Emeril Lagasse's new talk show: A good idea...ten years ago!

It’s a bit ironic that amidst all the late-night wars that a new show gets the green light. Announced today, Emeril Lagasse will be hosting his own live talk show on ION (Sundays, 8 p.m.) when he’ll do the couch thing (schmooze with celebrities) and the cooking thing (BAM!). For a chef who enjoyed his heyday in the ’00s, doesn’t this all seem kind of late?

It’s been nearly 10 years since America was captivated by the ragin’ Cajun and his signature phrases, like “Kick it up a notch.” In fact, the Food Network canceled Emeril Live in 2007, and let’s not forget the self-titled NBC sitcom he starred in with Robert Urich that was widely panned and canceled after just a few episodes. (Padma Lakshmi, you’ve been warned!)

Lagasse may still be around—he hosts Essence of Emeril on the Food Network and his own call-in radio show on SIRIUS XM—but he feels almost retro at this point. (God, I feel old.) Looking at TV’s culinary landscape now, the chefs on everyone’s plates right now are more in the vein of Gordon Ramsey, Tom Colicchio and even Martha Stewart. (Martha will always be tops.)

Even Rachael Ray seems a bit dated these days as she roasts chicken with Penn Badgley or makes meatballs with the cast of The Jersey Shore. (OK, that, we’d watch.) Either way, both Lagasse and Ray seem part of a different (a.k.a. older) generation of TV chefs/personalities and watching them do the talk show thing feels like a big old snooze to me.

What do you think of Lagasse’s new talk show? Would you watch it?

Photo: Virginia Sherwood/Bravo