On Wed, 07 Aug 2013 12:58:32 -0400, "binta,matt"
> wrote:

> On Monday, April 24, 2006 12:19:29 PM UTC-4, Phillip wrote:
>
> >I have some comments about the Food Network that I'd like to share. I
> >would just like to say that I've been watching Food Network for many,
> >many years now along with family and friends. Lately we've all been in
> >agreement that Food Network has really been lacking the diversity of shows
> >it has. Also, some of the personalities that have their own shows really
> >irritate me. For instance, I like Rachel Ray. She's a good chef, but do
> >we really need to see her 6 times a day? And Ina Garten. That woman has
> >no personality at all! My wife and I could fall asleep watching her show.
> >Why doesn't Food Network consider removing some of these repetitive
> >programs, and removing very "blah" hosts and replacing it with some fresh
> >blood? For instance, I would love to see a show on Food Network that
> >focuses on Asian cuisine. I think that's a very huge segment that could be
> >tapped into. There just needs to be more diversity on this network in my
> >opinion.
>
> Has the Food Network gone downhill? Not sure there is a mountain big enough
> to describe this fall. What a bunch of egomaniac clowns! I cant say enough
> horrible things about this network. There are only a few shows that I still
> enjoy watching, but the BS competitions and games are imo...ridiculous. The
> cupcakes and sweets showcased throughout the holidays were beyond gross. I
> think I'm down to Giada, Ina and Ton of Butter in Savannah (only because I
> like seeing her home and making fun of her sons). Never could stand Sandra
> Ho Made from day one. What a phoney! Surely there are enough qualifed people
> to intoduce some new quality programming. I do not appreciate Cindy Crawford
> pimping her crap in the morning. How lazy and cheap can they be?
>
>
I didn't know Food Network was shown all the way over in Australia.

--
I take life with a grain of salt, a slice of lemon and a shot of tequila

"binta,matt" > wrote in message
m...
> Has the Food Network gone downhill? Not sure there is a mountain big
> enough
> to describe this fall. What a bunch of egomaniac clowns! I cant say enough
> horrible things about this network. There are only a few shows that I
> still
> enjoy watching, but the BS competitions and games are imo...ridiculous.
> The
> cupcakes and sweets showcased throughout the holidays were beyond gross. I
> think I'm down to Giada, Ina and Ton of Butter in Savannah (only because I
> like seeing her home and making fun of her sons). Never could stand Sandra
> Ho Made from day one. What a phoney! Surely there are enough qualifed
> people
> to intoduce some new quality programming. I do not appreciate Cindy
> Crawford
> pimping her crap in the morning. How lazy and cheap can they be?

I could sure do without those infomercials. If they're going to have them,
they should at least have food related products. Daughter and I do like to
watch some of them because we think they are funny. They always have that
one guy who is stupid and doesn't know how to cook or prepare anything but
is always willing to eat or drink anything they make. And the people always
look so amazed and impressed by the product. Funnier still are the people
portraying idiots who send the flood flying as they try to chop it, dump
their pasta straight into the sink trying to drain it, etc. But once we've
seen something like that once or twice, we don't want to see it again. And
those things are constantly on!

I do like watching Chopped but it does seem to be a tad repetitive too.
Give the contestants a sweet item that they have to work into a savory dish.
Then complain that the end result is too sweet. Or give them only savory
items for dessert then complain that it's not like a dessert.

On Wed, 07 Aug 2013 20:53:39 GMT, OcG4ghqWko2ZYJeO1Kiy
a> wrote:

> The FN.ca aka Cooking Channel in the US.. had some nice ones too..
> especially after FN jumped the cliff...Like the French Cooking @ Home
> with Caulder

I like French Food at Home too. There are a lot of cooking shows I
like, I just wish there were fewer competitions.... and btw, no more
"rescue" type shows. It has reached the point of saturation AFAIC.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

In article >,
"Julie Bove" > wrote:

> "binta,matt" > wrote in message
> m...
> > Has the Food Network gone downhill? Not sure there is a mountain big
> > enough
> > to describe this fall. What a bunch of egomaniac clowns! I cant say enough
> > horrible things about this network. There are only a few shows that I
> > still
> > enjoy watching, but the BS competitions and games are imo...ridiculous.
> > The
> > cupcakes and sweets showcased throughout the holidays were beyond gross. I
> > think I'm down to Giada, Ina and Ton of Butter in Savannah (only because I
> > like seeing her home and making fun of her sons). Never could stand Sandra
> > Ho Made from day one. What a phoney! Surely there are enough qualifed
> > people
> > to intoduce some new quality programming. I do not appreciate Cindy
> > Crawford
> > pimping her crap in the morning. How lazy and cheap can they be?
>
> I could sure do without those infomercials. If they're going to have them,
> they should at least have food related products.

then the infomercials on SyFy would only be for shark hunting gear or
alien probes



Daughter and I do like to
> watch some of them because we think they are funny. They always have that
> one guy who is stupid and doesn't know how to cook or prepare anything but
> is always willing to eat or drink anything they make.

and your daughter knows how to cook what?


And the people always
> look so amazed and impressed by the product. Funnier still are the people
> portraying idiots who send the flood flying as they try to chop it, dump
> their pasta straight into the sink trying to drain it, etc. But once we've
> seen something like that once or twice, we don't want to see it again. And
> those things are constantly on!
>
> I do like watching Chopped but it does seem to be a tad repetitive too.
> Give the contestants a sweet item that they have to work into a savory dish.
> Then complain that the end result is too sweet. Or give them only savory
> items for dessert then complain that it's not like a dessert.

On Wednesday, August 7, 2013 11:58:32 AM UTC-5, binta,matt wrote:
> On Monday, April 24, 2006 12:19:29 PM UTC-4, Phillip wrote:
>
>
>
> >I have some comments about the Food Network that I'd like to share. I
>
> >would just like to say that I've been watching Food Network for many,
>
> >many years now along with family and friends. Lately we've all been in
>
> >agreement that Food Network has really been lacking the diversity of shows
>
> >it has. Also, some of the personalities that have their own shows really
>
> >irritate me. For instance, I like Rachel Ray. She's a good chef, but do
>
> >we really need to see her 6 times a day? And Ina Garten. That woman has
>
> >no personality at all! My wife and I could fall asleep watching her show.
>
> >Why doesn't Food Network consider removing some of these repetitive
>
> >programs, and removing very "blah" hosts and replacing it with some fresh
>
> >blood? For instance, I would love to see a show on Food Network that
>
> >focuses on Asian cuisine. I think that's a very huge segment that could be
>
> >tapped into. There just needs to be more diversity on this network in my
>
> >opinion.
>
>
>
> Has the Food Network gone downhill? Not sure there is a mountain big enough
>
> to describe this fall. What a bunch of egomaniac clowns! I cant say enough
>
> horrible things about this network. There are only a few shows that I still
>
> enjoy watching, but the BS competitions and games are imo...ridiculous. The
>
> cupcakes and sweets showcased throughout the holidays were beyond gross. I
>
> think I'm down to Giada, Ina and Ton of Butter in Savannah (only because I
>
> like seeing her home and making fun of her sons). Never could stand Sandra
>
> Ho Made from day one. What a phoney! Surely there are enough qualifed people
>
> to intoduce some new quality programming. I do not appreciate Cindy Crawford
>
> pimping her crap in the morning. How lazy and cheap can they be?


Let me join the rank of the other assholes here who are commenting on SEVEN YEAR OLD THREAD. Good grief, are we bored a bit, Matt??????????????

Brown has a new show starting next week, "Cutthroat Kitchen." It appears to be a competition with twists and tricks.

N.

In article >,
"Malcom \"Mal\" Reynolds" > wrote:

> In article >,
> "Julie Bove" > wrote:
>
> > "binta,matt" > wrote in message
> > m...
> > > Has the Food Network gone downhill? Not sure there is a mountain big
> > > enough
> > > to describe this fall. What a bunch of egomaniac clowns! I cant say enough
> > > horrible things about this network. There are only a few shows that I
> > > still
> > > enjoy watching, but the BS competitions and games are imo...ridiculous.
> > > The
> > > cupcakes and sweets showcased throughout the holidays were beyond gross. I
> > > think I'm down to Giada, Ina and Ton of Butter in Savannah (only because I
> > > like seeing her home and making fun of her sons). Never could stand Sandra
> > > Ho Made from day one. What a phoney! Surely there are enough qualifed
> > > people
> > > to intoduce some new quality programming. I do not appreciate Cindy
> > > Crawford
> > > pimping her crap in the morning. How lazy and cheap can they be?
> >
> > I could sure do without those infomercials. If they're going to have them,
> > they should at least have food related products.
>
> then the infomercials on SyFy would only be for shark hunting gear or
> alien probes

Syfy shows mostly wrestling

--
Wait - are you saying that ClodReamer was wrong, or lying?

> On Monday, April 24, 2006 12:19:29 PM UTC-4, Phillip wrote:
>
>> >I have some comments about the Food Network that I'd like to share. I
>> >would just like to say that I've been watching Food Network for many,
>> >many years now along with family and friends. Lately we've all been in
>> >agreement that Food Network has really been lacking the diversity of shows
>> >it has. Also, some of the personalities that have their own shows really
>> >irritate me. For instance, I like Rachel Ray. She's a good chef, but do
>> >we really need to see her 6 times a day? And Ina Garten. That woman has
>> >no personality at all! My wife and I could fall asleep watching her show.
>> >Why doesn't Food Network consider removing some of these repetitive
>> >programs, and removing very "blah" hosts and replacing it with some fresh
>> >blood? For instance, I would love to see a show on Food Network that
>> >focuses on Asian cuisine. I think that's a very huge segment that could be
>> >tapped into. There just needs to be more diversity on this network in my
>> >opinion.

I think that's the goal of "The Next Food Network Star", to keep
bringing in new perspectives. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. Guy
Fieri to me is mundane and I really don't enjoy watching DDD.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

On 8/7/2013 9:27 PM, wrote:

> Let me join the rank of the other assholes here who are commenting on
> SEVEN YEAR OLD THREAD. Good grief, are we bored a bit,
> Matt??????????????

LOL I didn't notice.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

On 8/7/2013 9:42 PM, Nancy2 wrote:

> Brown has a new show starting next week, "Cutthroat Kitchen." It
> appears to be a competition with twists and tricks.
>
> N.
>
I'm looking forward to that one.

--
CAPSLOCK–Preventing Login Since 1980.

"Cheryl" > wrote in message
eb.com...
> On 8/7/2013 9:27 PM, wrote:
>
>> Let me join the rank of the other assholes here who are commenting on
>> SEVEN YEAR OLD THREAD. Good grief, are we bored a bit,
>> Matt??????????????
>
> LOL I didn't notice.

I thought it looked familiar but didn't look at the date. Guess it's still
going downhill.

"Nancy2" > wrote in message
...
> Brown has a new show starting next week, "Cutthroat Kitchen." It appears
> to be a competition with twists and tricks.

I will watch it just because I like him!

"Cheryl" > wrote in message
eb.com...

> I think that's the goal of "The Next Food Network Star", to keep bringing
> in new perspectives. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. Guy Fieri to me
> is mundane and I really don't enjoy watching DDD.

Yeah. I could live without that show.

What happened to that geeky faux Alton guy from NY? I liked him but I don't
recall seeing his show. Didn't see Arti's show either but only because it
aired a time when I was not home.

In article >,
anim8rFSK > wrote:

> In article >,
> "Malcom \"Mal\" Reynolds" > wrote:
>
> > In article >,
> > "Julie Bove" > wrote:
> >
> > > "binta,matt" > wrote in message
> > > m...
> > > > Has the Food Network gone downhill? Not sure there is a mountain big
> > > > enough
> > > > to describe this fall. What a bunch of egomaniac clowns! I cant say
> > > > enough
> > > > horrible things about this network. There are only a few shows that I
> > > > still
> > > > enjoy watching, but the BS competitions and games are imo...ridiculous.
> > > > The
> > > > cupcakes and sweets showcased throughout the holidays were beyond
> > > > gross. I
> > > > think I'm down to Giada, Ina and Ton of Butter in Savannah (only
> > > > because I
> > > > like seeing her home and making fun of her sons). Never could stand
> > > > Sandra
> > > > Ho Made from day one. What a phoney! Surely there are enough qualifed
> > > > people
> > > > to intoduce some new quality programming. I do not appreciate Cindy
> > > > Crawford
> > > > pimping her crap in the morning. How lazy and cheap can they be?
> > >
> > > I could sure do without those infomercials. If they're going to have
> > > them,
> > > they should at least have food related products.
> >
> > then the infomercials on SyFy would only be for shark hunting gear or
> > alien probes
>
> Syfy shows mostly wrestling

then they should mostly advertise clown schools

In article >,
says...
>
> On Wed, 07 Aug 2013 20:53:39 GMT, OcG4ghqWko2ZYJeO1Kiy
> a> wrote:
>
> > The FN.ca aka Cooking Channel in the US.. had some nice ones too..
> > especially after FN jumped the cliff...Like the French Cooking @ Home
> > with Caulder
>
> I like French Food at Home too. There are a lot of cooking shows I
> like, I just wish there were fewer competitions.... and btw, no more
> "rescue" type shows. It has reached the point of saturation AFAIC.

I so agree. There are two cooking shows I enjoy - one is Good Eats and
the other is on PBS called America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Country.

The reason is that both tend to disect the problems and test until the
recipe is right on.

But yes, French Food at Home is good too.

Well, that's odd because the viewers are picking the winner this time....

N.

Syfy also shows the series "Faceoff," which is entertaining...a competition among make up artists, centered around sci-fi or fantasy creatures.

N.

On Sat, 10 Aug 2013 08:32:32 -0700 (PDT), Nancy2
> wrote:

> Well, that's odd because the viewers are picking the winner this time....
>
The winner of what - The Next Food Network star? I was watching it on
and off, but they eliminated my favorite. I don't know why they told
her she was guarded on camera. I loved her on screen presence.

They already have the Sandwich King and the Pie Guy's show sounds like
a cheap knock off of that one, so if the audience is voting I'd vote
for Southern Girl Makes Nerdy Guys Irresistible.


--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

In article >,
sf > wrote:

> On Sat, 10 Aug 2013 08:32:32 -0700 (PDT), Nancy2
> > wrote:
>
> > Well, that's odd because the viewers are picking the winner this time....
> >
> The winner of what - The Next Food Network star? I was watching it on
> and off, but they eliminated my favorite. I don't know why they told
> her she was guarded on camera. I loved her on screen presence.
>
> They already have the Sandwich King and the Pie Guy's show sounds like
> a cheap knock off of that one, so if the audience is voting I'd vote
> for Southern Girl Makes Nerdy Guys Irresistible.

which automatically means it has chosen to ignore half of the viewing
audience

I gave them the cold shoulder boycott when the commie liberals who run the place started afflicting my girlfriend Paula Deen. Had noticed prior to that they were adding more lisping and swishing homo hosts to the line up. Yes we dont pay that place any mind anymore. Now I still like Alton but when he shows up with his personal spouse named Brucie..that deal will be past tense too.

Well, what would that have to do with it?

The show is wildly entertaining to me. It's surreal in its content. At least I can get a laugh. Bearfoot Contessa blah or another sandwich? No!!

SL is great entertainment. "Table scape." That's great.

Well, what would that have to do with it?

The show is wildly entertaining to me. It's surreal in its content. At least I can get a laugh. Bearfoot Contessa blah or another sandwich? No!!

SL is great entertainment. "Table scape." That's great.

Always poppin' open a can of "crap in a can; she's Onion quality humor.

wrote:

>I think that's the goal of "The Next Food Network Star", to keep
>bringing in new perspectives. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. Guy
>Fieri to me is mundane and I really don't enjoy watching DDD.

I have finally figured out why FN has gone so far down the hill and I
will use Food Network Star as my reasoning. They had one really good
season: Guy Fieri's year and he became successful (whether you like him
or not) and then they started selecting really poor "stars" and there
became the problem. They had a bad selection so the next year they had to
select someone even worse so that the previous year's selection looked
"slightly" less bad. No where is that more true than the last three
seasons. Jeff Mauro was awful and even though his show is still on, look
who he followed: Aaron McCargo, Melissa D'Arabian and Aarti. Aarti was
probably the best of the three but her POV didn't go far. So we have Jeff
who was really miserable but his opponents on the show were even worse.
Then we have that treasure of the Miracle Gro world: Justin. Talk about a
real downer, but he did fulfill the function of making Jeff look better.
At least, Jeff had a series, not a special. And now we have the losers of
this year. It's not easy to find someone to make Justin look better, but
with Rodney and Stacey, I think they've done it. What scares me is that
with this philosophy to always find something worse to make your present
programming look better, what can we expect next from FN? Maybe that's
why we're getting Cutthroat Kitchen, The Shed, and Food Court Wars.

wrote:
>On Monday, April 24, 2006 12:19:29 PM UTC-4, Phillip wrote:

>>I have some comments about the Food Network that I'd like to share. I
>>would just like to say that I've been watching Food Network for many,
>>many years now along with family and friends. Lately we've all been in
>>agreement that Food Network has really been lacking the diversity of shows
>>it has. Also, some of the personalities that have their own shows really
>>irritate me. For instance, I like Rachel Ray. She's a good chef, but do
>>we really need to see her 6 times a day? And Ina Garten. That woman has
>>no personality at all! My wife and I could fall asleep watching her show.
>>Why doesn't Food Network consider removing some of these repetitive
>>programs, and removing very "blah" hosts and replacing it with some fresh
>>blood? For instance, I would love to see a show on Food Network that
>>focuses on Asian cuisine. I think that's a very huge segment that could be
>>tapped into. There just needs to be more diversity on this network in my
>>opinion.
>
>Has the Food Network gone downhill? Not sure there is a mountain big
>enough to describe this fall. What a bunch of egomaniac clowns! I cant
>say enough horrible things about this network. There are only a few
>shows that I still enjoy watching, but the BS competitions and games are
>imo...ridiculous. The cupcakes and sweets showcased throughout the holidays
>were beyond gross. I think I'm down to Giada, Ina and Ton of Butter in
>Savannah (only because I like seeing her home and making fun of her sons).
>Never could stand Sandra Ho Made from day one. What a phoney! Surely there
>are enough qualifed people to intoduce some new quality programming. I do
>not appreciate Cindy Crawford pimping her crap in the morning. How lazy and
>cheap can they be?

Over the past 12-18 months my viewing of this channel has gone own about 50%. I
dislike the shows that are all "personality and chat" and light on the cooking
technique and education and interesting recipies. I would love to see more shows
bout technique and recipies. Cook's Country and America's test kitchen are great
shows but play on my local PBS station. I did watch one of Tricia Yearwoods
shows and, surprisingly, thought it was good and the recipies interesting. I'll
catch another show. I watched some of the popular pioneer woman shoes and most
of the recipies were things I already did or could find in my church league
cookbooks - not a lot of new stuff but a lot of silly comments to the camera. I
wish Sara moulton had a show again. As long as food network keeps stressing
personality over food I think it is producing shows at a lower level than it
could. I get that viewers won't watch someone with a bad personality, but the
chef shouldn't overshadow the show content which should be about recipies, food
and educating viewers. I really don't want to hear a lot about the chef's
personal stories.

In article >, wrote:
>"Cheryl" > wrote:
>
>> I think that's the goal of "The Next Food Network Star", to keep
>> bringing in new perspectives. Sometimes they work, sometimes not.
>> Guy Fieri to me is mundane and I really don't enjoy watching DDD.
>
>Yeah. I could live without that show.
>
>What happened to that geeky faux Alton guy from NY? I liked him but I
>don't recall seeing his show. Didn't see Arti's show either but only
>because it aired a time when I was not home.

I just saw a commercial for an upcoming new show called "the Shed" (I
think) which appears to be about some wacky southern family and will
involved their antics and a little about cooking. This appears to be a
new low for the network. It looks awful and not something that should be
on a food network.
From the competition food shows though, I've seen that the judges
encourage the contestants to share personal stories, show lots of
personality and amp up their performances while the food, techniques,
sharing cooking tips and unique recipies seems secondary. I'm assuming
the judges know what gets in viewers and I must be in the minority. I
like the emphasis on food, good and unique recipies, technique, etc.
while I guess what brings in viewers is overbearing personality, smiling
continually at the camera and old recipies that can often be found in old
church or community cookbooks.
I've been watching less of the food network shows, and more on PBS and
the Cooking Channel. Cooks Country and America's test kitchen. Giada and
barefoot contessa still offers interesting food tips, recipies, etc. but
over all Food Network has been going downhill for a while and the
downward slide continues. It's unfortunate.

In article > ,
wrote:
>On Monday, April 24, 2006 12:19:29 PM UTC-4, Phillip wrote:
>
>>I have some comments about the Food Network that I'd like to share. I
>>would just like to say that I've been watching Food Network for many,
>>many years now along with family and friends. Lately we've all been in
>>agreement that Food Network has really been lacking the diversity of
>>shows it has. Also, some of the personalities that have their own shows
>>really irritate me. For instance, I like Rachel Ray. She's a good chef,
>>but do we really need to see her 6 times a day? And Ina Garten. That woman
>>has no personality at all! My wife and I could fall asleep watching her
>>show. Why doesn't Food Network consider removing some of these repetitive
>>programs, and removing very "blah" hosts and replacing it with some
>>fresh blood? For instance, I would love to see a show on Food Network that
>>focuses on Asian cuisine. I think that's a very huge segment that
>>could be tapped into. There just needs to be more diversity on this network
>>in my opinion.
>
>Has the Food Network gone downhill? Not sure there is a mountain big
>enough to describe this fall. What a bunch of egomaniac clowns! I cant say
>enough horrible things about this network. There are only a few shows that I
>still enjoy watching, but the BS competitions and games are imo...ridiculous.
>The cupcakes and sweets showcased throughout the holidays were beyond gross.
>I think I'm down to Giada, Ina and Ton of Butter in Savannah (only because
>I like seeing her home and making fun of her sons). Never could stand
>Sandra Ho Made from day one. What a phoney! Surely there are enough qualifed
>people to intoduce some new quality programming. I do not appreciate Cindy
>Crawford pimping her crap in the morning. How lazy and cheap can they be?

I just read an article that says that HGTV surpassed FN in overall viewership
the last quarter. They are attributing it to the active home sales market, but
I'm not entirely sure the general Food Network programming has nothing to do
with it.

Odd, I seem to be in agreement with most of the posters in this
thread. I hate the "reality" competitions. Who cares when you can't
taste the food? I watch shows to learn, either with well described
techniques, new ingredients, why certain methods are used etc. The
chef's personality is important, but not more so than the show
content.

If they want a reality type show that will get a good audience, maybe
even me, how about putting the ingredients on one table, arming the
contestants with cleavers, large chef's knives and larding needles,
and have them each try to grab the best ingredients. Now that might
be fun. (Where's Benny Hill when you need him?)

http://www.richardfisher.com

On Mon, 12 Aug 2013 17:00:26 -0700, Michael Spikes
> wrote:

> From the competition food shows though, I've seen that the judges
> encourage the contestants to share personal stories, show lots of
> personality and amp up their performances while the food, techniques,
> sharing cooking tips and unique recipies seems secondary. I'm assuming
> the judges know what gets in viewers and I must be in the minority. I
> like the emphasis on food, good and unique recipies, technique, etc.

You might be in the minority, but you're by no means alone. I want
good old fashioned cooking shows too. That's why I like Kelsey's
Essentials, but get too many of those and you'll have people
complaining about how FN/Cooking is always talking down to them.

> while I guess what brings in viewers is overbearing personality, smiling
> continually at the camera and old recipies that can often be found in old
> church or community cookbooks.

Old fashioned recipes aren't the problem, they're fine - if they have
been tested and updated. I hate all those competitions. I watch
Chopped every now and then, but it's not anything that I'm
particularly interested in. I don't use weird ingredients when I cook
and have no desire to start, so why would I want to watch it on TV?
That new Alton Brown show has even less appeal, but people are talking
about it here already - so apparently somebody is watching those
things as much as they say here that they aren't interested in
competitions and complain about FN going downhill.

> I've been watching less of the food network shows, and more on PBS and
> the Cooking Channel. Cooks Country and America's test kitchen.

Cooking Channel is okay, but it hasn't grabbed my attention any more
than FN. PBS is still clunky and the cooking shows are still more
about selling the star's latest cookbook than giving us instant access
to a recipe we just watched. I'm usually sitting at my computer when
the show is on, so I like to look at the recipe while they make it
because there are verbal tips that don't make it into the recipe and
often small things change from the demonstration to the written recipe
and I like to make a note of them as they come up if I have any
intention of making that recipe sometime.

> Giada and
> barefoot contessa still offers interesting food tips, recipies, etc. but
> over all Food Network has been going downhill for a while and the
> downward slide continues. It's unfortunate.
>
I like them too. I also like Bobby Flay, not Throwdown (I guess that
pioneered the competition genre in America) or Iron Chef, but when
he's doing his demonstration cooking shows like Grill It and Brunch at
Bobby's. He's one heck of a chef, so make it a point to eat in one of
his restaurants if you ever get a chance because if you ever do,
you'll understand why he's such a bigwig on FN.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On 8/14/2013 9:43 AM, Helpful person wrote:
> Odd, I seem to be in agreement with most of the posters in this
> thread. I hate the "reality" competitions. Who cares when you can't
> taste the food? I watch shows to learn, either with well described
> techniques, new ingredients, why certain methods are used etc. The
> chef's personality is important, but not more so than the show
> content.
>
> If they want a reality type show that will get a good audience, maybe
> even me, how about putting the ingredients on one table, arming the
> contestants with cleavers, large chef's knives and larding needles,
> and have them each try to grab the best ingredients. Now that might
> be fun. (Where's Benny Hill when you need him?)
>
> http://www.richardfisher.com
>

I despise the competitions as well, and I've never liked Iron Chef from
the original iteration forward.

That's why cooking channel wins out every night in this household.

On 8/14/2013 10:13 AM, sf wrote:
> Cooking Channel is okay, but it hasn't grabbed my attention any more
> than FN.

Here we must disagree, cooking channel while not perfect is always above
FN when it comes to viewing.

PBS takes the lead however.

On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 05:08:41 -0500, "Maria Portillo"
> wrote:

> I just read an article that says that HGTV surpassed FN in overall viewership
> the last quarter. They are attributing it to the active home sales market, but
> I'm not entirely sure the general Food Network programming has nothing to do
> with it.

They're two completely different styles of television. One is food
oriented, the other is shelter oriented. People need a place to live,
so HGTV has shows about finding rentals, first homes, vacation homes,
moving from one place to another, remodeling, even Curb Appeal... it
covers ever aspect of peoples lives. If the economy had gotten any
worse, they probably would have had one about bunking on a friend's
couch... which was a lot more common than anyone likes to admit.

How many people really and truly love to cook so much and has such a
broad palate that they want to vary what they cook wildly? Even on
this ng, we have people who can't/won't eat a variety of food, are
perfectly okay with making a huge cauldron of food and eating the same
thing all week long etc, and have dislikes they are so emphatic about
that they call them names (like soaplantro or dirt chunks) in an
attempt to belittle others who do like it, etc childishly boring etc.

After having participated on this ng since the '90s, I can see why FN
is the way it is. Even here, there are few people who love to cook or
even to eat a wide variety of food; so shows like that new Alton Brown
abomination will be discussed to great length. Real cooking will be
ignored because of all the juvenile personalities here who jump all
over any part of a recipe that doesn't meet with their stamp of
approval, but still feel the need to follow any recipe they are
presented with verbatim instead of acting like an adult, using is as
an inspiration and changing it to suit their own personal needs or
preferences. That's why it's so predictable here and rfc is a great
example of they FN has gone to the dogs.

BTW: my city came to the cable game late, sometime in the '80s. I'd
been reading about FN here for years and was quite eager to finally
watch it, but what I saw was only a faint representation of what
people claimed it to be here... so maybe they started complaining
about what it used to be just to sound like they knew something the
rest of us didn't. I don't know, I don't care. All I know is FN has
a few shows I don't mind watching. Nothing is appointment TV for me,
but when I'm watching a FN show, I can find the recipes *easily* and
that's all I ask.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 08:43:45 -0700 (PDT), Helpful person
> wrote:

> If they want a reality type show that will get a good audience, maybe
> even me, how about putting the ingredients on one table, arming the
> contestants with cleavers, large chef's knives and larding needles,
> and have them each try to grab the best ingredients. Now that might
> be fun. (Where's Benny Hill when you need him?)

I thought that's what they do on shows like Chopped. They have a
limited number of items "everyone" will want, so the first person to
the ice cream maker gets it and anyone else who wanted it has to
figure out what else to do. On one recent show, a contestant grabbed
the honey. He didn't need it; but he made another contestant who did
need it have to ask. If he had really needed it, she would have had
to figure out an alternative ingredient. I hate that kind of sh*t....
but apparently the new Alton Brown show will be like that only worse.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

In article >,
"Adrian AGillian > wrote:

> wrote:
>
> >I think that's the goal of "The Next Food Network Star", to keep
> >bringing in new perspectives. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. Guy
> >Fieri to me is mundane and I really don't enjoy watching DDD.
>
> I have finally figured out why FN has gone so far down the hill and I
> will use Food Network Star as my reasoning. They had one really good
> season: Guy Fieri's year and he became successful (whether you like him
> or not) and then they started selecting really poor "stars" and there
> became the problem. They had a bad selection so the next year they had to
> select someone even worse so that the previous year's selection looked
> "slightly" less bad. No where is that more true than the last three
> seasons. Jeff Mauro was awful and even though his show is still on, look
> who he followed: Aaron McCargo, Melissa D'Arabian and Aarti. Aarti was
> probably the best of the three but her POV didn't go far. So we have Jeff
> who was really miserable but his opponents on the show were even worse.
> Then we have that treasure of the Miracle Gro world: Justin. Talk about a
> real downer, but he did fulfill the function of making Jeff look better.
> At least, Jeff had a series, not a special. And now we have the losers of
> this year. It's not easy to find someone to make Justin look better, but
> with Rodney and Stacey, I think they've done it. What scares me is that
> with this philosophy to always find something worse to make your present
> programming look better, what can we expect next from FN? Maybe that's
> why we're getting Cutthroat Kitchen, The Shed, and Food Court Wars.

Only problem? Guy wasn't first. The "Hardy Boys" were the first winners
of the FNS show. I believe they had a couple of seasons and published a
cookbook. Clearly the producers stink at choosing "stars" though when
after 10 seasons they only have one star and a few with flagging shows
that never made it into the prime time schedule.

I think the problem is that the decision makers think personality trumps
skill and not only have hired too many of the former but have fired far
too many of the latter (think David Rosengarten, Ming Tsai, Mario
Batalli, Sara Moulton et al)

marcella

On Wednesday, August 14, 2013 12:38:48 PM UTC-4, sf wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 08:43:45 -0700 (PDT), Helpful person
>
> > If they want a reality type show that will get a good audience, maybe
> > even me, how about putting the ingredients on one table, arming the
> > contestants with cleavers, large chef's knives and larding needles,
> > and have them each try to grab the best ingredients. Now that might
> > be fun. (Where's Benny Hill when you need him?)
>
> I thought that's what they do on shows like Chopped. They have a
> limited number of items "everyone" will want, so the first person to
> the ice cream maker gets it and anyone else who wanted it has to
> figure out what else to do. On one recent show, a contestant grabbed
> the honey. He didn't need it; but he made another contestant who did
> need it have to ask. If he had really needed it, she would have had
> to figure out an alternative ingredient. I hate that kind of sh*t....
>
> Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On chopped they don't use cleavers, large knives
and needles to fend off the other contestants.

http://www.richardfisher.com

On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:30:12 -0600, casa bona > wrote:

> On 8/14/2013 10:13 AM, sf wrote:
> > Cooking Channel is okay, but it hasn't grabbed my attention any more
> > than FN.
>
> Here we must disagree, cooking channel while not perfect is always above
> FN when it comes to viewing.
>
> PBS takes the lead however.

I'd be more interested in PBS if their interface was better. First
you have to pick your local PBS channel and then you have to figure
out where the show is located on that PBS site, then you have to find
the recipe... which is usually on a different web site that you have
to search for by name, which you hope you got right from the show.
Bah. I don't have the patience for that nonsense. I want to easily
find the date and time, then go to the show, which has a direct link
to the recipe. FN and Cooking does it right. PBS does not.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 09:39:35 -0700, Marcella Peek
> wrote:

> I think the problem is that the decision makers think personality trumps
> skill and not only have hired too many of the former but have fired far
> too many of the latter (think David Rosengarten, Ming Tsai, Mario
> Batalli, Sara Moulton et al)

Isn't this like every other business where the more expensive
employees get dumped so two less expensive employees can be hired to
replace them for the same amount of money?

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

On 8/14/2013 10:39 AM, Marcella Peek wrote:
> I think the problem is that the decision makers think personality trumps
> skill and not only have hired too many of the former but have fired far
> too many of the latter (think David Rosengarten, Ming Tsai, Mario
> Batalli, Sara Moulton et al)
>
> marcella

Toss in Emeril while we're at it, and I kind of like jack McDavid who
was Bobby Flay's co-host on Cooking and Grilling.

On 8/14/2013 1:32 PM, sf wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 10:30:12 -0600, casa bona > wrote:
>
>> On 8/14/2013 10:13 AM, sf wrote:
>>> Cooking Channel is okay, but it hasn't grabbed my attention any more
>>> than FN.
>>
>> Here we must disagree, cooking channel while not perfect is always above
>> FN when it comes to viewing.
>>
>> PBS takes the lead however.
>
> I'd be more interested in PBS if their interface was better. First
> you have to pick your local PBS channel and then you have to figure
> out where the show is located on that PBS site, then you have to find
> the recipe... which is usually on a different web site that you have
> to search for by name, which you hope you got right from the show.
> Bah. I don't have the patience for that nonsense. I want to easily
> find the date and time, then go to the show, which has a direct link
> to the recipe. FN and Cooking does it right. PBS does not.
>

I grant you that for both networks.

I love the Pepin show, but I have to do the website hopping to get to
the recipes, which reside, iirc on KQED - your local PBS station?

On 8/14/2013 1:36 PM, sf wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 09:39:35 -0700, Marcella Peek
> > wrote:
>
>> I think the problem is that the decision makers think personality trumps
>> skill and not only have hired too many of the former but have fired far
>> too many of the latter (think David Rosengarten, Ming Tsai, Mario
>> Batalli, Sara Moulton et al)
>
> Isn't this like every other business where the more expensive
> employees get dumped so two less expensive employees can be hired to
> replace them for the same amount of money?
>

Lol, yes.

On Wed, 14 Aug 2013 15:07:59 -0600, casa bona > wrote:

> I love the Pepin show, but I have to do the website hopping to get to
> the recipes, which reside, iirc on KQED - your local PBS station?

Correct.

--
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.