Word: emeril
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Emeril Lagasse's upcoming sitcom is about...
...what about those new comedies? The highest-profile so far is "Emeril," from the makers of "Designing Women," which casts cable-star chef Emeril Lagasse as, yes, a cable-star chef. Now, it's patently unfair to pass judgment on a new series after a couple minutes of selected clips. Having said that, if the full pilot of "Emeril" proves to be funny, I will eat my own foot in a port-wine reduction sauce. Forget Lagasse's apparent stiffness delivering lines in the few scenes we saw. Forget his almost pitiable, parody-of-himself speech to the advertiser crowd...
...risible thing is, NBC seems to want to see "Emeril" as an example of the new regime's thinking outside the box. "We're going to bring shows into prime time that are not normally there," Zucker said. "We're going to bring people that are not normally there." In other words, "Emeril" is the big-league network staying fresh by borrowing something hip from cable. No. "Emeril" is the network borrowing something it thinks is hip from cable; in the real world, Lagasse's moment of edgy cult stardom peaked several years ago, around the time...
...thing is, NBC even seems to know the show is trouble. Word has already leaked that it will be "retooled" over the summer. At one point in his remarks, Zucker even promised advertisers that NBC's other two new sitcoms were "the real deal," pointedly leaving out only "Emeril." So why was it on the schedule at all? Search me, but Zucker reminded advertisers that Lagasse is "one of the most popular personalities from everyday life" and noted that the show tested extremely well among focus groups - the NBC press release actually said Lagasse's appeal is "proven by research...
...ready to be thrown in as soon as those series fail. Meanwhile, the first murmurs we're hearing about network schedules have sitcom and drama vehicles in the works for Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen DeGeneres, Jason Alexander and on NBC - and I only wish I were kidding - Food Network chef Emeril Lagasse. (Note to NBC personnel: first person to say "Bam!" within an arm's length of me gets a Scripto up their nostril...