171 replies to this topic

[lancastermike]

the worst show I can remember was Chef Rene the Black Hat Chef A production of the public tv station in Allentown PA. This featured Chef Rene who was some sort of riverboat chef. The worst part was the stories he told affecting fake racial accents and dialect. Later they added some public tv guy to try to control him this was in the 80's I think It was horrible.
Anyone else remember this dog or any other real bad shows

[rotuts]

Cuicina Amore Seattle PBS

the guy never cooked before, faked his accent, had a fake restaurant ( "in the restaurant we ...") with fake pictures from the Old Country.

people used to call PBS Seattle for reservations!

granted the guy was shewed : me made millions with public domaine recipes, public domaine "Italian" music and packed them up in a book.

Finally Seatlle PBS had to get rid of him they got so many complaints.

Our Tax dollars at work!

[gfweb]

the worst show I can remember was Chef Rene the Black Hat Chef A production of the public tv station in Allentown PA. This featured Chef Rene who was some sort of riverboat chef. The worst part was the stories he told affecting fake racial accents and dialect. Later they added some public tv guy to try to control him this was in the 80's I think It was horrible.
Anyone else remember this dog or any other real bad shows

Oh yeah.He sucked.

[ericthered]

There are plenty of awful new ones and the Food Network seems to be sprouting them like weeds--including horrible "reality" cooking shows. Sandra Dees' "Semi-Homemade" has been around for a while and is absolutely awful as is one on another network called "'Bitchin Kitchen."

Food Network has taken such a dive that I opted to cut my cable tv and haven't missed it at all.

[rotuts]

Bitchin Kitchen is not so bad if you can filter out the "bitchin" overlay

[ChrisTaylor]

I'm going to go the other way and nominate modern shows like Unique Sweets, Marcel's Kitchen, Top Chef and even Zimmern's Bizarre Foods. Shows that a lot of people here enjoy. I find the style of these shows too visually and aurally busy. These shows are probably put on endless loop by dodgy third world militaries to torture autistics. A lot of the personalities on these shows rub me up the wrong way. I want to like Zimmern's show because he covers some interesting foodstuffs but the guy gives me the shits. Altho' nowhere near as much as some of the people on Top Chef and Unique Sweets (not all of them, but certainly the people these shows seem to focus on--the 'colourful' personalities and obnoxious food writers). There's a certain charm that dodgy, no-budget day-time cooking shows have that these shows don't have. I find it far easier to endure the culinary crimes and lame attempts at entertaining the audience than the sensory overload of a lot of modern American food shows--especially those produced by Food Network.

[Yajna Patni]

Gen's guiltless gourmet. It is like watching barbie make plastic food.

[Moopheus]

Iron Chef with William Shatner.

I

[Borgstrom]

I couldn't tell you these days. I was a big fan of cooking shows for years, but felt recently they were getting monotonous and boring. It was finally Marcel's Kitchen that pushed me over the edge. After watching one episode of that drivel, I removed all of the cooking shows from my TiVo schedule. Haven't looked back since; no regrets.

If I want some cooking edutainment, I'll check out things like the Harvard lecture series on YouTube or go see live demonstrations/talks (like the one tomorrow at Maker Faire with Max Bilet)

[melissafitz]

I'm also a former devotee of food shows, but must confess the recent batch of overly pushed "stars" - the neelys, big daddy, guy with his glasses on backwards all the time, etc etc etc -- combined with Rachel, Paula, sandra Dee, etc etc etc has left me very cold.

But I digress. Worst for me is the neelys. I just can't get past the CONSTANT overt references to sex.

[annabelle]

The Urban Gourmet. Tragic aging hipster who cooked in "his" loft in the Village and talked down to the audience. Seen on PBS.

[rancho_gordo]

Cuicina Amore Seattle PBS

the guy never cooked before, faked his accent, had a fake restaurant ( "in the restaurant we ...") with fake pictures from the Old Country.

people used to call PBS Seattle for reservations!

granted the guy was shewed : me made millions with public domaine recipes, public domaine "Italian" music and packed them up in a book.

Finally Seatlle PBS had to get rid of him they got so many complaints.

Our Tax dollars at work!

Do you mean Nick Stellino? These are incredibly strong charges you've made against him.

He is Italian, he did have a restaurant in Los Angeles and he has a weird accent that isn't typical but who is to say it isn't his? The weirdest part of your claim is the music. I was in music licensing and I talked many times with Stellino before his show aired because he wanted me to help coordinate the music. Of course at this point I had never heard of him. We were both in love with vintage Italian songs from the '40s and '50s and tried to use some of them in his show but the producers wanted a more generic Italian feel.

We aren't friends but he was nice enough to send me some prints of Italy he had reproduced as a thank you and we kept up over the years. He has the very Italian habit of calling on New Year's Day to check in.

You may not care for him but I think your remarks are getting close to slander!

[Country]

It wasn't really a cooking show, but the worst food related show I ever saw was The Restaurant series with Rocco DiSpirito. But it was like watching a wreck in slow motion and I couldn't help but tune in for the next episode.

On the other hand, the most entertaining food show I ever watched was two women, from England I believe. In the one show I saw they were butchering a large piece of beef and drinking wine. As the show progressed they got tipsier and tipsier, and funnier and funnier. Does anyone remember these two?

[rotuts]

Ill just say this about Nick:

what I learned about his initial show was from some articles in the Seattle newspapers.

it claimed he started his PBS show with no cooking experience.

next time you see Nick, ask him about those initial shows and "the restaurant" you see at the intro:

there was no restaurant at that time "in the restaurant we ..." well thats what both the Seattle newspapers and maybe TIME magazine said a long time ago.

that being said, he has to be a savey guy to add a CD to a cookbook for Italian aatmosphere.

I meant no disrespect by what I said. go back and see the first shows.

obviously he might have learned as he went along, which is swell

[rancho_gordo]

I have no idea if he had a restaurant in Seattle, but he did in LA, before the show. I was dealing with him before the show aired. Please look up where Time or both Seattle papers claimed he had no restaurant or cooking experience.

[rotuts]

I retract all Ive said

My Serious error. I cant find the seattle articles nor the TIME magazine article from the early '90.s

Ive been terribly wrong. Nick is im sure a fine guy and im glad he is doing well

if there was a way to take down my posts I would

cheers

[rancho_gordo]

You can still consider it one of your worst shows!

I can't remember what the other Italian show was, with Maryanne Esposito, but she used to drive me nuts. She seems like a perfectly fine woman and good old-fashioned Italian home cook but she would drive me crazy and he food wasn't exactly wrong but it wasn't like the food I was eating in Italy.

[rotuts]

Ive watched her show too.

Im a Food Show Junkie

she did have a '''very USA Italian manner" to her

have you seen Great British Menu?

Cookery School ?

some of the best cooking shows now come out of GB

anyway I didnt want to start a ""Flame war"" and Id like to delete my comments.

and I truely bet Nick a pretty outstanding and savey guy

soo sorry!

Edited by rotuts, 22 May 2011 - 11:49 AM.

[barolo]

On the other hand, the most entertaining food show I ever watched was two women, from England I believe. In the one show I saw they were butchering a large piece of beef and drinking wine. As the show progressed they got tipsier and tipsier, and funnier and funnier. Does anyone remember these two?

This sounds like Two Fat Ladies: link

[Ashen]

On the other hand, the most entertaining food show I ever watched was two women, from England I believe. In the one show I saw they were butchering a large piece of beef and drinking wine. As the show progressed they got tipsier and tipsier, and funnier and funnier. Does anyone remember these two?

I think you are talking about " The Two Fat Ladies". They would drive about on a motorcycle with a sidecar right?

There are a few videos of them on youtube. They always cracked me up too.

Edited by Ashen, 22 May 2011 - 12:04 PM.

[rotuts]

Two Fat Ladies are now on DVD

they knew a lot about cooking and were very entertaining

'very dry and very droll"

even better at the end of the show the sat on the curb and smoked a cig and had a martini.

unfortunately the cig. smoker has passed on from lung cancer

if you can get the DVD's from you library look for the Gurka show

they go to 'someware' in England and follow the Gurkas and cook for them curries and such on Combat Stoves!

the Best!

[Country]

On the other hand, the most entertaining food show I ever watched was two women, from England I believe. In the one show I saw they were butchering a large piece of beef and drinking wine. As the show progressed they got tipsier and tipsier, and funnier and funnier. Does anyone remember these two?

This sounds like Two Fat Ladies: link

Thanks for the link Anne. That's the show! I didn't see them on motorcycles, but I can tell by the text in your link - "The Two Fat Ladies are cooks, not chefs — they reject the pretensions and elaborations of haute cuisine and are aggressively unfashionable..." That's them. I only saw the one show and have never forgotten it. Thanks again!

[BadRabbit]

Two fat ladies now replays on the Cooking Channel.

The worst cooking show ever is "Dutch Oven Cooking". It's so bad that it's a repeat performer on "The Soup" with Joel McHale.

[Peter the eater]

Iron Chef with William Shatner.

I

How did I miss that one? I will now seek out that episode and boldly watch where no old man should go on TV.

[kitchensqueen]

For me, "Caprial & John's Kitchen" was the worst show ever back when it aired on PBS. It's not so much that the food or format was bad - they went out to the markets, toured farms, met producers, etc. in addition to cooking, which I happen to like in a cooking show.

What I hated about it was the fact that Caprial was always so mean to John! Half the time she spoke to him in a tone like he was a dim-witted idiot and knew nothing about food. And whenever he tried to touch her or anything (being a husband and wife cooking team) she would shrink and visibly cringe like he had the plague.

Horrible to watch! I read somewhere on the internet that they closed all their restaurants and divorced a few years ago, and if that info is correct, I am not at all surprised.

[Karri]

Sorry but this show called "Bitchin kitchen" does it involve which one of these next three:

a) bitch in a kitchen
b) is it a type of cribs for kitchens?
or c) is it about complaining?

[annachan]

I am somewhat a cooking/food show junkie. I watch just about any of them. The only one that makes me turn the channel is when Sandra Lee comes on.

I do like Nick Stellino. Yeah, the show can be cheesy at times, but some of his stuff is quite good. I've been using one of his mushroom recipes for years when I entertain and have never had leftovers. That is saying a lot as I always end up cooking way too much food, enough to feed double the amount of people there.

[chezcherie]

For me, "Caprial & John's Kitchen" was the worst show ever back when it aired on PBS. It's not so much that the food or format was bad - they went out to the markets, toured farms, met producers, etc. in addition to cooking, which I happen to like in a cooking show.

What I hated about it was the fact that Caprial was always so mean to John! Half the time she spoke to him in a tone like he was a dim-witted idiot and knew nothing about food. And whenever he tried to touch her or anything (being a husband and wife cooking team) she would shrink and visibly cringe like he had the plague.

Horrible to watch! I read somewhere on the internet that they closed all their restaurants and divorced a few years ago, and if that info is correct, I am not at all surprised.

ummmm, apparently still cooking and still together.
caprial and john's kitchen portland or
just sayin'.

[kitchensqueen]

ummmm, apparently still cooking and still together.
caprial and john's kitchen portland or
just sayin'.

I guess it was just their restaurants that closed then - http://www.oregonliv...f_caprials.html and http://www.oregonliv...ty_closes.html.

I'm shocked they're still together, but... good for them?

[Pierogi]

You can still consider it one of your worst shows!

I can't remember what the other Italian show was, with Maryanne Esposito, but she used to drive me nuts. She seems like a perfectly fine woman and good old-fashioned Italian home cook but she would drive me crazy and he food wasn't exactly wrong but it wasn't like the food I was eating in Italy.

Unfortunately, Mary Ann Esposito, or shall I say mary ANN esPOSito, is still on in the LA basin, and apparently still producing new shows.....forever, I'm afraid. She's already been on since dirt was young, and shows no signs of going gently into that good night.....

The show is "Ciao Italia" and it is dreadful, miserable, painful to watch. Did I mention it makes me twitch when I hear her voice....which is like the voice of your least favorite elementary school teacher. The one who treated you like a blithering idiot, even though you could understand the periodic tables in 3rd grade? THAT teacher.

She comes on in the middle, the dead, smack middle of the block of cooking shows one of the local PBS stations in SoCal programs on Saturday afternoons. After the Martha show and before Lidia. Although I program my TV for the whole block, I walk the dogs while mary ANN esPOSito is....on....the....tele.....vis....ion.

She is like fingernails dragging on a chalkboard to me, and her recipes suck. Plus, she's got helmet hair. She may not be the worst, I've not seen a lot of the ones who have been mentioned (and I rule Sandra Lee out as NOT being a cooking show, so she doesn't qualify....), but mary ANN esPOSito is right up there in the most annoying.

Edited by Pierogi, 22 May 2011 - 10:55 PM.