Kashina Ayala

Com 410

Professor Renee Hobbs

7 October 2012

TITLE: Iron Chef America: Teen Takeover

Alternative option: Creative Cooking: Teen Takeover

CONCEPT: Inventive, imaginative, non-traditional, competitive methods of cooking performed

by two teams of teenagers in a fun fast-paced environment.

CONTENT: The show will involve two teams of teenagers with four people on each team. Each

team will compete against one another by preparing three dishes of food that will be presented to

each judge. Each team will have 45 minutes to prepare all three courses. The teams will consist

of two boys and two girls on each team, who will collaboratively creative a snack, dinner, and

dessert that will best show the creative, inventive, and cultural foods of each team. In addition to

the four members on each team, there will be a team coach/executive chef on each team to help

with safety regulations and education on culinary arts. The team coaches are not allowed to

actually prepare the food for the contestants or flavor the food because that would create a big

disadvantage to both teams. The suspense factor to the show will be a secret ingredient that must

be used in each of the three courses by each team. The failure to use the secret ingredient will

result in a major decrease in score by the judges. The dishes will be presented to three judges:

Demi Lovato, Shailene Woodley, and the third judge will be a surprise judge of the week. The

first episode will have Leon Thomas III from the hit show ‘Victorious’ as the guest judge. The

emphasis of this show is not solely on the quality of food because these are young teens who are

putting their passion, love, and fun for food to the test; rather the show is to educate teenagers

and parents on healthier options to the traditional foods eaten in America. This show will also

emphasize the risks of obesity, high cholesterol, and the importance of a balanced diet.

The purpose of the show is to entertain the audience, the judges, and the viewers at home,

but also providing an educational aspect on healthy living and better food choices for teenagers.

The show will not only provide American food options, but multicultural, kid-friendly foods that

are easy to make and delicious. The viewers at home will have access to the recipes to do at

home themselves also. In addition to receiving the recipes, each week the viewers at home will

have access to vote online for the best presentation, best group unity, and most likeable meals.

The team who creates the most creative, well-presented, delicious dishes of food will win the

ultimate prize. The prize will vary from show to show because each team is asked what their

hobbies, interests, and future goals are. The team who wins will appear again on the show on the

season finale, which will have all of the winning teams competing for the ultimate prize! The

show will take place in Kitchen Stadium in New York City. The stadium will feature stadium

seating, live action, and audience participation. In addition, the audience will vote on what the

secret ingredient is for the episode at hand. The host of the show will be Guy Fieri, who is well

known for trying various combinations of food.

FORMAT & GENRE: This show is a fast-paced, interactive, action-packed game show format.

The show will consist of a host, eight contestants, three judges, and a live audience. In addition,

the contestants will prepare a two minute video that shows the viewers at home and the audience

who they are, where they come from, what their favorite foods are, who influenced their cooking

style, what their interests are, what their future goals are, which school they attend, the

importance of health in their lives, and why they feel they will be great competition. It is

important to note that the contestants will be diverse, and will have equal numbers of girls and

boys on each team. The show will start off with the host introducing the show, the contestants,

and a brief explanation of the rules of the show. The rules are as follows: each team will consist

of four members and a coach. The coach is collaboratively selected by each team, and their

options consist of choosing from the current Iron Chefs of America. The coach will be

introduced right before the first commercial break. After the break, the host will reveal what the

audience chosen secret ingredient will be. The teams will then have two minutes to collaborate

with the coach and their team mates on what three items they will make. They then will divide

their team on who will complete what and how everything will be prepared. Each team must be

able to have a snack, a dessert, and dinner on the plate before the 45 minutes expires. The plates

must be well presented and creative. After the meals are done, the three judges will give their

evaluation of each course and decide who they feel has the best dishes. Each contestant will

discuss the ingredients used, the style of the course, and what measurements were used. The

recipes will then appear on the right corner of the screen so the viewers at home, whether it is

kids or parents, will be able to use them. The viewers at home will then have to decide on who

they feel are the winners, by voting online within the given commercial break. After, the break

the host will reveal who the winner is and what they have won. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE

THAT SAFETY CONCERNS WILL BE DISCUSSED THROUGHOUT THE SHOW! During

the preparations of the three courses discussions on health topics, statistics, and factual

information on a balanced diet will be discussed as well, through pre-recorded tapes by each

contestant, which will air in between the cooking time.

AUDIENCE AND DISTRIBUTION: The show is an hour long, live action, game show. The

target audience will be ages 12 to 17 of all races and genders. Although the ages will vary each

team will consist of similar age groups, so that there are no advantages for one team over the

other. Each diversified team will have to collaboratively create cultural meals that are kid-

friendly, fun, and creative. Each contestant is on the show to win the ultimate prize, however,

the contestants will learn how to work in groups, communicate effectively to one another, work

at a fast-paced environment, decision making capabilities, problem solving skills, measurements

for recipes, the ability to accept others’ ideas, the importance of time, and respect for coaches,

teammates and oponents.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS: There aren’t specific shows that are similar to the concept

presented, but PBS offers a show called “Hey Kids Let’s Cook” that offers the abilities for

children to learn a different recipe each week. “Hey Kids Let’s Cook” is targeted at ages 6 to 14,

while Iron Chef: Teen Takeover is targeted at ages 12 to 17. Iron Chef: Teen Takeover offers

the abilities for teenagers to use their own imagination, creativity, and originality in making their

own creations of a snack, dinner, and a dessert. This show is a better option than any other

similar show because it offers factual nutritional information, suspense, team building skills, and

significant abilities that teenagers need. There isn’t a show that on television that offers two

teams of teenagers that are able to express themselves through their passion of food, cooking,

decorating, communicating, and competition. The lessons learned on this show cannot be beaten

either. What other show offers teenagers to learn the best food options, the amount of calories in

different types of food, being introduced to multicultural foods, and the abilities to make new

friends and healthy relationships? This show is without a doubt the best option for television.

APPEAL: Teenagers will love this show because it offers a positive, productive environment

that allows them to express themselves in multiple ways. The emotions that teenagers

experience during adolescence are unpredictable, so this show offers a way for teenagers to be

understood, while gaining great educational background on nutrition and food. Teenagers will

be able to show off their skills, make friends, and win great prizes that can help with their future

careers, hobbies, and goals. The fight of being the best in high school could be solved in Kitchen

Stadium, which is a positive environment; rather than teenagers using their competitive strive in

a violent way. The appearance of celebrities and being seen on television I believe would attract

teenagers to watch the show as well. Not only is the show fun, teenagers will be able to show the

world who they are and what their talents are, and what teenager wouldn’t want this?

DISTRIBUTION: The show will reach audiences through internet advertisements, television

commercials, and radio advertisements as well. The internet advertisements will be made via

Google, YouTube, and Facebook because these are the three most popular teenager websites.

The show will appear on television commercials on the Disney Channel, MTV, BET, Food

Network, Discovery Kids, ABC Family, and Nickelodeon. These are the most popular television

channels in the United States, so it would be smart to air commercials advertising the new show

on these channels to obtain viewers and possible participants.

MARKETING/PROMOTION/LICENSING/MERCHANDISING: I will help pay for this show

by proposing to food manufacturers the benefits in helping to produce a healthier America for

children and teenagers. I will also create a proposal for Wal-Mart to help provide food and

prizes for the show, in hopes that they see the advertisement opportunities for themselves by

helping out with the show as well. I would see if there are any chefs like Paula Dean, Emeril

Lagasse, Guy Fieri, and any other Iron Chefs if they can contribute to the cooking utensils, pots

pans, etc… on the show and in return their products will be advertised throughout the show. I

would expect advertising to happen on the original show, Iron Chef America, which would help

promote their extended show. I would be in charge of promoting the show by appearing on the

radio, interviews, and talk shows. I believe that radio promotions would be great because the

target audience tends to listen to music greatly. Talk shows are a way to reach out to parents

who might become interested in learning more recipes, and perhaps realize that their children are

capable of relating to the show.

I would propose to Nike, Gatorade, and Crest to sponsor the show. I would create a

proposal that shows these companies the benefits on promoting healthy living to teenagers.

Teenagers use these products often and it would be great publicity for the show as well as great

advertisements for the three companies. Licensing the show should not be a problem since it is a

branched off show of the current Iron Chef America. Merchandise could be sold to children,

parents, preteens, and teenagers as well. Shirts, sweatpants, sneakers, hats, aprons, and cooking

equipment that says teen challenge, Iron Chef America: Teen Twist, and “Be a teen, but eat

green” sayings on a variety of the items would help promote the show and create more viewers

to the show.