Food Network USA: my conclusion

Turned on the Food Network tonight, Tuesday, watched for 15 minutes, turned it off. My conclusion: Food Network tonight, one more contest from which I learn nothing.

Geo

edited exactly once

I agree..been watching the Cooking Channel more..some of it is old FN shows but the majority of the shows on there are more instructional...just like how Food Network used to be..

IMHO, the only thing worth watching on FN is Good Eats.

Everything else, it seems, is geared to the lowest intellectual common demoninator.

Dont get me started on Aunt Sandy and The Next Food Network Star show.

I just recently found the cooking channel on Wisconsin Cable and have been enjoying that in its place.

(I'm embarassed to say that I sent in a video for TNFNS when they were asking for videos for season one.)

I love foodnetwork for shows like Barefoot Contessa and Secrets of a Restaurant Chef but all those competitions get on my nerves. I don't think I should have to pay comcast extra to watch the cooking channel because I want shows about the process of cooking when I already pay for Foodnetwork. Foodnetwork Canada > Foodnetwork USA any day of the week!

j0emv—I spend 7 months of the year in Montréal, and I'm here to tell you that you're exactly right: Food.ca tv is infinitely better than food.USA tv. I actually *learn* things when I watch the Food Network up there.

Geo

I used to love the food network back in the day when Sara Moulton had her Cooking Live show. Now, I skip over 95% of it's televised content and just check out the snark on http://www.foodnetworkhumor.com. The women running this site do hysterical write-ups of all the bad shows on FN.

Does anybody like any of the shows on the Food Network? I mentioned watching Amy Schumer's cooking show, and one person gave it an okay review, and the rest of the people that saw it did not care for it. I personally enjoy watching the cooking shows on PBS a lot better.

NFriday wrote:Does anybody like any of the shows on the Food Network? I mentioned watching Amy Schumer's cooking show, and one person gave it an okay review, and the rest of the people that saw it did not care for it. I personally enjoy watching the cooking shows on PBS a lot better.

DDD is a great show that highlights local spots all across the country. I know its hip to bash the guy but Guy Fieri gets way too much unnecessary flack imo.

Also, beat Bobby flay is something mindless that I can have on in the background. A side benefit is it gives me ideas on meals to cook in a short period of time.

BTW, I'm sure there isn't a big market for this, but I would love if networks released the full version of timed cooking competitions. So you got a 20 minute quickfire challenge going? Show me the uncut version of chefs cooking without any commentary. Post that online and I would eat that up, pun intended.

NFriday wrote:Does anybody like any of the shows on the Food Network? I mentioned watching Amy Schumer's cooking show, and one person gave it an okay review, and the rest of the people that saw it did not care for it. I personally enjoy watching the cooking shows on PBS a lot better.

I think it depends on what time you watch at. The Food Network, especially during evening hours, has become so game show/competition heavy that I find I watch less and less. Not a GGG fan, nor supermarket stake out, cake/cupcake wars, etc. I can watch Chopped in small batches, Beat Bobby Flay is OK but really edited down to be about the competition and not much about the cooking. I tend to veer towards Cooking Channel, as they show more of the "cooking" shows, though that being said I can't watch Carnival eats, anything with Ali Kahn and I abhor the new host of Man V Food. On Sat & Sun when Food Network actually airs some cooking shows it's OK.

In regards to Amy Schumer, I have a hard time getting past my dislike for her and her shtick.

Bon Appetit on YouTube is far better for actual cooking tips while Netflix's content (e.g. Street Food, Chef's Table, Ugly Delicious, Taco Chronicles, Chef Show and even the schticky Somebody Feed Phil and Crazy Delicious) is far superior to Food Network

I haven't watched Food Network in at least a decade, probably longer. There were some points in the past when their programming decisions made it clear that they were more focused on being generally entertaining than being informational or educational. I don't begrudge them this, as it is, after all, the goal of broadcasting to bring in as big an audience as possible. But that's when I realized that the channel was no longer for me. But when they were narrow-casting back in the day, it was a great channel. I still remember some of those old shows and on-camera talent fondly.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:I haven't watched Food Network in at least a decade, probably longer. There were some points in the past when their programming decisions made it clear that they were more focused on being generally entertaining than being informational or educational. I don't begrudge them this, as it is, after all, the goal of broadcasting to bring in as big an audience as possible. But that's when I realized that the channel was no longer for me. But when they were narrow-casting back in the day, it was a great channel. I still remember some of those old shows and on-camera talent fondly.

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I watched east meets west and hot off the grill w Bobby flay religiously in college. I'm sure it's pedestrian stuff nowadays but that got me interested in cooking in the first place.

The channel definitely doesn't have the same type of content but yeah they're not trying to attract this audience. Can't blame em.

thetrob wrote:Beat Bobby Flay

Sounds intriguing! Will definitely check it out.

Edit: This show is not what I thought it would be, at all.

The "classic" days of shows like "Too Hot Tamales" are indeed long gone. As I posted elsewhere on this site a while back, Jon Favreau visited Sue Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken at their Border Grill in Vegas this past season on the Chef Show*. Very much like Sarah Moulton they were happy to share their love of food and cooking and made their food accessible without needless shtick.

*As I also posted elsewhere, Feniger's first job after the CIA was at Le Perroquet, where she was paid half of what the men were paid.

cilantro wrote:

thetrob wrote:Beat Bobby Flay

Sounds intriguing! Will definitely check it out.

Edit: This show is not what I thought it would be, at all.

Hahaha didn't mean to set the bar high at all. It's mediocre but mindless background watching.

WhyBeeSea wrote:Hahaha didn't mean to set the bar high at all. It's mediocre but mindless background watching.

I took it as an amusing note on a misleading title. Perhaps "Flay Bobby Flay," would be the unproduced show most people would watch.

spinynorman99 wrote:

WhyBeeSea wrote:Hahaha didn't mean to set the bar high at all. It's mediocre but mindless background watching.

I took it as an amusing note on a misleading title. Perhaps "Flay Bobby Flay," would be the unproduced show most people would watch.

Well I feel even dumber now.

WhyBeeSea wrote:Well I feel even dumber now.

I did like Flay’s grilling shows, though! (Grillin and Chillin, Hot Off the Grill, Boy Meets Grill, Grill It!, Grills and Spills, All Up in My Grill, Griller Warfare, Grillmore Grills, and many others.) I also wonder if that stuff holds up — a lot what I remember is pretty basic recipes with honey added in....

cilantro wrote:. . . what I remember is pretty basic recipes with honey added in....

And ancho chiles, which he referred to as being like spicy raisins at least 27 times per episode.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:

cilantro wrote:. . . what I remember is pretty basic recipes with honey added in....

And ancho chiles, which he referred to as being like spicy raisins at least 27 times per episode.

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Yes! I never understood that. I guess if you chew on an ancho, the texture is a bit like a raisin? I can’t figure out what else he could have meant.

I miss the old school stand and stir shows.
Maybe Emeril never had much to teach, but even though he's a dirtbag, Mario Batali taught me a lot about cooking, not just Italian. Guy Fieri's shows where he actually cooked showed he can really put a dish together. Fenniger & Milligan, Moulton... Those were the days.

But I don't get the Cooking channel on my plan.

I am totally with you, Joel. If I'm going to watch a cooking show, I want to see a good cook make a good dish.

buncha haters, this is the home of DDD we're talking about

JoelF wrote:But I don't get the Cooking channel on my plan.

You're not missing anything that the Food Network isn't providing. Cooking Channel just regurgitates FN programming, and I'm fairly certain it's owned by them. It's primarily listicle-type shows, and competitive (eg. Cupcake Wars marathon today) reality food-TV stuff.

cilantro wrote:

WhyBeeSea wrote:Well I feel even dumber now.

I did like Flay’s grilling shows, though! (Grillin and Chillin, Hot Off the Grill, Boy Meets Grill, Grill It!, Grills and Spills, All Up in My Grill, Griller Warfare, Grillmore Grills, and many others.) I also wonder if that stuff holds up — a lot what I remember is pretty basic recipes with honey added in....

I remember Grillin& Chillin with that Jack the BBQ guy from Philadelphia. I liked how it was filmed outdoors.

thetrob wrote:Beat Bobby Flay

cilantro wrote: Sounds intriguing! Will definitely check it out.
Edit: This show is not what I thought it would be, at all.

It was one (or two) of my favorite channels when we had satellite TV here at the abode.
But I thought it blew it when it didn't have the spin-off show, "ThrowUp with Bobby Flay".

Brushman4 wrote:

cilantro wrote:

WhyBeeSea wrote:Well I feel even dumber now.

I did like Flay’s grilling shows, though! (Grillin and Chillin, Hot Off the Grill, Boy Meets Grill, Grill It!, Grills and Spills, All Up in My Grill, Griller Warfare, Grillmore Grills, and many others.) I also wonder if that stuff holds up — a lot what I remember is pretty basic recipes with honey added in....

I remember Grillin& Chillin with that Jack the BBQ guy from Philadelphia. I liked how it was filmed outdoors.

Jack McDavid (Jack's Firehouse), I believe. I recently watched an old episode of Great Chefs Of The East in which he made the feature entree and it was not impressive. Bear meat with some sort of coca-cola glaze. *puke emoji*

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We get Vermont PBS' Create channel, which has some excellent, really excellent, cooking shows. Ming, Sarah Moulton, Cook's Country, America's Test Kitchen, etc etc. Well worth watching. They'll bring Julia back, and Jacques, and of course Lidia. I really enjoy it.

Haven't watched Food in a year. Guy Fieri all the time? who needs it?

Geo

Geo wrote:Guy Fieri all the time? who needs it?

Pandering, LCD programming. It's like the Emeril days all over again.

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Remember when food network was educational instead of insipid?