Emeril (2001)

Despite Emeril's high ratings, pint-sized network exec Trish is troubled by the fact that women are not fantasizing about the chef in his boxers. The network decides to launch a new campaign to ""trim it down a notch,"" sponsoring a competition between their shows with a cash prize for the most weight lost. While the Emeril crew aren't thrilled by the prospect of dieting, the promise of money prompts Cass, Melva, and B.D. to put down the pork loin and jump on the treadmill. Even Jerry, once financially motivated, decides to join the fitness craze and shed some excess tonnage. All seems to be going well until Emeril, reluctantly heeding the network's wishes, switches to preparing low-cal cuisine on his show -- and finds himself staring down an angry, hungry mob.

Despite misgivings about ""going Hollywood,"" Emeril allows Jerry to talk him into participating in a segment of a hit primetime magazine show. Even though the gang insists they won't sell out for the camera, glamour-hounds Jerry, Cass, and Melva all find ways to pump up their appearances—and their roles in Emeril's success—for their interviews, and then have to scramble to put things right before Emeril sees the finished product.

Emeril plays Cupid to disprove the notion that there are ""no good men out there"" when the headstrong chef propositions his audience in search of eligible bachelors for a night of culinary and romantic interludes with Cass and Melva—but becoming a matchmaker proves to be harder than just shake-n'-bake.

Culinary Network executive Trish O'Connell gives Emeril exciting news: his show's high ratings have prompted the network to order 20 additional episodes. The catch? They want him to present a hipper image, complete with a new set and designer-label chef's jacket. Emeril's agent and friend Jerry McKenney and his staff— producer Cassandra ""Cass"" Gilman, stage manager Melva LeBlanc, and food stylist B.D. Benson—are all thrilled. However, Emeril quickly finds himself torn between the additional demands of his success and the fact that his wife Nora and three children James , Halo, and Charlie already consider him an absentee husband and father.

When Emeril needs top quality beef for the upcoming meat lovers' show and the normal supplier comes up empty, Cass enlists some family help. Unfortunately, after a trip to a dark New Jersey pier for a beef drop with Melva and B.D., she realizes that her cousin, the entrepreneur, is involved with a different type of ""family."" Things get worse when crime boss/Tony Soprano wannabe Vic Leopolis tells Cass that in return for the favor, he wants Emeril, his favorite chef, to ""kick it up a notch"" and host Sunday dinner for the mob. Even guest star Vincent Pastore, visiting Emeril's cooking show to shoot a segment, is unable to provide Emeril with a solution to his Italian problem.

While the rest of the Emeril crew gears up for Halloween, Emeril gets sucked into another one of Jerry's self-improvement schemes as the fleshy hipsters decide to secretly visit the plastic surgeon to remove their love handles via liposuction. Meanwhile, Trish tries to scare Cass, Melva, and B.D. by cracking down on the nudity, drunkenness and costume fires usually associated with the annual Food Channel Halloween party.

A quick bit of on-air male bonding inspires the Food Channel to push Emeril into a new type of cooking show with a new sidekick: Jerry. However, after he receives a taste of fame—including some commentary from his ""celebrity friend"" and guest star, Burt Reynolds—Jerry's ego ""kicks it up a notch,"" much to the annoyance of Cass, Melva, and B.D.

When a snowstorm strands the gang on the set, Emeril convinces himself that Nora's new partner has more than business on his mind. So as Emeril tries to find a way to get home to protect his marriage, Cass tries desperately to make it to her date, and Jerry attempts to avoid the advances of Nurse Smearball and find someplace to bathe himself.

Against their will, Emeril (and his staff are forced to attend a Food Network ""Team Building Retreat"" in the Adirondacks, where they have to climb walls, swing on ropes and jump off a tall tower. Much to the envy of Emeril and Jerry, the women -- Cass, Melva, B.D. and Trish -- run into Bo Derek who is there to speak at a seminar for ""Women Who Are Too Beautiful."" Discovering that Bo is an animal lover, Jerry borrows Emeril's joke bear suit as a novel way to approach her, with disastrous results. (NBC)

To spice up his show on comfort food, Emeril invites Melva's grandmother, well-known in Harlem for her cooking, to appear with her cornbread recipe. Jerry decides to help the chef ""kick it up a notch"" by inviting Dom DeLuise to appear as well, sporting his own cornbread recipe. The chef quickly finds himself holding the fate of cornbread lovers nationwide in his hands as he is forced to decide between the two recipes. Emeril's decision sends shock waves through Harlem, prompting a mass protest from Rev. Dr. Preston Washington Sr. and some hostile words from Trish. (NBC)