The Emeril Lagasse Show: Emeril's New Variety Show

The Emeril Lagasse Show (website) debuts at 8pm Sunday night on Ion — sort of the chef’s stab at an old-school variety show. A handful of critics got test screeners, and report that while there is still a bit of cooking involved (like pierogies with friend/media overlord Martha Stewart), the show mostly features Emeril awkwardly bluffing his way through celebrity interviews, wine segments, and The Price is Right-ish contests.

From the New York Daily News:

Audience members join the fun with the "Big Bam Box" contest, where three of them compete for the unseen contents of the box. Each contestant gets three gadgets and three pieces of familiar food and must figure out which gadget does what to which food.

The prize for winning the challenge is a set of Martha Stewart flatware, and the critic describes the bit as "messy and not that much fun, which can also be said for Emeril's valiant effort to provide running narration." Future episodes of the show will feature Emeril and Sherri Shepherd applying edible spa treatments to a lucky audience member, and Sammy Hagar judging a tortilla-eating contest. Today Grub Street asked Emeril about why his relationship with the Food Network ended:

Production from where we started to where we ended got very expensive. They had certainly enough shows in the can to do what they needed to do, and they sort of stopped production. Certainly in television, nothing lasts forever.

Luckily for Emeril, his show is one of the only original programs on Ion, which is also home to reruns of M*A*S*H and Family Feud.

· Emeril Lagasse's New Variety Show on Ion Leaves Aftertaste [NYDN]
· The Emeril Lagasse Show,' Mostly Gas [Media Life Magazine]
· Emeril Lagasse Brings ‘Bam’ Back to TV [Grub Street]
· Emeril Confirms New Talk Show on Ion Network [-ENA-]