What's Cooking? Smells Like Teen Spirit

In the minds of television advertisers, a young audience is reason enough to lavish cash on even a 20-year-old TV show. Perhaps that's why Bravo today announced a spin-off of their reality cooking competition Top Chef--for teenagers.

"With Top Chef as the No. 1 food show on cable comes the natural expansion in our food domain," Frances Berwick, the network's executive vice president and general manager, said in a statement. "We are developing a series that will teach and test the skills of younger aspiring chefs and appeal to the whole family."

The chefs featured on the new show, which is currently in development, will be between the ages of 13 and 16, and will compete in an eight-episode series for the crown of Top Chef Junior, the show's working title.

Aside from the wisdom of exposing 13-year-olds to open flame and large knives, however, the premise of the show seems questionable. After all, according to Bravo's press release, Top Chef ranks only 14th in the list of top shows for children up to 17 in the Wednesday 10-11pm time period. That seems a curious data point for launching a spin-off.

Plus, maybe the adult-focused Top Chef series is popular among kids because they enjoy watching grown-ups. Who says they'll have the same appetite for the show when it's chefs their own age whipping up a new batch of drama in the kitchen?

Bravo thinks the gamble is worth it. "You have to look at the lifetime value of teens," says Brad Adgate, senior vice president at media planning and buying agency Horizon Media. In addition to being potential fans for life, teens today have more and more input into big household purchases. And they're increasingly hard to find in from of their TV's.

Any show that can reliably deliver them on a platter to advertisers, therefore, will likely be able to demand a premium rate.

For Bravo, does that mean creating mini-me's for every reality show in the stable? Desperate Housewives, Junior?

Oh, wait. MTV already has that. The Hills.

Sophia Banay