime-time slot on weekdays, bumping off "Emeril Live."
"We want to expose a new group of viewers to 'Good Eats,' " said Bob Tuschman, senior vice president of programming for Food Network. "People watch particular networks at different times."