Entertainment

Two can Flay game

Bobby Flay and rising-star Giada DeLaurentiis are in talks to host a “Regis and Kelly”-like daily show — perhaps as soon as next year.

The red-headed chef and pretty granddaughter of famed film producer Dino DeLaurentiis each have their own shows on Food Network — and have been working together as judges on the popular “Food Network Star” competition series.

But this would be a chance for Flay, especially, to break out of the narrow confines of specialized cable and on to mainstream TV.

The show, according to sources, is being pitched to potential networks and syndicators as a new-generation “Live! With Regis and Kelly,” where the stars are more than big personalities but also established experts at something else — food.

Flay and DeLaurentiis have the same agent, Jon Rosen, who yesterday declined to comment on the proposed show.

But sources at several major TV studios says that talks are in the “very early stages.”

Flay, 47, is practically food TV royalty — along with Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen and Mario Batali — and one of New York’s best-known successful restaurateurs (including the Mesa Grill and Bar Americain).

DeLaurentiis, 41, is, by comparison, a newcomer — she started on Food Network eight years ago on a show called “Everyday Italian” — but is one of the network’s most-popular young stars.

The show — if it makes it to the air — would most likely be done out of New York, if only because Flay’s business is based here.

Shows about subjects like food, fashion and health — once confined solely to specialty cable TV channels — are now getting serious consideration by the broadcast networks and TV stations scrambling to replace soap operas and Oprah as the staples of daytime TV.

“You have to have a compelling reason to make people come to the TV set now,” says Gordon Elliott, the former TV personality who has moved behind the cameras and now produces the new, surprisingly successful ABC lifestyle show “The Chew” (which, after just three months, is drawing as many viewers as the more-expensive soap opera it replaced).

“The challenge now is to put on something useful,” he says.

It also signals a feeling within the TV business that, with Regis gone, viewers may not want to tune in to Kelly Ripa — even with a new co-host, once one is selected.

The time may be right for a new TV couple, one seasoned TV exec said yesterday.