So What’s Next?

So here we are. On the eve of a season premiere in our new home at WTOC. In the 5 weeks since we made the announcement there have been a lot of high fives and attaboys. Those are always great, but there have also been a lot of people walking up to me saying “I can’t wait to see what is next.” The first time I heard that, it kind of caught me by surprise. “What do you mean what’s next?” I asked. “Well, what is next in your journey, you’ve done such a great job to this point, I can’t imagine it getting any better.” I was told.

Color me stunned. You cannot be serious.

While that was an unbelievable compliment that I would have never expected in a million lifetimes, I accepted it, processed it and put it in its proper place. Which, for the record, is over there, on the shelf as far away from my ego as I can possibly keep it. It should be noted that there is an answer to the question ‘what is next.’  We spent a lot of time this summer discussing it and can share a little more detail with you today here in this space.

For starters, we are re-structuring our ‘season.’ It will still run from September through the end of May, however it will be set up differently. Tired of all of those re-runs? So are we. Here is what you will get instead. 20 original episodes from September through May (which it has always been) but we are dividing them up into shorter seasons with 10 episodes each.

By comparison, your favorite “network” television show is generally 13 episodes long. Lately those seasons have gotten shorter. They only lengthen them if anyone is watching. Industry standard has always been 13 per YEAR. We’ve always done 20 or more. A brutal pace, really, which sometimes has led to those re-runs. Especially when you consider the budgets for those big network shows are sometimes into 6 figures PER episode. I can personally assure you that ours don’t even approach 5 figures.

So beginning September 23rd we are planning 10, maybe 12, new episodes.  The ‘mini’ season will end in December with a couple of recipe episodes during the holidays. It will be nice break in the restaurant (and travel) scene. The mini season will include some of the best chicken wings in the area, a look at brunch, some Savannah food history, and a visit to my home state of Florida. I cannot wait to share that one with you.

Once that mini season ends we will be in re-runs until late January, early February (exact date TBA). New episodes will resume through the Spring. There might be one more 2-3 week break for re-runs in between, but we will run through the end of May as we have.

The goal here is a little more consistency with our airings. That has been the absolute hardest part of this journey and we are determined to fix it.

In that 2nd ‘mini’ season, we will premiere Drink It and Like It. There will be 2 episodes dedicated to anything we can drink. Yes, there will be alcoholic beverages, but it won’t only be alcoholic beverages. As I have said in the past, it is Drink It and Like It, not ‘Get Blasted and Like It.’

What exactly you will see beyond that we cannot share because it hasn’t been finalized. What we are doing this Fall, we know. Next Spring? We have an idea, but we are still talking about that.

I’ve gone on long enough, but there is one thing I want to remind all of you who take the time to read my blogs, share our content and enjoy our show. Eat it and Like It is not a restaurant review show. In our books, it never has been. Eat It and Like It was created to be about the people behind the food doing great and creative things here in the South. It’s the reason why we visit farms. The reason why I talk to butchers, bakers, candlestick makers and everyone in between.

I’ve used the phrase ‘the end of the beginning’ of the journey more than a few times in the last couple of months. I think you will see some of that reflected in our work.

That’s what’s next. I cannot thank you all enough for your continued support.

See you on TV

Jesse