Worst cooking show ever

[Toliver]

I've come to the decision to boycott any cooking show that is a timed competition. There are far too many of them and now the Food Network has kids competing, too. I think that's pushing it. It certainly teaches the wrong thing.

Good food shouldn't be a race to the finish line.

[CeeCee]

If someone aims to be a professional, you should be able to handle deadlines. But I agree, way too much emphasize on speed while we have so many other dishes missing out, just because they don't fit in the schedule.

Masterchef is being mentioned a lot, I love the UK versions. I dislike the USA version and now even Australia's is putting me off. I almost wish that the Ozzies would try a bit of USA's rudeness to counteract all the mushy emo talk and tears, because it has seriously gotten out of hand in season 6 imho. 

[GlorifiedRice]

I've never seen The Chew, but I did catch about 30 seconds of The Kitchen. I thought it was a spoof, then realized it wasn't. That's when I hit the remote.

 

I hesitate to post this but omg (like a teen) todays "The Chew" was very interesting!

Giada came on and well she fell on her knees in front of Mario Batalli to praise him.

[gfweb]

I hesitate to post this but omg (like a teen) todays "The Chew" was very interesting!

Giada came on and well she fell on her knees in front of Mario Batalli to praise him.

 

As she should.

 

But Batali needs a good flogging himself just to keep him from from being so FOS. Any Paltrow contact must be offset by 20 lashes

[rotuts]

MB seems to have 'lost his way' after the Molto series, which was superb.  he might be under the spell of that Bastianich dude.

 

Mommy didn't stir the pot enough making that stew.

[GlorifiedRice]

As she should.

 

But Batali needs a good flogging himself just to keep him from from being so FOS. Any Paltrow contact must be offset by 20 lashes

 

gfweb? She was too giggly

Screenshot

http://i.imgur.com/fPG1ilD.jpg

[Arey]

I tend to get impatient with Americas Test Kitchen gadget guru.  One gadget she criticized for being too difficult to clean. I'm sitting there thinking "It's not hard to clean if you unscrew the top and take it off, yuh ninny".  Another time she described a utensil as totally useless.  I have three of those totally useless items in my utensil drawer and use them regularly. I've given up watching the Food network, and the Cooking channel.  I'm too old for those shows.  I'm in my 70's and those shows just make me miss Julia, and Joyce and the young Martin Yan.  I don't miss the galloping one or the frugal one, although I did use to watch them.  I may be the last person on earth who remembers Florence Hansford, and her cooking show from the GE kitchen sponsored by Phila Electric. She always wore a little pillbox hat while cooking, but must have taken off her daytime length white kid gloves before starting the show.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Arey (log)

[gfweb]

I remember Flo Hansford. Watched her as a kid. All electric kitchen. Modern.

Chef Tell Erhardt was the next Philly guy who made an impression. Good on tv and a genuinely nice guy in his restaurant.

[Arey]

I found a segment from the "Television Kitchen " show from 1956 on YouTube.  I don't know where I got the memory of her in a pill box hat.  Maybe because she was so very proper, and calm and relaxed in the kitchen.  She even seemed to enjoy cooking.  Maybe she's the one who planted in my teenage mind the idea that cooking could be a pleasure even fun, not just one more tiresome chore to be gotten out of the way.

[btbyrd]

Pretty much the only thing I watch anymore is Iron Chef America. I also watch Chopped sometimes when there's nothing else on... and really enjoyed the one season of Masterchef Junior. Pretty much everything else (that's not on PBS) is either overproduced garbage that doesn't actually focus on food (e.g. Hell's Kitchen) or consists of advice for overworked housewives on how to get 3 dishes on the table in 20 minutes for $2 a portion. How did we get from Julia Child to this?

 

Sometimes shows suffer from a bad concept or bad production. At other times they suffer from the insufferable host. The worst offenders in my book:

 

Anything with Guy Fieri

Anything focusing on cupcakes, bakeoffs, or sculpting sugar and marzipan

Anything with "Wars" in the title

Cutthroat Kitchen (Alton, what has become of you?)

The Kitchen (It's like Kathy Lee, Hoda, and Geoffrey Zakarian)

Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen

Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee

Restaurant Stakeout (not technically a cooking show, but it takes up a timeslot that should be occupied by a cooking show)

[chileheadmike]

I really like Bitchin Kitchen, always have. It's fun and I like it.

 

Don't really care for Guy but I like the show, interesting places. Who knew granulated garlic was so ubiquitous?

I've unintentionally been to several of the restaurants featured. Some were pretty good, others not so much. 

 

 

I watched about 15 seconds of The Kitchen thinking it was a spoof. When I figured out it wasn't, it made my list of worst shows ever.

[GlorifiedRice]

I love Diners Drive-Ins and Dives...It shows the food creativity of American cuisine

[gfweb]

I don't mind Fieri. He embraces his inner douchebag.

 

I respect that.

[lindag]

Unfortunately, he's a total douchebag.

[gfweb]

you can tell eG has high class members...we always spell douchebag correctly

[GlorifiedRice]

Unfortunately, he's a total douchebag.

 

What makes Guy Fieri a douchebag? I see Flay and Conant more as douchebags

[IowaDee]

I don't dislike him but what I dislike very much about his triple D show are the close ups of him shoving food into his face.

I have no desire to count his fillings for examine his tonsils at close range.

[gfweb]

What makes Guy Fieri a douchebag? I see Flay and Conant more as douchebags

 

Hair, glasses, bling. But he's a friendly douche and has grown on me.

 

Conant, no question, has a level of douchery that far surpasses Fieri. Conant is a more of a prick though.

 

Flay? No douche. A NYC smartass who's very good at what he does.

[GlorifiedRice]

Hair, glasses, bling. But he's a friendly douche and has grown on me.

 

Conant, no question, has a level of douchery that far surpasses Fieri. Conant is a more of a prick though.

 

Flay? No douche. A NYC smartass who's very good at what he does.

 

 

Gfweb? the hair and glasses, IMO, makes him a 1980s "dude"...I wanna see his yearbook pics...

 

Flay treated that other bbq grill guy (cant recall his name) on their show like crap... I see douche there.

 

 

HAHA, Guy Fieris yearbook pics http://www.youjustmademylist.com/?p=4106

[PattyO]

I live in a very small town in central MA and one of my favorite places to eat is Charlie's Diner in a neighboring town.  It's owned by a father and son and features a classic New England dining car with a modern addition.  It has a diner menu and a more eclectic menu which is available in either area.  The food (and the prices) are great.

 

Guy featured Charlie's on DDD and we were there about a month after it aired.  I, too, enjoyed that show until I spoke with the son and he told be what a douche Guy was during the shoot.  Though he was thrilled, initially, that his place was featured on a national television show, he told me that Guy's attitude and the way he treated the staff at the diner took that pleasure away.  His anger and disappointment was palpable.

 

I haven't watched the show since.

Edited October 25, 2014 by PattyO (log)

[Bill Klapp]

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.

Never seen the show, so this is not meant as a defense of the woman in any way, but "esPOSito" is how the name is pronounced in Italian. It is all of those hockey-playing Ess-po-see-toes who do not know how to pronounce their own names!

[GlorifiedRice]

I live in a very small town in central MA and one of my favorite places to eat is Charlie's Diner in a neighboring town.  It's owned by a father and son and features a classic New England dining car with a modern addition.  It has a diner menu and a more eclectic menu which is available in either area.  The food (and the prices) are great.

 

Guy featured Charlie's on DDD and we were there about a month after it aired.  I, too, enjoyed that show until I spoke with the son and he told be what a douche Guy was during the shoot.  Though he was thrilled, initially, that his place was featured on a national television show, he told me that Guy's attitude and the way he treated the staff at the diner took that pleasure away.  His anger and disappointment was palpable.

 

I haven't watched the show since.

 

Okay, see this is what I wanna hear. I never heard a single bad thing about him so I just didnt understand the douche comments. But if hes treating people like crap that is douchey.

[basquecook]

Guy Frerrari or Fietti, was nice when i met him in airport right as Diners Drive Ins and Dives was about to air.  He had just won the reality show that I didn't watch.. But, we were in an airport going to the same place and he was really friendly and we were just talking.. He was super excited about the show coming out.  I have watched the show and it's like a mindless travel show.  Some of the food looks great, some of the food looks horrific.. He is a little hammy but,  whatever.  He like most people have their idiosyncrasies, some get on my nerves. His obsession with real cracked pepper, or his freaking whistling.  But, i like getting a look into kitchens all around the country.  

 

What's really strange is there is a group of men who have adopted his style.. There are people that dress like him, frost their hair like him, spike their hair like him and have a similar goatee.  That's just crazy. 

[weinoo]

Hair, glasses, bling. But he's a friendly douche and has grown on me.

 

Conant, no question, has a level of douchery that far surpasses Fieri. Conant is a more of a prick though.

 

Flay? No douche. A NYC smartass who's very good at what he does.

 

As one who may have been the first to call GF a douche, right here on eG...both Conant and Bobby would cook circles around Guy.  I don't think there's any disputing that fact.  Each has worked their way up in the industry to run 3 star kitchens in NYC...'nuff said.

[rotuts]

when bobby flay actually 'cooks' BBQ on one of his many BBQ actually cooking shows, I watch and I learn.

 

he is an expert on all those interesting "sides"

 

so he's from NYC, you have to be a little push-ey in NYC or you will always be at the end of the line.