She's famous for Southern charm and a legit love affair with butter.
So why didn't "Paula's Party" stay on the air? Keep watching for how celebrity
guests and even dressing up like a stick of the good stuff couldn't save this show.
When "Paula's Party"
hit the air on Food Network in 2006, chef Paula Deen had already won over the hearts of America
by showing everyone just how comforting comfort food can be. She had developed
her extremely loyal following by being the kind of chef who makes her peach tarts and
pot roasts without skimping on the Crisco, sugar, or butter. Or everything combined.
"Makes me wanna slap my mamma."
[Laughing]
Her first show on the network, "Paula's Home Cooking," aired in 2002. And it was
a sensation among anyone who was even mildly curious about
Southern cuisine — or just wanted to see a chef fry up some butter.
With that track record, Deen had nothing to prove when she walked onto the set of "Paula's Party."
She was already running a successful restaurant — The Lady and Sons — and
had a bunch of best-selling books to her name.
All that, plus her seemingly unrelenting TV fame. But unlike her network debut, this time,
Deen didn't hold herself back by being stuck behind a kitchen counter. Instead, she split
her time between interacting with the audience and whisking up irresistibly artery-clogging dishes.
So how does Deen teach
people to cook in real life? Do her students laugh as much as the studio
audience does during "Paula's Party"? As it turns out, yes they do. According to WTOC,
the concept for "Paula's Party" was born when a TV crew happened to tape Deen
teaching a cooking class at The Lady and Sons in Savannah, Georgia. Dean recalled,
"They saw [the cooking class] and said, 'My gosh, Paula! This is a show!'"
As the story goes, producers' eyes turned to cartoon money signs when they saw just
how much fun the students were having, while learning from Deen, even though the chef does
claim that she can make some students uncomfortable with her outgoing style.
As she wrote in her 2006 best-selling memoir, "Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin',"
"I tell people who come to my cooking class that sometimes
I can be a little bawdy and I sure hope that don't upset them."
"That's heaven on earth."
[Laughter]
It seems that her wild and crazy cooking classes were quite sought after, back in
the day. A Tripadvisor thread from 2008 features a series of comments by people enquiring about
even more classes. From the replies, it appears that spots filled up months in advance. But,
as one user noted, these cooking experiences with Deen may be a thing of the past.
Still, in 2013, the chef did organize a one-day cooking
demo at her home studio for about 60 students. And, three years later,
she offered online cooking demonstrations to members of the Paula Deen Club.
She would later take the concept on the road in 2014,
with the Paula Deen Live tour. There, she and her hubby, Michael Groover,
delighted audiences with her cooking — as well as her Southern-spiced sense of humor.
As it turned out, "Paula's Party" was an instant success. And, sure, we all love to watch Deen deep
fry everything. But what if she did it along with Donald Trump Jr.? On her new show, Deen got chummy
with a host of celebrity guests, who rolled up their sleeves and got cooking with their host.
"You look like you are just loaded with cavities."
"Um, no."
"Smile for the camera.”
[Laughter]
The VIP guest list included comedians like Rosie O'Donnell and Joy Behar as well as a
series of actors like Mario Lopez, and hostess with the most-ess Amy Sedaris — just to name a
few. And yes, we could go on. Hi, let's not forget the iconic Patti LaBelle.
The show also featured other Food Network chefs — long before they became big names
themselves. One episode showcased a young Guy Fieri, already with his trademark spiky hair,
whipping up a pie with Deen. At the time, Fieri was a fresh face on the Food Network,
and had only just been crowned Season 2's "Next Food Network Star." Little did they know, right?
On yet another episode, Deen brought in Gina and Pat Neely from "Down Home with the Neelys" for a
barbecue throwdown; fried versus grilled. This appearance was a game-changer for the Neelys,
helping them snag their very own show on Food Network.
Having gone from running a small catering
business out of her home kitchen in the late '80s, to becoming a media maven just two decades later,
Deen's is a classic rags to riches story. In 2011, she was the fourth highest-earning chef, according
to Forbes, which estimated her earnings to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $17 million.
But the chef's stunning empire quickly came crashing down when she and her
brother Bubba were slapped with a lawsuit in 2013. Lisa Jackson, a former employee
at Bubba's restaurant — Uncle Bubba's Oyster House — accused the brother and sister duo
of racial and sexual discrimination, filing a $1.2 million lawsuit, according to CNN.
The very public dispute proved to be a knockout punch to Deen's brand.
But her deposition was the final nail in the coffin. Deen admitted to having used a racial
slur while describing a past incident when she was held at gunpoint by an armed robber. The
admission was enough for Food Network to throw in the towel when it came to all things Paula Deen.
The network immediately stopped airing all three of her shows,
"Paula's Home Cooking," "Paula's Party," and "Paula's Best Dishes," in 2013.
Though Deen had already lost her Food Network
contract, the 33-page lawsuit filed by Lisa Jackson volleyed a slew of additional complaints.
Jackson quoted instances where Deen's brother and business partner, Bubba, had reportedly sexually
harassed his employees. She then accused Deen of condoning it, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"If it's a Southern dish, you'd better not put it out unless it passes this woman's tongue."
"Amen."
"Ain't that right. Amen."
Jackson had also inspired Deen's long-time cook of 22 years, Dora Charles, to voice
her own complaints about being underpaid and mistreated. She told The New York Times that
despite Deen earning gobs of money, the star chef was paying Charles less than $10 an hour.
Charles also claimed that at one point Deen had asked one of the
other black employees to make hoecakes for guests while dressed as Aunt Jemima.
Deen has strongly denied all of those allegations.
While she may have rejected the allegations, Deen
clearly hoped to make amends. Besides threatening her career, the lawsuit had made it obvious to
the chef that something had to be done. She tried her best to put out the fire through three apology
videos that she posted on YouTube. Admitting her own errors, she also said in one video:
"Your color of your skin, your religion, your sexual preference does not matter…to me."
While it may have been too little, too late, the three-month-long legal battle
came to an end when a Georgia judge dropped the racial discrimination charges against Deen.
According to the New York Times, the charges had been filed by a white woman who couldn't
have been directly racially discriminated against. The sexual harassment charges were
dismissed as well. And a settlement was reached between Deen and Lisa Jackson.
Of course, Deen ultimately got a relatively clean pass.
But her multi-million dollar empire had melted like a hot fudge sundae in the summer sun.
As noted by outlets including Today, Deen's video apology tour seemed earnest — but also
heavily edited. There were tears and pleas for forgiveness, but Deen's mea culpa didn't soften
Food Network's resolve to give a hard pass to the Paula stuff. Around the same time, some of
her other brand partners — Walmart, Target, Sears, and J.C. Penney — also pulled Deen's cookware and
kitchen appliances off the shelves. Home shopping channel QVC stopped featuring her products. And
Smithfield Foods, as well as diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk, dropped her as their spokesperson.
"It's definitely been a very hard, trying year."
It seemed that no one wanted to be associated with Deen.
Even Ballantine Books canceled her then-upcoming cookbook "Paula Deen's New Testament." All in,
according to the Daily News, Deen lost out on $12.5 million in earnings. Forbes estimated a $7.5
million loss in merchandising and licensing deals, and a $5 million loss in restaurant and TV deals.
While everything shook out, loyal fans were left hanging, without a way to check in with
their favorite chef. That was, until Deen decided to finally do something about it.
While the scandal
may have put the crunch on Deen's wallet, when it came to her fans,
her star power was still clearly intact. After laying low for a few months,
Deen soon launched her own entertainment company — Paula Deen Ventures — in late 2014. If winning
her empire back was a resolution that Deen had made that year, it was all coming to fruition.
The company got a whopping $75 to $100 million investment from a private firm, which claimed
that the Paula Deen brand was, quote, "alive and well," according to the Wall Street Journal.
With all that cash in hand, Deen set off on a nationwide tour with "Paula Deen Live!"
And she was doing what she does best: demonstrating how to cook her favorite dishes,
with her signature flair. Seemingly convinced that she had the fan base to follow her, a few
months later, she struck a deal with Food Network, and bought all 440 of her episodes. That included
everything from "Paula's Party," "Paula's Home Cooking," and "Paula's Best Dishes," to specials
like "Paula's Southern Thanksgiving" and "Paula's European Vacations." That's a whole lotta Paula.
"Feel that muscle."
"Those guns."
“I like that.”
Without divulging the financial details,
a spokesperson for the Food Network said in a statement, via The Hollywood Reporter,
"Paula asked if we'd be willing to sell the library. We reached an agreement,
and everyone here wishes her the best as she embarks on her new venture."
"You can throw out your TV now. Because this is where you can find me."
The next obvious step to distributing all of her shows was to launch a platform. And in 2014,
The Paula Deen Network was born. There, fans could catch up on a bunch of old favorites,
including episodes from "Paula's Party." And she continued to add even more content
that got personal and candid. As she told the Savannah Morning News,
"It's not being governed by a network because we are our bosses, and we're going to give
our friends what they want, not what a bunch of executives in New York City think we should have."
Oooh Paula! Was that a dig at Food Network?! Either way, Deen was serious
about sharing her personal side. Her network regularly features cooking tips, recipes,
posts about her family, new year resolutions, life lessons and more.
"Positively Paula"
"Just sit back with me for thirty minutes and have a good time."
With her series "Positively Paula," Deen officially made her TV comeback,
five years after Food Network gave her the boot. But while she had obviously lost loads of money,
contracts, and TV slots since 2013, she was doing everything it took to claw her way back.
"It's too dry. What can we put in there?"
"Water?"
"No."
"Heavy cream??"
Not only did she launch a signature brand and network,
she also took a spin across the stage on "Dancing With the Stars."
She launched podcasts, and juiced up her brand name with her show "Sweet Home Savannah" — that
let viewers buy the cookware, clothing, and home appliances that they saw Deen using.
But "Positively Paula" was a true milestone for Deen in her pursuit of reclaiming her lost fame,
as well as her beloved fan base. The series was filmed at her home in Savannah, Georgia,
and featured a host of celebrities. That is, besides her own sons,
who had by then become stars themselves. Sure, the series had some similarities to "Paula's
Party." But it played more like a toned-down, personal version of the former fan favorite.
In 2021, Deen appeared on Fox's
"MasterChef: Legends," sharing the stage with superstar chefs Gordon Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez,
and Joe Bastianich. And around the same time, rumors popped up about her possibly
making a comeback. The National Enquirer quoted a source close to Deen as saying,
"It's been an uphill financial battle for Paula. […] But she truly believes the tide has turned.
She's burning up the phone lines to network execs to reinstate her!"
But at this point, would she even want to go back to being under the thumb of
know-it-all network execs? Only time will tell. No matter what happens,
fans will continue to get their fill of Deen's cooking videos on her YouTube channel,
where she uploads new content almost every day. And as far as "Paula's Party" is concerned,
those throwback episodes will have to tide us over until she launches her next venture.
"It brings people together. Food is comfort,
food is friendship, and most importantly, food is love."
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