TRIPLE PLAY
It’s prime time for TV vet and Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli
VALERIE BERTINELLI is having a pop-culture moment — or two or three.
Oldies network getTV is now airing her TV Land sitcom “Hot in Cleveland” (2010-2015) while she hosts “Kids Baking Championship” and “Family Restaurant Rivals” and gears up for the 10th season of “Valerie’s Home Cooking” — all on Food Network.
“I guess I’ve been around so long it’s just kind of like, ‘There she is again,’ ” says Bertinelli.
Meanwhile, Norman Lear’s reboot of“One Day at a Time,” entering its fourth season, has spurred further interest in Bertinelli as viewers rediscover the nine-season ’70s-era CBS sitcom that launched her career.
“I actually did a Q&A with all the actors and producers of [the rebooted] ‘One Day at a Time’ and I love the show,” she says. “I think it’s taken the original idea that Norman had and just expanded on it and made it current for these days and times.”
Bertinelli, 59, says she would do another sitcom if the opportunity arose. “This business is so funny,”
she says. “You go through different periods ... and now I think I’ve been doing my cooking show for so long [that] I don’t think people think I can act. I’m really glad that ‘Hot in Cleveland’ is coming back out to show them that, ‘Oh yeah, she did this, too.’
“I wouldn’t do a one-hour drama — that takes up too much of your time, and my first baby is my cooking show — but I would do a four-camera sitcom in a heartbeat,” she says. “I love it. I come alive in something like that. The whole process of doing ‘Hot in Cleveland’ and ‘One Day at a Time’ was that it was so much fun being around a live audience and being able to make people laugh — right there on the spot.”
For now, though, Bertinelli is focused on the new season of “Kids Baking Championship” (Mondays at 9 p.m.) and “Fam
ily Restaurant Rivals,” premiering Aug. 19 (10 p.m.)
On “KBC,” nine talented young bakers compete for the $25,000 grand prize, and a feature in Food Network magazine, while whipping up challenging desserts under the watchful eyes of Bertinelli and co-host Duff Goldman.
“We’re taking advantage of what, in reality, is a passion for a lot of people and was a passion of mine when I was a kid,” says Bertinelli. “To be able to do this with other children is really fun for me and the kids are so smart and inventive. I’m learning stuff from them constantly. Some of these gifts they have you’re like, ‘Wow! You made this?!’ It’s amazing.”
The setting is a bit different for “Family Restaurant Rivals,” in which three families will face off in two rounds of cooking challenges for a $10,000 grand prize. They’ll be assessed by a rotating roster of judges including Kardea Brown and Robert Irvine.
“We do these challenges and you really see families put to the test,” Bertinelli says of the six-episode series. “How much they love each other, where their weak spots are, where their strong spots are and who actually shines as the real cook in the family.”
Bertinelli says she’ll be in New York City next week testing out recipes for the upcoming season of “Valerie’s Home Cooking.”
“I like to get [the recipes] tested in the Food Network kitchens before we actually film them,” she says — adding that even for someone with her experience it can occasionally go sideways. “I try to keep a lot of that onscreen because that’s how I learn, through my mistakes,” she says. “I like to show that if I can do it, you can, too. I’ve been cooking my whole life but not everything comes out perfectly.”