171 replies to this topic

[Anna N]

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 is like fingernails dragging on a chalkboard to me....

Oh you have so hit the nail on the head. That voice and its resemblance to the world's worst elementary school teacher could not have been better expressed. Drives me nuts.

[GlorifiedRice]

Michelle Urvaters cooking show from the early days at the TV Food Network.
she said steamed broccoli over toast was a good meal.

Christina Cooks

Edited by GlorifiedRice, 23 May 2011 - 04:18 AM.

[gfweb]

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.

YES!
And Tyler Florence because he's a tool.

[nassaumary]

If I can't get past the host, it really doesn't matter how good the recipes or prep are, I'm afraid. And the top of that list is Giada Di Laurentis. How does a person smile and manage to show ALL their teeth? Her voice (complete with overdone italian pronunciations)is like nails on a chalkboard for me...

A close second is Tyler Florence, already mentioned. Does anyone else get the impression that he got beaten up alot in school?

As for a favourite? I'm a fan of Jamie At Home...simple meals and thoroughly enjoyable to watch! The camera work is wonderful to my eye...

[Lindacakes]

I, too, cut the cable because the Food Network irritated the hell out of me. Of course, not just the Food Network, but it was the last thing I was watching outside of PBS. I don't miss it, either.

My favorite castigating quote: "Besides, she has helmet hair."

I'm sure I'm way behind the times, but Paula Dean would cause me to freeze like a reindeer in highlights, stricken by shock and horror. A woman who has made a name for herself in cooking because she uses a lot of butter, what would France say?

Two Fat Ladies is my all time favorite television show, ever. It was the perfect template: travel sketch, focus on artisanal food purveyor (long before it was chic), odd conviviality (cloisters and rowing teams), sex appeal (check out the hunting in kilts episode), and funny characters with dry wit. I've watched each episode ten times and have to put it away for a while so that I forget some bit of it before I can watch it again.

Why this isn't repeatable, I'll never know. Oh, yeah, I know. Because cooking shows are Big Business and have to appeal to the great mass of people who don't actually cook.

[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.

Correction: The full name of the show is "Dutch Oven Cooking with Cee Dub." There are multiple scenes where Cee Dub just walks out of a tent and lifts the top off a charcoal covered cast iron dutch oven and stirs the contents. He does all of this silently and then returns to his tent without a word. The first time I saw it I thought it was a skit from a comedy show it is so bizarre.

http://ceedubs.com/books_and_videos.html

[jsmeeker]

If we are really talking about actual "how to" cooking shows, I guess I will say "Semi-Homemade with Sandara Lee"

[GlorifiedRice]

I do not like Two Fat Ladies. The meats always look like they sat out too long and I never see any hygiene.

[Lindacakes]

Oh, my God, Cee Dub. I think I could learn to love laughing at that. He actually has a show? On the Food Network? When?

[Special K]

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.

That's funny. I always thought he tried to undercut her every chance he got. Seemed to me he kept butting in and correcting her, or trying to hog the spotlight. Maybe I was responding to the same body language you noticed, only I identified with her?

I don't enjoy any of the competition cooking shows. I want someone (like Alton Brown, say) to teach me something. Just my preference. I wouldn't say Iron Chef, et al are bad, they're just not my cup of tea.

[BadRabbit]

Oh, my God, Cee Dub. I think I could learn to love laughing at that. He actually has a show? On the Food Network? When?

He was originally on PBS in the late 90s but now has worked with an NBC affiliate in Washington State to film his new show. It's not widely distributed so I've just seen shows that people have sent me and clips on "The Soup."

[kitchensqueen]

That's funny. I always thought he tried to undercut her every chance he got. Seemed to me he kept butting in and correcting her, or trying to hog the spotlight. Maybe I was responding to the same body language you noticed, only I identified with her?

Either way, their on-camera chemistry (or lack thereof) was just so awkward it was unbearable to watch.

[Pierogi]

....
And Tyler Florence because he's a tool.

TOTALLY !! You just know he's preening into an off-camera mirror, admiring how studly he is.

[Trev]

The one show that I honestly just cannot watch is Mexican Made Easy with Marcela Valladolid! I think someone may have mentioned how annoying her voice is! Like nails on a chalkboard. Makes me change the channel every time.

[rotuts]

everybody seems to have forgotten the Queen of Bad!

Martha Stewart

Madeleine Kamman came close to punching her on a show about eggs.

Its my understanding that Julia Child insisting on never appearing with her.. but youd have to check the two part show about the wedding cake. maybe it was after that.

after all, she is one of the rare cookbook "authors" to get sued for plagerism (twice) at least buy the same author Richard Olney and lost. she seemed to just lift recipes from other books and place them in 'hers'

and after all, she might be the only tv 'cook' who is a convicted felon!

[annabelle]

and after all, she might be the only tv 'cook' who is a convicted felon!

That's not entirely accurate. Juan Carlos Cruz of the late, unlamented "Calorie Commando" tried to hire a contract killer to whack his then wife. He is now cooling his heels in the cooler.

[rotuts]

wow what a fantastic thread! I watched the CC a few times ...

[violetfox]

If we are really talking about actual "how to" cooking shows, I guess I will say "Semi-Homemade with Sandara Lee"

I totally agree - no contest!

[gfweb]

....
And Tyler Florence because he's a tool.

TOTALLY !! You just know he's preening into an off-camera mirror, admiring how studly he is.

I think I remember a comment on top chef from one of the Voltagios who was judged harshly by TF. He dismissed him with a smirk as a TV chef.!

[karlos]

Sandra Lee's table scapes are brutal but somewhat entertaining nonetheless. I remember a show with Dweezil Zappa and Lisa Loeb that was just unwatchable. Lisa Loeb is cute as a bug but even that couldn't salvage the show. I think she was/is a vegetarian/vegan and he was very unadventurous as an eat and in addition to neither of them having any cooking chops whatsoever, everything they made was bleh.

[ScoopKW]

Two pages of hate and NOBODY has mentioned Guy Fieri. Granted, he doesn't do a lot of cooking on his "cooking" shows. But he and Sandra Lee are the two FoodTV hosts I cannot sit through. I would rather watch what's on Home Shopping Network than a single minute of Guy Fieri.


Giada? At least her first season was OK. It wasn't all cleavage and dental work.

Tyler? Obviously thinks a lot of himself, calling his recipes "The Ultimate Such-and-Such." But at least he cooks. I'll watch his show just to ogle his copper cookware collection.

Ina? Used to love her show. (Despite the attack of the gay hydrangeas.) Then she went "Back to Basics" and I quit watching. I wonder how her ratings have fared ever since the "kid with cancer" incident.

[Beebs]

"Throwdown with Bobby Flay". I can't stand this show. It's not the cooking part of it that I can't stand, it's that Flay comes off as such an arrogant, condescending a$$. The whole premise of the show - Flay showing up the small guy and putting him/her down - just makes me angry.

[Special K]

That's funny. I always thought he tried to undercut her every chance he got. Seemed to me he kept butting in and correcting her, or trying to hog the spotlight. Maybe I was responding to the same body language you noticed, only I identified with her?

Either way, their on-camera chemistry (or lack thereof) was just so awkward it was unbearable to watch.

I agree. It was dreadful. I seem to remember a time when he wasn't on with her, and it was a pretty good show then. But maybe I'm just thinking of her cookbooks, which seem to be all hers.

[chileheadmike]

I like Bitchin Kitchen. I must be the only one. But I think she's funny, and her food looks good.


My vote is for Kelsy or Kylie or whatever her name is. I caught about 15 seconds of one of her shows on the Cooking Channel.

[jayhay]

"Throwdown with Bobby Flay"....I agree!

The whole idea is terrible, & Bobby is full of himself - smirking & puffed up when the crowd realize there is a "star" in the crowd. I recall one show in particular, where he was trying to come up with better food than a food cart was serving. No expense was spared on Bobby's part, so there was no way he could have sold the item for the $5 or so that the vendor was charging. How fair is that? It's just a mean-spirited show in my opinion.

The food channel isn't worth watching anymore, I still like PBS. Love Lidia Bastianich , especially when she cooks with her grandchildren.

Edited by jayhay, 25 May 2011 - 12:11 PM.

[rotuts]

as Ive said, take out the Bitchin' and that show had some Cooking.

with regard to Capril, I found it odd that her husband was there and they were Oil and Water, never to be a vinaigrette

I later found out that he is actually an acomplished Chef.

[kitchensqueen]

I just thought of two more PBS shows I can't stand -

"Christina Cooks" - she has this guy with her for half the show serenading her on guitar about her cooking. Weird.

"Joanne Weir's Cooking Class" - her personality and manner of speaking just grate on my nerves. She's talking to grown adults like they're three year olds - "Okay, so now to get this bell pepper cooked- - have you ever eaten a bell pepper? - we have to cut it into strips with this knife. You've seen a knife like this before, right?". Drives me insane - it's the kindergarten teacher voice or something...

[annabelle]

I like Bitchin Kitchen. I must be the only one. But I think she's funny, and her food looks good.

I like Bitchin' Kitchen, too. Her food is approachable and well-made and she is a doll with a wicked sense of humor. The ever changing cabinets with their metal-scapes are an in your face to Aunt Sandy Lee.

[rotuts]

you are correct on "Weirs". friends in the Bay Area wonder how she got the show ....

what they wonder about cant be printed here!

Edited by rotuts, 26 May 2011 - 09:37 AM.

[GlorifiedRice]

I absolutely love Guy Fieri! DD&D is wonderful. Hes an everyguy!

Sarah Moultons on and off smile annoys the hell outta me