With its television debut now scheduled, what was once a series of three-minute webisodes – available only online – will soon become a full season of 13, 30-minute television episodes, airing exclusively on Food Network Canada.
Food Network Canada’s brand new Canadian series, Bitchin’ Kitchen explores delicious recipes for life and love with a twisted sense of humour and a rock ‘n’ roll edge. Previously an acclaimed web series, Bitchin’ Kitchen has received awards for ‘Favourite Mobile Series’ and ‘Hottest Emerging Digital Brand in Canada’.
“This is new territory for us – it’s the first time Food Network Canada has invested in a web series; we loved what we saw online and were excited for the opportunity to translate that to a television series,” said Leslie Merklinger, Director of Original Production, Food Network Canada.
“It is an experiment,” she told Mediacaster Magazine. “A bit of a risk, yes. Can we appeal to and draw in a different audience to the Food Network? We are eager to find out.”
There’s a reason the show is on at 11 pm, she added. It is definitely not to everyone’s taste.
Show host Nadia G cooks in three-inch cherry stilettos, she has a tea towel made of chain mail and her kitchen is decked out in leather and animal print.
In each episode she shares accessible, inspiring recipes to suit life situations from breaking up to making up, all peppered with her signature ‘Nadvice’.
“Ever since I created the Bitchin’ Kitchen web series three years ago, I dreamed of seeing it on Food Network,” she said. “I can’t wait to rock the kitchen with our bitchin’ blend of great Casalinga food, comedy and a sassy attitude that makes cooking fun.”
It’s that irreverent online approach that made the show a Net sensation, and that created a significant fan base and following online, something the Food Network hopes to tap into.
“We have doubled the size of our audience (at the Food Network) in past three years,” Merkinger described, “but we’re always looking for new ideas, and new ways that we can attract new audiences.”
The show is edgy, but is has solid instructional content and it does present new recipes with credibility and insight. Merklinger says the show has some fun with the standard cooking show formula, and acts as a bit of a send up of other shows as well as of itself.
“This is not change in the direction of the channel,” she carefully notes, “but it is a new approach to the established cooking show genre.”
Building on its web heritage, the premiere episode of Bitchin’ Kitchen will encourage viewer participation through live blogging during the show, the use of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, as well as by posting recipes and backstage photos online after the show airs. Full episodes will be available online as well.
The series was produced specifically for Food Network Canada, translated and expanded from the online series for a completely unique TV run.
As Merklinger added, “The lines are blurring among the different platforms. We really do consume content and get inspiration from all the different media devices out there. So I search for talent and concepts everywhere; I look at possible content for our channel anywhere it exists, no matter what the platform. It is not an ‘us-versus-them’ scenario anymore.”
Nevertheless, she said this marks the first time she has moved an online property to the specialty channel. “It doesn’t happen often,” she acknowledged. “So I think it is a great Canadian story.”
Even though the article claims the series in a “Net sensation”, I had never come across it before. It reminds of me of the old TBS series Dinner & a Movie but a little bit quirkier. Check out this episode:
