Bob Bowersox Coming to ShopNBC

Ever since Bob Bowersox suddenly left QVC with only a short hostage goodbye video, he has become quite the thespian and screenplay writer down in Key West--but we haven't seen hide nor hair of Bob in home shopping land.

But nobody puts Bob in a corner!

Keep your eyes peeled for Bob to make his first appearance on ShopNBC Thursday of this week. After that, he'll be making regular weekend visits. Key West to Minneapolis ... that's quite a commute.

Bob Bowersox has the Write Stuff

So what has Bob been up to since he was so suddenly booted out of the Q kitchen last Christmas?

The Renaissance Man himself, Bob Bowersox, is currently working as an actor, director, and playwright at the People's Theater of Key West and the Red Barn Theatre. Most recently playing Juror #8 in 12 "Angry Men."

Bob is also facilitating a screenwriting workshop, and according to the Miami Art Guide, one of the plays he penned will be featured in the New Plays in May series at the Waterfront Playhouse.

This year's series will feature staged readings of three original scripts from Key's playwrights. “Going Again” by Bob Bowersox and “Fortune Cookie” by Mike Tomes will appear May 19th and “Poof” by Josh Kaplan will appear May 26th. Audience feedback to playwright, director and cast after each reading is desired.

“Going Again” is a comedic assembly line of Travelers checking in with Facilitators on their way from one life to the next. Questions of life and death are a common theme for Bowersox, a resident of Key West who has written numerous scripts for both stage and screen.

I keep reading rumors that Bob has a restaurant too, but how could he run a restaurant and do all this?

Some Old School Jeff Hewson

While Jeff is still missing in action, I did manage to find these old videos of Jeffrey from 1992--back when the Q was young and the hair was big.

Along with the rare clips of Jeff Hewson, the Connie Francis fan who posted several of her visits to QVC, also captured some vintage Jayne Tracey (should throw a Rudolph in there?) and Bob Bowersox.

Click here for the Jeff Hewson and Connie Francis video part 1.

Click here for the Jeff Hewson and Connie Francis video part 2.

If you haven't already, you can read the whole Jeff soap opera on my old post here.

If You Can't Stand the Heat, Get Out of David's Kitchen

It's finally David's kitchen now! After Bob Bowersox's sudden and controversial departure last December, the fate of the long-running "In the Kitchen with Bob" show was in limbo. Yesterday, the reins were symbolically handed to David. I mean, it must be official ... he's got his own snazzy logo and and blog and everything.

David Venable ... More Than a Yum-Yum Face

QVC host David Venable--originator of the infamous "yum-yum" face and the new host of In the Kitchen since Bob Bowersox disappeared--sure has some dedicated online fans! Whoever they are put together this inspired collage of David showing some skin.

What do you think is his secret? Total Gym? Aero Pilates? Crab Cakes? Hmmm ...

Bob Says Pasta La Vista, Baby

This People magazine article from 1994 is so interesting ... home shopping was still up-and-coming and Bob Bowersox reigned supreme. (emphasis mine)


[quote] Bob Bowersox, salesman supremo for QVC—and the cable home-shopping channel's chef-in-residence—is really cooking today. His corn, squash and green-chili stew looks mmm-mmm good. But, wait, there's more: check out the 12" Castex nonstick pan Bowersox is using. That pan, he says (as the camera zooms in), can be yours for the low, low price of $46.

And now, back to our stew. "Let me add a little pepper," says Bowersox, 47, reaching for a pepper mill that's "available to you today," he says, "if you'd like to have it." The price: just $47.14.

Viewers who phoned in on a recent Sunday at noon during his weekly cooking show, In the Kitchen with Bob, obviously thought the brass pepper mill (No. K-2943) was nothing to sneeze at. They bought 70 of 'em in less than a minute. Meanwhile the Castex pans (K-4167) were going like hotcakes (50 of them sold in 15 minutes). Small wonder, then, that Bowersox's show is a virtual zirconium mine for QVC, grossing a lot of celery each week in sales of pots and pans, cutlery and gadgetry.

The bait, of course, is food, glorious food. Since the show's premiere in 1991, Bowersox, a onetime chef and restaurateur, has received as many as 4,500 requests a week for his easy-to-prepare recipes. So it was inevitable that In the Kitchen with Bob should hatch a cookbook of the same title. The result: a merchandising miracle. Flogging the cookbook on Sept. 25, Bowersox wowed his bosses by receiving orders for more than 155,000 copies—the most of any single item offered in QVC's eight-year history.

"It was an exhilarating, proud day," says Doug Briggs, president of QVC Electronic Retailing. "Everyone was ecstatic." Who wouldn't be? Not since last May, when In the Kitchen with Rosie, by Oprah Winfrey's personal diet guru, Rosie Daley, sold 20,000 copies nationally in Barnes & Noble bookstores in one day, has a chef whetted so many appetites so quickly.

Bowersox thinks he knows why the cookbook, now in its third printing by William Morrow, is selling so fast, both at bookstores (for $20) and on QVC (for less). "It's really fine food—fast," he says. "In the same time that it'll take you to throw a hot dog in a pot of water and warm up a can of baked beans, I can cook you swordfish with steamed baby carrots and asparagus."

In his book, Bowersox leavens his recipes with chatty asides about his family and friends such as Barbara Prender-gast, a loan officer at his bank who supplied his recipe for German potato soup. The same folksy banter pervades his 20 hours a week of on-camera spiels, both on his cooking show and his stints as a QVC senior program host, happily hawking everything from power saws to jewelry to computers to linens. "What I want to be is more a friend than a broadcaster," he says. "Part of how you do that is to let people into your life." Which is why Bowersox often talks about Toni, 38, his wife of six years. "QVC viewers saw us meet, get engaged, get married and have a family," he says.

"Well, they've heard about it," corrects Toni, a former lighting designer now studying for a degree in education while raising their daughter Taylor, 4, and Toni's half-sister Stephanie, 9, in a comfortable, contemporary brick home in Wilmington, Del, an hour's drive from his TV kitchen in West Chester, Pa.

As a child, the closest that Bowersox ever got to a grill was when he was 8 and his father, Don, a sales manager for DuPont car products, taught the Cub Scout how to broil a burger in the backyard. (Don's Unbelievably Good Garlic Soup recipe is in the cookbook, along with his wife Marilee's Sweet Potato Puffs.) His dad's job took the family, including Bob's younger siblings Maggie and Paul from Charleston, W. Va., where Bob was born, to Denver, West-field, N.J., and finally Wilmington. After his junior year at the University of Delaware, Bowersox dropped out to become a rock and roller in New York City. In 1974 he was back in Wilmington, booking acts for a nightclub chain. "I ended up hanging out in the kitchen a lot," he says. By 1978 he had learned enough to open his own eatery, the Crepe Chalet, which he sold two years later. He then launched a music magazine, Fine Times. That exposure won him a local radio show, a newspaper nightlife column and a job as a lifestyle host for a local cable channel. The then-fledgling QVC beckoned in 1986. "All I did was follow opportunities," he says. "I just went for it," including, finally, a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Delaware in 1991.

Now the shopping channel's Renaissance pitchman is planning a second cookbook, as well as a line of In the Kitchen-brand utensils. But Bowersox takes his culinary stardom in stride. "The people who walk up to Toni and me on the street don't talk to me as if I were Mel Gibson," he says. "It's 'Hey, Bob! How come you're not at work?' " [/quote]

Times sure have changed, haven't they???

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

My son isn't feeling well today, so I've been a little remiss in my blogging duties. *sorry* But, it has given me some much-needed time to mull over the whole Bob thing. I've read your comments and emails (y'all don't like to beat around the bush!) and looked through the message boards (before the posts are quickly poofed, of course). Suffice it to say, there is no clear consensus of opinion.

So why is everyone so interested? Why does it matter if Bob suddenly disappears in a cloud of controversy with nary a goodbye cheesecake from Juniors or even a stinking plate of celebratory crab cakes? Well, maybe not the crab cakes ... but you get the idea.

I think I finally know.

Respect.

Not respect for the host or the management, but respect for us, the loyal viewers and customers who keep them in business. A simple explanation, a little warning, and a decent sendoff is the very least that they can do for us. I realize that sometimes circumstances won't always allow for this, but it seems to be the trend now to ditch hosts like a used Kleenex.

What separates home shopping channels from all other retail outlets--brick-and-mortar like Wal-Mart or online like Amazon--is the entertainment and community they provide. Sure, the hosts are just glorified salespeople, but we get to know their on-air personalities, we become accustomed to seeing them--to the point of being annoyed by their quirks, and we are naturally curious about what goes on behind-the-scenes.

So whether you were an avid "In the Kitchen with Bob" fan or you snidely called him Bob Boringsox on the message boards ... and no matter what you believe the circumstances of his departure really were, you deserved better.

If they want to attract new customers and keep the old loyal base, they need to learn a little respect.

I will now climb down from my soap box and hand things over to an expert in the area of repect. Preach on, Aretha!

Bob Bids Adieu

So long ... farewell ... auf wiedersehen ... goodbye ...



Strange, isn't it?

Thanks to Millicent for the video. I look forward to reading your book! ;-)

Psst ... Can You Keep a Secret?

I have in my hot little hands right now a certain video *cough*bob*cough* that a little birdie just delivered.

Stay tuned ... :-)

Who's in Bob's Kitchen Now?

A curious caller cornered David Venable into giving an answer about who will be taking over the In the Kitchen with Bob show.



Congrats David!

Bowersox Departure Was Definitely Not Planned

Want proof that Bob's departure was sudden???

Take a close look at the above screen shot. (Here's the actual link, but it'll probably be taken down soon.)

Bob was scheduled to be on the cover of the 19th anniversary issue of the Insider--in April!

Here's the quote:

Hey Insiders! We're celebrating the 19th anniversary of your Insider Club! Bob Bowersox will be gracing the anniversary cover! And to share the fun, we want you to help us interview Bob for the cover of our big anniversary issue--April 2009! Go ahead and tell us up to 10 things you'd like to know about him and be sure to include your favorite recipe requests. Your top requested questions will be answered in an in depth article inside the issue!

Now, please use the boxes below, and tell us the ten questions (one per box) you would love to ask Bob.

I know I could think of a few good questions I'd like to submit! ;-)

How Did You Find Queen Bea?

People stumble across this silly little blog in all different kinds of ways, but there seems to be a bit of a trend. See if you notice anything.

Here is a list of the Top Ten Keywords used to find Queen Bea for 2008 ...

10) Kelly Repassy - The redheaded former plus-size model and recently-ousted HSN host.




9) The Jewelry Chanel - This struggling home shopping channel that was going out of business most of the year, only to reinvent itself into The Liquidation Channel.




8) Davinia Palmer - This little British cutie burned bright as a QVC host, but her time was short.




7) Pat James-Demetri (and her ex, Vince) - Poor Pat has had a rough year thanks to her no-good ex-husband, Vince.




6) Paul Deasy - Another former HSN and QVC host who, along with his wife, Judy Crowell, is trying to make a return to the home shopping arena in a new way.




5) Me! - Some of you got here by actually looking for Queen Bea on purpose ... golf claps ...




4) Bob Bowersox - After 22 years with the Q, Bob was shown the door right before Christmas and made a huge leap into the top five. (The crazy looking picture is from the set of a movie he was in. I just thought it was funny!)




3) Patti Reilly - Patti, Patti, Patti ... she's leaving! she's not! she's leaving! she's not! I swear, the speculation will never end. In the very least, she has certainly dropped to part-time. I still say she's leaving.

2) Models Prefer and its founder, Stacey Schieffelin - Stacy was in the middle of a nasty lawsuit with QVC that led to a complete reinvention of the Models Prefer brand into ybf and a switch to HSN (all while keeping that famous eyebrow pencil and patented hair roller makeup-less face shtick in tact)

And number 1 for 2008 is ... drum roll please ...

1) Dave King!!!

Here today, gone tomorrow. This well-loved host just disappeared without a word from QVC--not even a Bob Bowersox-style hostage video. I guess they just figured no one would notice??? In any case, he had many fans who missed him and didn't appreciate the treatment he got.

Here's a great video of Dave, great host and an all-around stand up kind of guy:



You can also check him out in his new job as a consumer electronics expert here.

Bob Bowersox Blast from the Past

Here's a video from Bob's first day ... and you might recognize a few other folks too! And I have to say that Bob looks better with age. Those glasses are not doing him any favors.



BTW, I am trying to find the goodbye video of Bob from Sunday. I didn't Tivo it and QVC has hidden it away in the vault. If anyone has this recorded, please email me at homeshoppingqueen@gmail.com. I promise to keep you anonymous!

Bob Bowersox Gone!

I'm supposed to be on Christmas break! Ugh! Anyway, looks like Bob Bowersox is gone ... retired ... let go ... contract not renewed ... quit ... I don't know yet. I'm trying to make cookies in Queen Bea's Kitchen, people!

In a touching video, Bob said that he wanted to pursue other avenues. Check out this post from a few months back about his other work. Some of it is really funny and some of it is ... ahem ... a little "sexy."

Even though there was a video, the whole thing seems rather strange and hastily put together. Wouldn't they want to stretch out the goodbye?

Personally, I think that he was fired or they just decided "not to renew his contract." If he were leaving because he wanted to go, there would have been a live "party" worthy of his 22 years with the "QVC Family."

I hope that all is well with his daughter (she has special needs) and that the recent credits listed on IMDB mean that he really does have other irons in the fire.

As to the now open Sunday kitchen show ... I vote for Antonella Nester!

ETA:

Bob has made the news and gossip sites. Go Bob!

Also, based on the QVC Programming Guide, it looks like this was a sudden departure. In the Kitchen with Bob is scheduled through 1/11/09.

Bob Bowersox was ranked the number 3 search on Google for December 21, 2008. Wow! I bet the Q never thought that would happen.

ETA: CHECK OUT BOB'S GOODBYE VIDEO.

Today's Blue Plate Special ... Burn Your Fanny Pack!

QVC’s TSV is a Tignanello Pebble Leather Crossbody Organizer Bag w/ Key Fob. This bag is perfect for travel or keeping your hands free when you’re going to the store with the kids, without resorting to a fanny pack (boo! hiss!). It’s like a high-end leather version of the popular Travelon bags.

Obviously it’s not nearly big enough for me to use on a daily basis—I like purses that are barely small enough to pass as carry-on luggage—but I’d definitely use it for going to a concert or an amusement park. No fanny packs for Queen Bea!

HSN’s TS is the GreenPan with Thermolon Top Choice Set with Bakeware from hottie chef, Todd English, and Wonder Woman, Joy Mangano. I love the idea of the GreenPan line—safe, durable, and can withstand high heat, but there are lots of mixed reviews and complaints that it isn’t really nonstick.

I wonder if maybe they haven’t perfected the technology yet or the manufacturing isn’t consistent. I don’t know, but there has to be a reason that the reviews are all over the board. Like Bob Bowersox, I’ll be sticking with the stainless steel for now. Check out Bob’s acting chops here.
ShopNBC’s OTV is a 14K Gold 18" Gemstone Choice Necklace. This is cute I guess, but the faceted beads remind me of the beaded doorway hangers that were popular in the seventies—think Brady Bunch.

You'll Never Believe What's in Bob's Cabinet!

Bob Bowersox is a man of many, many talents. I had no idea. This is an audition for The Interior, which claims to have conducted the world's first completely open, online casting call. I believe this was posted by Bob himself:




You can read Bob's comments about The Interior here.

If you want to watch more of Bob in various acting roles, go to his website here. He has clips posted of all his movie roles ... and he also talks dirty! Oh my. I never thought I'd hear words like that coming out of Bob's mouth. It's just a voice over for a book, but it's just so strange ... like hearing your mom say stuff like that.

You can also listen to him reading part of his book, 48 Hours to a Stronger Marriage: Reconnect with Your Spouse and Re-Energize Your Marriage, here. I know there's all sorts of divorce rumors floating around. And, no, I don't have any answers on that front. But he did write this book because he and his wife, Toni, did have struggles that they worked through.