Worst cooking show ever

[Florida]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet.

Comments?

That show was fucking awesome. The FG was one of the first cooking shows to highlight ethnic foods and regional American cuisine and is still better than every show that currently resides on the Food Network.

[annabelle]

OMG. A new candidate for this topic has popped up on the Food Network. I can't even recall the name, it was so horrible to watch. Has-been celebrities competing on a cooking show hosted by Rachael Ray and Guy Fierri. At least they are playing for charity, but that doesn'[t make it anymore watchable.

[heidih]

Yes Annabelle - I saw the pre-views for that celebrity cooking teams coached my RR and GuyF - frightening. Part of the blurb is that they have to cook for a very large group (100+ I think) and provide the entertainment. Beyond goofy.

[annabelle]

I loved The Galloping Gourmet before he sobered up. He was always in the bag by the time the food was served. I loved how he'd drag some giggly woman out of the audience and slosh wine at her and pretend to snog on her after they ate a few bites of whatever he'd prepared.

[gfweb]

GG was great while sozzled. Boring sober.

Strong agreement on Spain. But I'm sure Manhattanites thought the show was FOS too.

I'd add nigella as another irritating twit. Sophomoricly sexy. Fit for a junior high mentality.

Edited January 3, 2012 by gfweb (log)

[BarbaraY]

Any Cup Cake Wars should be eliminated from the earth.

[chileheadmike]

OMG. A new candidate for this topic has popped up on the Food Network. I can't even recall the name, it was so horrible to watch. Has-been celebrities competing on a cooking show hosted by Rachael Ray and Guy Fierri. At least they are playing for charity, but that doesn'[t make it anymore watchable.

I saw this one. I watched just for the train wreck factor. I couldn't even make fun of it, it's just too boring.

[cbread]

It's far easier to select the few good shows, than to enumerate the many lousy and awful.

[ChrisTaylor]

Huey. All that fat wheezy Huey does is think up of recipes for canned Apricots or whatever that his product sponsors have asked him to promote. The timing of his show (morning TV) tells you all you need to know about what the TV execs think of his cooking.

Funny you mention that. This one time, he attempted to pick up both my partner and her friend (as a package deal) in bar in St Kilda.

[Porthos]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet.

Comments?

That show was f****** awesome. The FG was one of the first cooking shows to highlight ethnic foods and regional American cuisine and is still better than every show that currently resides on the Food Network.

I watched it. I enjoyed it. I learned from it. I have his cookbooks.

Remember that the show was about cooking - not his personal issues (which according to my MIL were allegations).

[gfweb]

I thought he was creepy long before the molestation issues came forward.

[lochaven]

I’ve thought very hard about posting on this thread because it’s logistically difficult to produce a cooking show. However, like any other profession, you can be very good or very bad at it, which ultimately is what really counts.

So I thought it over and had selected one cooking show that I remembered as being way below expectations. As it had been a long time, I went to youtube to see if my initial impressions back then were correct and to my amazement there it was. It all came rushing back (including the theme song) and I was right. The show is disorganized, too many recipes, cluttered counters, no actual cooking and the host very confusing in instructions and directions.

I do give her credit as her show was on way before the cooking show craze. Seems to be a nice lady, but she seems to say “don’t do what I just did” too many times.

Nathalie Dupree Cooks

Here is a link to one of her shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=banXn9QNa2w

[ScottyBoy]

Whoa thats preeeetty bad...

[gfweb]

It was boring too.

[annabelle]

Natalie was the queen of messy. She was also hit and miss as to being entertaining and informative. Usually miss.

[crinoidgirl]

Just saw this thread. Nathalie Dupree wins my vote. I've been trying to watch her for many years. Absolutely cringe-worthy the way she manages to screw up just about every recipe. My two-year-old pit bull could do a better job.

[rotuts]

fortunately for me i never saw this show

lucky me

cant be topped for bad.

Edited February 13, 2012 by rotuts (log)

[Charcuterer]

I am also a cooking show junkie. The shows that have a permanent thumbs down on my TiVo are;

Semi Homemade - I heard Michael Simon tell a guest on the Chew "you're like a prettier more sober Sandra Dee!"

Guy's Big Bite - Though on the early ones they let him make the cocktail first and he would get pretty snockered.

Big Daddy's Kitchen - I could make this list shorter and say any show by anyone who won "Next food network star"

And mostest of all anything with Paula Deen or her coattail rider sons on it.

There are others but those popped to mind first.

[annabelle]

At least production values have improved over the years. In the '80s there were a slew of crummy cooking shows on PBS and the like that were as bad as home movies.

Kathy Cooks, Naturally. Very pretty Hawaiian woman who cooked vegetarian food that was gawd-awful. (I checked her book out of the library and tried a few recipes. Her poor family.)

The Urban Peasant. Aging hipster graybeard who cooked a lot of one pot meals in his "studio". There were opening shots of him carrying a brown paper bag of groceries with a bunch of celery and a baguette poking out of the top. He was also tubby, wore sweaters and a beret. It was too precious.

A Chinese woman whose name escapes me, Mrs. Something who cooked Chinese food that looked impressive. She could have used sub-titles though, since her accent was very thick.

Really, too many to count.

[lochaven]

Agree, we have so many now we can really pick and choose.

I'll have to go search for the Urban Peasant.

edit -- Oh my gosh, I remember him now --- that voice and those harvest gold graphics on the intro.

Edited February 13, 2012 by lochaven (log)

[Keith Orr]

Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito, which claims to be America's longest running cooking show. I can't bear to watch it.

Cucina Amore wasn't my favorite show and Nick Stellino (born in Palermo Sicily) seemed more like an enthusiastic actor than a chef - some of the things he did skills wise were pretty amateurish. His bio says he apprenticed with the best chefs in America, but makes no claim of ever owning a restaurant. That being said he seems to support himself well with his cooking shows, books and motivational speaking if his wardrobe is any indication of his success.

[ruthcooks]

In Defense of Nathalie Dupree

Nathalie Dupree came to cooking in the era when it was fashionable to select recipes on one basis. Not “it’s a new cooking method ” or “it’s by a famous chef” or “it’s low fat” or “it’s low calorie” but “it tastes good”. Not that she didn’t lower some fat and calories along the way, but that she didn’t use that as sole criteria for worthiness. The food heros and heroines of that day were not restaurant chefs, but cooking school teachers, newspaper food editors, cookbook authors and the “best cook on the block.”

That’s the era I come from, too. And I treasure it. “Sounds good” is still my criteria for choosing a recipe. Possibly those of you who have panned Nathalie’s cooking show have not ever heard of her or seen her before. I have met her and attended a cooking class by her. She is a nice lady, no tantrums or swearing here. I own several of her books, and she is a terrific writer. In “Matters of Taste” she writes a recipe prelude about falling in love over cold tomato soup that is sheer poetry.

Please consider her achievements; this woman deserves your respect.

Like Julia Child, Nathalie attended the Cordon Bleu Cooking School (and earned an advanced degree) while in her 30s.

Like Julia Child, Nathalie filmed more than 100 cooking shows for PBS (eventually 300 in nine series shown on three networks).

Like Julia Child, Nathalie had a reputation for relaxed presentation and “klutziness” (although no one attacked St. Julia as many attack Nathalie here).

Like Alice Waters at Chez Panisse, Nathalie emphasized fresh regional ingredients and California-style grilling and baking (and she grew her own herbs) for her first restaurant.

Nathalie founded a cooking school at Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta. The school was active for 10 years and boasts Shirley Corrihor as one of its graduates.

Nathalie is given great credit by the state of Georgia for preserving and expanding their culinary history, and for Atlanta’s becoming a “food town”.

Nathalie is a past president of what is now known as the IACP, and in 2004 won the Jack Daniel's Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Nathalie has published about a dozen cookbooks, and is still going. Every recipe she prints is tested at least three times.

Oh, yes…for those of you who care about such things…she is in her 70s and still maintains a fitness program.

Reference: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3203

[annabelle]

I loved Nathalie's shows, even if they were repetative. She's a messy cook and so am I. Doing a television show is a lot harder than it looks.

[lochaven]

Nathalie Dupree needs no defense.

I'm sure she can stand on her own two feet, however, I would still rate her cooking show as presented, no matter who the host was.

[teapot]

I just walked into the room and Sandra Lee was on the tube. Instead of turning off the tv immediately, I was transfixed by her black and white themed kitchen and outfit. EVERYTHING was black and white - white pots with black interior, b&w utensils, there was even a b&w cloth fetchingly draped over the white bread box. There were those old fashioned paper silhouettes pinned to the b&w curtains, and bouquets of white roses and black flowers. Her hair was piled up about 6" above her head - tied back with a black ribbon.

She was making some sort of glop involving canned cream of mushroom soup and cream cheese, dumped it into a bowl and described it as: "Elegant, sohisticated, fancy and super duper delicious."

That just says it all doesn't it?

I realize this is an old thread but I had to process this with people who would understand . . .