Host uses Facebook Live to discuss with fans his plans for internet show: ‘I want freedom to do what I want and say what I want’

The cult favorite cooking show Good Eats is coming back. Well, basically.

A few weeks ago, the Food Network host Alton Brown teased a new “internet venture” of his. “I call it a cooking show,” he announced in a video on Instagram, and he’ll be taking time off from his current gig as host of the network’s Cutthroat Kitchen.

The video was filmed from inside a microwave, reminiscent of the camera angles on Good Eats.



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“I think those of you that are Good Eats fans know exactly, precisely, why I did that,” Brown said in a subsequent Facebook Live video. The cooking show he alluded to will be “essentially a sequel, a follow-up to a program called Good Eats”. It will premiere sometime next year, according to Refinery29.

Good Eats first aired on Food Network in 1999. In each episode, Brown examined a new recipe or ingredient, the science behind it, the proper tools to use and its history.

Brown said he wanted to do the show on the internet for more freedom. “I want freedom to do what I want and say what I want and work with the food that I want without being concerned about what a larger corporate entity might or might not want from that,” he said. When Good Eats aired on Food Network, he said he wasn’t allowed to cover certain subjects, such as cooking rabbit, liver or chicken gizzards. The channel also refused to let him use the metric system, he said.

With paper and pencil in hand, he took down ideas from his commenters during the Facebook Live video on what they would like to see covered over the course of an hour-long video – dishes such as steaks, homemade tofu or smoked meat.

Brown also asked fans for their opinions on him hosting a possible late-night variety show on Food Network. “I’m going to move forward with Food Network on doing a late-night variety talk show,” he said, after receiving affirmative responses from fans. He has hosted a few other shows on the network, in addition to Good Eats and Cutthroat Kitchen.

Brown’s latest cookbook, EveryDayCook: This Time It’s Personal, came out in September. His live tour, Eat Your Science, kicked off earlier this year and comes to New York City later this month.

The Guardian has contacted Brown and Food Network for comment.