Cooking is one thing Barbara Dooley and Ronda Rich have in common. But on their new TV show, they also share their stories and the heritage behind popular Southern dishes.

On the pilot episode of Georgia Public Broadcasting's "Dixie Divas in the Kitchen," which debuts at 2 p.m. Saturday, the two Southern storytellers also share the spotlight with other Georgia cooks sharing favorite recipes. The show will have encore presentations at 6 p.m. Sunday and 9 p.m. Dec. 26.

"For a couple of years I have done commentary for Georgia Public Radio on Southern life, and I was down there one day and they brought up the idea of doing something on the television side with me," said Ronda Rich, a Gainesville-based columnist for The Times and a best-selling author. "Then they mentioned that they were looking into doing a cooking show with Barbara Dooley, and Barbara is one of my dearest friends, so I said you should use us on the same show.

"Barbara loved the idea, I loved the idea and they loved the idea ... so we all came together and did it."

Dooley is known as a radio talk-show host, an author and as wife of former University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley.

The show's producer Mike Britt said the idea for the show actually came from an employee at GPB who is friends with both women.

"Actually, the idea originated with Herb White, who is one of our account representatives, who is an acquaintance of Ronda and Barbara," said Britt, a GPB executive producer. "Actually he had originally conceived the idea of some kind of television show with the two of them and eventually (it) turned into an idea of a cooking show and we took it a step further ... and this is how future episodes will be, basically it will be everyday Georgians and their heritage recipes and the stories behind them."

Britt said he chose both women for the show because of their outgoing personalities.

"Barbara of course being the wife of football coach Vince Dooley is a well-regarded speaker and Ronda is a nationally-syndicated writer about all things Southern," said Britt, who has worked with GPB for 11 years. "We thought they might be a good match, and sure enough when we put them together, it was like a match made in heaven.

"They're both Southern ladies, they both can relate to the South and heritage and traditions in the South."

The pilot episode airing this weekend features special guests, including radio host Dallas McCade; cookbook author Sallie Ann Robinson; food writer Elizabeth Lee; Gena Knox, chef and CEO of Athens company Fire and Flavor; and Louis Van Dyke, owner of the historic Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle.

"Dallas is the kind of cook who grows it, cans it, cooks it," Rich said.

On the pilot episode, McCade will teach the audience how to make Mexican Cornbread and Van Dyke will cook his famous Blue Willow Inn Fried Green Tomatoes.

"That's one of my all-time favorite Southern dishes," Rich said. "But the thing he does that is different is he batters his in flour, and I have always cooked mine in cornmeal. But his was so good that I'm changing to flour."

The show was filmed in front of a live studio audience and took about seven hours of taping and rehearsal for the hourlong show.

"For this being a pilot and it being a cooking show in front of a live audience, we took our time," Britt said. "We did it at the Viking store and cooking studio, and we actually used some of their folks ... sous chefs and food technicians.

"There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes on a cooking show."

According to Britt, the preparation and the cooking of the dishes is done behind the scenes while the assembly is done on air.

Some other recipes featured on the pilot episode include pound cake, shrimp and grits and rosemary Parmesan cheese straws.

The focus of the show will be Southern cooking, but Rich said she is more traditional with her cooking at home than Dooley is.

"We both are avid cooks. Now I'm the typical Southern cook because I cook with grease, and I make homemade biscuits and cornbread. And Barbara is the spa kind of cook; everything is light and healthy." Rich said. "So we are from total ends of the spectrum, and that's what's so interesting about it."