Food Network

Big Daddy's House. Come on now. don't watch it

Semi-Homemade. Why even bother? don't watch it

Down Home with the Neelys. How folksy can we get? never heard of it

Guy's Big Bite. He is great on Triple D, but a cooking show, not so much. I like this show and catch it when I can, he makes cooking look fun

Food Detectives. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. stupid

30 Minute Meals is still on? Still? Why? Oh, cuzz Rachel says cute things like Yum and EVOO. Gag. I watched for the first time in a long time, after the third or fourth "EVOO" I had to change it

Agreed. There are only a handful of shows now that I can watch (Alton Brown/Good Eats, Iron Chef America, Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa, Michael Chiarello/Easy Entertaining). Other than those, it's useless. The minute they no longer aired Jamie Oliver, Mario Batali, Ming Tsai and some others, I lost a lot of interest.

quote:

Big Daddy's House. Come on now.
Semi-Homemade. WILL NOT WATCH!!!!
Down Home with the Neelys. WTF!!!
Guy's Big Bite. STAY ON TRIPLE D
Food Detectives. Stupid. BORING

Even the previews of these turned me off. How they can be worse than Rachael Ray,but they are.

FW....

Agreed.

Paula Deen sort of freaks me out too. She is a little bit tooooo over-the-top country for me.

"How'd That Get on My Table" is a show I watched recently and it was ok. It was about garlic so that made it worth watching all by itself. I may tune in again.

The new show on the lineup, CHOPPED, looks like a second rate knock off of Top Chef and even the Next Food Network Star. How many of these type shows do we need anyway? 0-1 is the answer.

Alton Brown still has one of the better shows that is quirky (ya think?!) while being informative and offering some very good recipes and tips.

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"How'd That Get on My Table" is a show I watched recently and it was ok. It was about garlic so that made it worth watching all by itself. I may tune in again.

Saw it and it reminded me of a cheap take off of "Follow That Food" with Gordon Elliot.

The only shows I like to watch are:

- Anything with Giada De Laurentiis. I think she just made the MILF list.
- Bobby Flay's Throwdown
- Dinner Impossible with Michael Symon
- Alton Brown's Good Eats (sometimes)

quote:

Originally posted by BRR:
Agreed. There are only a handful of shows now that I can watch (Alton Brown/Good Eats, Iron Chef America, Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa, Michael Chiarello/Easy Entertaining). Other than those, it's useless.

That about sums it up for me. I especially like Ina Garten, though. Her recipes are simple, but tasty; and she reminds me of a good friend of mine who cooks (and who also has a husband named Jeffrey.)

Down Home with the Neelys Hey, you think my brother from another mother would ever send some ribs my way?

I like anything with Alton Brown. He is such a great food geek. I wish he would get more play on the food network.

I can not stand the Food Network. I have a bunch of old Julia Child episodes on dvd. That is a cooking show. The Food Network is the antithesis of this. It's all about teleprompters, recipes devised by a team of people you never see and some vapid host.

Giada De Laurentiis is dreamy....Yummy

Don’t get the food network anymore, but when we did we watched Barefoot, Taylor’s Ultimate, Molto Mario and Iron Chef America. Everything else wasn’t our style or was just plain bad. Rachel Ray is easily the most annoying person on TV.

quote:

Originally posted by Een:
I can not stand the Food Network. I have a bunch of old Julia Child episodes on dvd. That is a cooking show. The Food Network is the antithesis of this. It's all about teleprompters, recipes devised by a team of people you never see and some vapid host.

I prefer a lot of the food-related shows that air on the BBC. Unfortunately that means they're only in the UK, but thank god for the Internet.

only one show still interest me, and it has nothing to do with food.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/chefs/scenes-from-the-set-of.../pictures/index.html

this is better tbird

I make a point of watching Iron Chef America but beyond that, I don't waste my time...

Another..........

Yummy #2

Cellar_Fiend

You win.

quote:

Originally posted by Cellar_Fiend:
Another..........

Yummy #2

What the heck is this? Some kind of foodie snuff film?

Although I do watch Iron Chef America, the original with the James Bond-ian, megalomaniac host was still way better. The Chairman's "nephew" is an actor. I've seen him in a couple z-grade movies.

I never really "got" the Iron Chef series. It is ok., but nothing I relish watching.

Highlight---I did enjoy Team Rathbun versus Iron Chef Bobby Flay though. That was very good.

Lowlight----Rachel versus Giada. Come on. Why bother? Mario really pulled his weight being paired with Rachel.

Loved last night's Iron Chef America for one special reason... I have tons of experience with *both* chefs' cooking. First time that has ever happened. While I love both chefs, the better chef deffinitely won, imo.

I can't remember if she was on Food Network or Fine Living, but I vividly remember Andres (sp) Immer. She was about 4'11" and looked like a Auschwitz victim while doing a food show.

I meet a person several years ago who claimed to be on the filming squad for her show. I do know he was in that business. But he said:
1. Any food that hit her mouth was immediately spit out. They would film her tasting, stop the camera for her to spit, and then start again as she'd fake swallowing.
2. Most items never really hit her mouth, but the filming was made to look as if it did.
3. He told of filming while she faked sipping soup out of a spoon while the spoon never got within 3 inches of her mouth. Then she'd swoon over how good the soup was.

At least on "Spain, On the Road Again", it appears as if the people are enjoying the food. But one never knows what's trick photography.

She had a show about food and wine, Pairing with Andrea or somesuch. Food always looked so so at best. It never drove us to grab the recipe, that is for sure.

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Originally posted by Sandy Fitzgerald:
At least on "Spain, On the Road Again", it appears as if the people are enjoying the food. But one never knows what's trick photography.

Take a look at Batali. Do you think any food misses his mouth?

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Originally posted by futronic:

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy Fitzgerald:
At least on "Spain, On the Road Again", it appears as if the people are enjoying the food. But one never knows what's trick photography.

Take a look at Batali. Do you think any food misses his mouth?

LOL

I thought of him when I wrote the thread, but I was mostly referring to the two beautiful thin young ladies accompaning them!

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy Fitzgerald:


At least on "Spain, On the Road Again", it appears as if the people are enjoying the food. But one never knows what's trick photography.

I have enjoyed every show I have seen.

How could you trust a chef that won't eat his/her own cooking?
Sounds like she suffers from anorexia or some similar disorder.

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Originally posted by mneeley490:
How could you trust a chef that won't eat his/her own cooking?
Sounds like she suffers from anorexia or some similar disorder.

Who are we talking about?

W+A

Andrea Immer. That was her last name, now she's married and goes by her new name. She is/was about 4'11" and weighted about 75 lbs. I described her as looking like a Auschwitz victim, anorexia is probably more fair from the reports I heard. She hasn't been on for about 1 1/2 - 2 years.

quote:

Originally posted by Sandy Fitzgerald:
W+A

Andrea Immer. That was her last name, now she's married and goes by her new name. She is/was about 4'11" and weighted about 75 lbs. I described her as looking like a Auschwitz victim, anorexia is probably more fair from the reports I heard. She hasn't been on for about 1 1/2 - 2 years.

Thanks Sandy.

I had a wine dinner with her about 5-7 years ago along with 4 other people. She was very engaging, transparent and easy to enjoy wine and dinner with.

She was single then I think, and while thin, nothing odd.

She always appeared engaging on her shows. I was just reporting what the production crews said about her. Did she actually eat anything at the wine dinner?

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Originally posted by Sandy Fitzgerald:
She always appeared engaging on her shows. I was just reporting what the production crews said about her. Did she actually eat anything at the wine dinner?

She did indeed.

She was in town putting on a cooking show, not a wine related show per se. The distributor providing the wine for the show invited me to the dinner.

I've only seen Secrets of a Restaurant Chef once, but I would be willing to watch it again. Haven't really been watching the Foodnetwork channel that much lately.

She was single then I think, and while thin, nothing odd.[/QUOTE]

Like they say, never trust a skinny chef.

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Originally posted by seanr7:

Food Detectives. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. stupid

I saw this program for the first time while at my parents' place for dinner the other night. I have to say, it really appeals to the science geek side of me. This particular episode they were exploding stuff in the microwave. Fun times!

================================

I'm late to this thread but I think Food Network is pretty weak and 10% of what it could be. There really are awful shows on there with most unwatchable to me.

Paula Dean is nails to a blackboard for me. I know I'm not her audience but yikes! Who can listen to that for 1/2 hour. She yells too!

Good Eats with "food mad scientist" Alton Brown is just weird and strange. I get the idea with him but it's pretty low grade and should be on at 1:00am. How is that show on at 8:00 at night?

Iron Chef is beyond ridiculous. You can't even see how they make anything and everything is always good to great so what does the viewer get out of the show? Food you can't cook. Didn't learn how to and will probably never see it on a menu so you'll never even get to eat anything they do? Is it the fast big knife thing? for an hour....

Bobby Flay is fine but he is so overexposed and his shows aren't that good.

I like the dishes Giada makes sometimes but I don't dig on her. Seems above you a little or comes off that she'd rather be cooking for her other rich girlfriends on the patio. The cleavage keeps me around for a few minutes though

Diners Drive ins and Dives is a nice Saturday morning hangover show and I like Guy Fieri. He fits well with it and is probably my favorite show to watch (not saying much). I certainly wouldn't eat 90% of what I see.

Barefoot Contessa can be good but I only don't like the show for a selfish reason. Her husband (the very food lucky) Jefferey just pulls up in his beamer on Friday afternoon and gets swooned over. "oh the mashed potatoes should be perfect for when Jefferey comes home" Lucky guy. Well, except the other thing I guess. but good cooks are worth 5 or 50 pounds extra I guess.

I don't think I watch or have seen much of anything else on there.

Top Chef on Bravo and Travel Channel are what I go to or cookbooks. I miss the TLC show "Take Home Chef" with the supermarket take-home hotties. Haven't seen it in a while. Now THAT's a cooking show....when they actually get down to cooking.

Paula Dean is annoying yes, Alton Brown is Awesome!!, Iron Chef - is good for what it is, Bobby Flay is a terrible chef and annoying(worst on the network), Giada - I love her and her food. Guy Fieri has a good show, and seems authentic in his enthusiasm. Barefoot Contessa -good recipes good show. Did I mention I love Giada?

I think an idea to create something called the "Culinary Network" would be a great idea. They should sign serious chefs and air just those shows. Ming Tsai, Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver and some other type shows that would all be centered around serious home chefs and foodies. I would definitely watch that! The Culinary Network could also take over Top Chef from Bravo (a fantastic show, IMO, that is clouded by the horrible trash commercials for their other insipid programming like "Real Housewives of Orange County" and others...). Wait - can I get a patent on the idea?

Food Network has made no bones about the fact that they're focusing on most home cooks (not chefs) that want fast, easy, approachable recipes for dinner on a Tuesday night. That's why I think most of us are only casual watchers and all have our strong opinions about some of the repugnant hosts.