Cooking Channel and Food Network have baked their 2012 programming slates, which combine for 22 new series and 35 returning shows across both networks, headlined by projects with Bobby Flay, Margaret Cho, Mo Rocca and Sandra Lee.
Food Network has 11 new primetimes series and four new daytime series on tap for 2012. The primetime series include Meat Men, about a famous New York butcher and meat purveyor business; Cupcake Champions, which pits 16 past Cupcake Wars winners against each other in a title tournament; Invention Hunters, which searches for the next great kitchen invention; Mystery Diners, about undercover operatives who place hidden cameras check in on food service employees; and The New Anne Burrell Project, a competition series about interviewing to be an executive chef.
Also on tap at Food Network are Bobby Flay's Opening Night, where the acclaimed chef/owner offers expertise to first-time restaurateurs before their openings; Chopped: Grill Masters, where 16 grilling professionals face off in a five-part tournament in the Arizona desert; $24 in 24 Hours, showing viewers how to experience great food at a great price; Undercover Critics, where three Food Network personalities go undercover as restaurant critics with hidden cameras; Sugar Dome, where each week three teams of three artists compete to create food art; and Blind Dinner Party, hosted by comedian Margaret Cho about seven strangers coming together for a meal.
Cooking Channel will premiere seven new primetime series in 2012: Roadtrip with G. Garvin, exploring the best eats of the South; The Culinary Adventures of Baron Ambrosia, looking for culinary excellence in less-traveled American cities; Eden Eats, where each episode Eden Grinshpan takes only 24 hours to uncover the global culinary scene in a new American city; Cheap Bites, a road trip to find the country's best food deals; Eat the Street, a tour of America's great food streets; Man, Fire, Food, featuring cooks who take fire and food to make delicious cuisine; and My Grandmother's Ravioli, following Mo Rocca as he learns to cook from American grandparents.
Food Network's new daytime series are Sunny Travels, with Sunny Anderson traveling the country for the best home-cooked recipes; a new project from Sandra Lee offering her cooking and entertaining tips; Home for Dinner with Jamie Deen, where Paula Deen's grandson cooks family dinners; and the previously announced Trisha's Southern Kitchen.
Food Network will have new seasons of primetime series Chopped All-Stars, Food Network Star, Extreme Chef, The Great Food Truck Race, Halloween Wars and The Next Iron Chef: Redemption. Daytime series The Best Thing I Ever Made and The Pioneer Woman will also return.
Returning primetime series on Cooking Channel menu: Easy Chinese, Not My Mama's Meals, Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen, Symon's Suppers, Unique Sweets and Extra Virgin. Renewed daytime series are The Perfect Three, Kelsey's Essentials and Drop 5lbs With Good Housekeeping.
