ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300013
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
WHEN LABAN JOHNSON "took sick" and early retirement forced him to quit taping episodes of "Cookin' Cheap" for Blue Ridge Public Television (WBRA-Channel 15) a year and a half ago, partner Larry Bly tried to put a positive spin on it.
After all, they'd made more than 300 shows, which are still being shown on public-television stations around the country. They get a torrent of fan letters each week, many with new recipe ideas. The guys are famous - recognized on the street from Wytheville to Los Angeles to New York City - even in London, England.
Bly consoled Johnson by saying he figured maybe it was time to do something new.
But after an 18-month hiatus while Johnson recuperated from a stroke and coronary problems, they both realized they had more cooking to do. "I missed the old boy," Bly said during a break after taping a new show last week. "I'm grateful to have Johnson here for year 16."
"I'm having a wonderful time," Johnson said. "I feel good. Not great, but good."
Viewers of the new shows may notice a stool on the set this time. During the taping, Bly asked Johnson about it. It's there ``in case I have a `spell' and need it," Johnson said with smile.
Though the shows are a bit of a strain, they "give me something to think about" besides his medical problems, Johnson said in an interview later.
Their long-time - and long-suffering - assistant, Doris Ford, is back, too - taking good-natured abuse from the guys on camera. Without her and her husband, Harold, "we could not do" the show, Johnson said.
This season, particularly, Doris Ford has helped prepare some recipes in advance. "It would have been more than I could do," without her, Johnson said.
The team - which also includes a four-person camera crew and other staff at WBRA - are in the middle of compiling 13 new episodes, which began airing recently on WBRA. Since they're getting a late start, it is only about a half-season's worth of new programs, but they're hoping for a full schedule next year.
In fact, they expect to move to a new frontier soon - commercial syndication. A deal with a national cable and satellite channel is nearly done, Bly said, with a potential new audience of 35 million.
A few details remain to be negotiated - so he can't yet name the network - but Bly said the agent handling the deal expects it to be completed soon. Under the arrangement, WBRA - which produces the show - "will get a cut" of the syndication fees, as will the two stars of the show.
The show also will continue to be syndicated to public-television stations.
Johnson and Bly said there are only slight changes in the show to prepare it for commercial syndication, such as moving the reading of the viewer-provided recipes to the middle of the program - where they can be cut out or around for a commercial. The show's length - 26 minutes, 46 seconds, already works fine for adding commercial breaks at the beginning and end.
Getting the attention of a commercial network is something Bly and Johnson have wanted for a long time. Cooking shows have undergone a renaissance on the plethora of cable and network channels, which are clamoring for new programs with the potential for national audiences.
Moving "Cookin' Cheap" to such a venue was a natural, Bly said. After all, "We claim to be the longest-running cooking show on television."
He makes the statement with a laugh, and a self-deprecating joke about how anybody might make such a "claim." But if they are not the longest-running show, they must be "one of the longest-running" cooking shows anywhere.
Any number of factors fit into the formula for lasting more than a dozen years with "a comedy show that cooks," Bly said.
As the name suggests, the show is "unpretentious," Johnson said. "The anti-Martha Stewart," Bly added.
"It's not polished by any means," Bly said, which - though part of the show's charm - was a factor that made it harder to sell.
Because the program is taped straight through, as if it were live, "If something drops on the floor, we just stop and pick it up," Bly said.
"In a lot of ways, it's like an old radio show," Johnson said. "If Arthur Godfrey were still alive, this is the kind of show he would like."
The key ingredients in the longevity of "Cookin' Cheap" seem to be the hosts' mixture of warmth and humor - something Godfrey also pulled off over a long career.
Bly and Johnson banter back and forth, making fun of themselves, of Doris Ford, even of the recipes - which they evaluate with an honesty that is difficult to hide as they actually taste the dishes at the end of each show.
They occasionally use concoctions that will draw a laugh just from the title - such as "pinto bean cake" - coming up later this year - or "fried cottage cheese." The latter sounded awful, Bly said, but turned out to be "wonderful."
As the two laugh - and crack up the camera crew - viewers also pick up on the fact that they just like each other.
They have reached the point - after knowing each other for 20 years - where "we can read each other's minds," Bly said. "It's frightening."
Frequently during the program the two will "spontaneously break out into song." It's a habit they honed when they hosted a rock 'n' roll oldies program together on WROV-AM a few years ago. They were likely to start singing on that show, too, between the records.
"Cookin' Cheap" is largely unscripted - except for the recipes and a general idea of the progression of the preparations - depending on Bly and Johnson to play off each other with a familiarity born of their long association.
"I read all the mail," Johnson said. It comes from retired people, children, college students, even some folks who admit they don't cook.
"A lot of people just love what happens in our kitchen."
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER/Staff. 1. Laban Johnson (left) and Larry Blyby CNBreturn for the 16th season of their now-syndicated TV show ``Cookin'
Cheap.'' 2. "I feel good," says Johnson, who has returned to the set
after 18 months. "Not great, but good." color.