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Claudia Marie

In article >,
wrote:

>All networks change after 20 years, especially cable channels. I
>remember watching MTV's 20th anniversary special in 2001, and a lot had
>changed since it debuted; less music videos and music-related
>programming, more reality shows. Just like MTV is now, Food Network is
>a joke. I was channel surfing last night and stumbled upon that show
>Sweet Genius; the opening of the program made it look like this guy was
>some heaven-sent luminary, brought to Earth to teach us peons how to
>make a cake you can't eat. It was ****ing obnoxious. Shit like that
>is par for the course on FN anymore, and will continue to be until or
>unless it's overhauled.

Twenty years ago, PBS was in real trouble and FN was expected to be the
final nail in its coffin. PBS had already lost many viewers to new
networks like A&E, Discovery Channel, TLC, and so on. One of the last
things PBS had going for it was cooking shows. Then FN came to be,
featuring lots of shows hosted by folks who had been guests on Julia
Child's show and others on PBS. It was supposed to be "lights out!" for
PBS. Flash forward 20 years, PBS is still with us, still featuring
stand-and-stir cooking shows, and FN (and all the other networks that
sprang up around the same time) have moved on to reality and competition
shows.