2 Gourmet shows survive their parent magazine
The new series Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth from WGBH will premiere this month despite the demise of its namesake publication, Gourmet magazine, where host Ruth Reichl was editor-in-chief.
Production is going ahead for a second season of Adventures with Ruth, as well as the fourth season of another WGBH project with the same magazine, Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, said Lucy Sholley, WGBH spokesperson.
Publisher Condé Nast announced last week that the 68-year-old culinary lifestyle magazine will end production with the current issue. Gourmet is a “promotional and editorial partner” with WGBH and Zero Point Zero Productions for Adventures with Ruth as well as Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, said Sholley.
Diary is carried in all 25 largest markets and by stations reaching 92 percent of TV households. Adventures’ carriage in six of the top 10 markets was confirmed, Sholley said, but national carriage numbers aren’t known yet. American Public Television begins distributing Adventures Oct. 17.
How much Gourmet contributed financially to Adventures with Ruth is “proprietary information,” Sholley said. An ad for the new series appeared in at least one recent Condé Nast magazine. American Airlines is the show’s sole corporate sponsor, according to Jennifer Petrisko, Gourmet spokesperson.
Jamie Haines of APT said Foodies has “not only been a great success on public television stations but has been a terrific addition to the Create channel lineup.”
WGBH did not receive advance notice of Gourmet’sexpiration, Sholley said.
Web page posted Oct. 13, 2009
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