Sandra Lee's Show...

[Pickles]

Just heard it on ET (Entertainment Tonight...) Is SHE the next Martha?

http://et.tv.yahoo.com/tv/2004/03/17/sandralee/

Edited March 18, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[laurenmilan]

Basically, it seems like everyone's doing the "who's the next Martha" stories, and plugging in any cooking/entertaining/decorating guru they can find. Let's face it, of the dozens of faces coming up, Sandra Lee's gotta be one of the weakest. Her stuff is so tacky that she has no hope of capturing Martha's demographic. Or anyone outside a trailer park.

If anyone has any chance of taking part of Martha's audience (sorry, but we'll probably never see another omnimedia sensation like Martha, and that's probably a "good thing") is Ina Garten, host of Barefoot Contessa and a contributer to Martha's magazines. She has excellent taste, albeit with a less from-scratch philosophy (although frankly my favorite recipes of hers are scratch ones, I'll never buy brownies or brownie mix again, ditto for pound cake, cheese cake or guacamole, since trying hers.)

[ExtraMSG]

I actually think shows like this are fine. Not everyone has the time or ability to truly make food from scratch. Maybe it will encourage these people to make a bigger investment. I really doubt there are a lot of eGers using her shortcuts. But there may be a lot of people who make the step up from getting Pizza Hut on Saturday night or reheating Boston Market.

[laurenmilan]

I actually think shows like this are fine. Not everyone has the time or ability to truly make food from scratch. Maybe it will encourage these people to make a bigger investment. I really doubt there are a lot of eGers using her shortcuts. But there may be a lot of people who make the step up from getting Pizza Hut on Saturday night or reheating Boston Market.

Or get the hell scared out of them and move back to scratch cooking!

[ExtraMSG]

How many people truly do scratch cooking, anyway? I think most of us are somewhere in the middle, unless you're making your own vinegars, mayos, puff pastry, cheeses, etc. Using a cakemix and pie filling seems barely worse than these.

[Mabelline]

Oh,lordy they are relegating me to two years of History Channel International, or VH1 Classic Rock....hmmmm, that's not a bad thing!

[Mudpuppie]

I'm so relieved. That pantry full of Duncan Hines yellow cake mix would be useless if her show were canceled.

[sml311]

Using a cakemix and pie filling seems barely worse than these.

Ummmm...have you tasted them? I mean I have a four ingredient wonderful from scratch cake...it isn't any harder than a mix and tastes a million times better. And how hard is it to wash and cut up fruit (or even unfreeze)....and that tastes a lot better too!

SML

[SobaAddict70]

I think Food Network has become the beast we all love to hate.

Sandra, fwiw, fills a niche: she fulfills the need for people to see how truly abysmal her brand of "cooking" is, so that when they experience the real thing, they'll flee for the hills and never ever look back.

Soba

[pjs]

Using a cakemix and pie filling seems barely worse . . .

It would be if she stopped there.

Gordon Elliott is the Food Network's John Waters.

PJ

[lyz2814]

I have watched her show. The following are reasons why she must be stopped:

-She decorated a store bought cake with canned frosting and CORN NUTS!

-All of her beverages are either mind-numbingly sweet, syrupy crap, best suited to making your 5 year old into a tasmanian sugar devil, or are full of mixed liquors--guarenteed to send you to worship at the porcelain altar the next day. She even engourages one to serve these "shooters" or whatever TF they're called, for your 10th anniversary, in order to "make it like your first! <nauseating giggle>" When you apparently passed out insensibly, mid-foreplay.

-she uses live fish for party decorations, and wraps marshmallows in canned fondant for kids parties.

-she uses breakfast sausage in asian wontons, and Stove Top to fill her Steak Pinwheels

--She makes cookies from canned frosting and graham cracker crumbs.

-her show contains a curious phenomenon, named by the TWOP boards as "Milli Vanilli Hands." She's often shot from the neck down, especially when demonstrating some sort of technique, like chopping, or shaping. . . Like its's not really her. Since the particular dish she's working on usually looks horrible, and then out-from-nowhere comes a much better specimen of the same dish, it is clear that she is very very reliant on her food stylists, and that she just doesn't have the chops.

-she bombed on The View, of all places. Joy and that Vierra woman declared a lot of her stuff to be gross, unhealthy, or hardly time-saving.

She. Must. Be. Stopped.

Edited April 2, 2004 by lyz2814 (log)

[Jinmyo]

Bang.

[Jason Perlow]

I don't find her THAT offensive. Actually I think there are some good party and entertaining ideas to be gleaned from the show -- its just that I wouldn't use a lot of the commercial products she uses.

For example, her simmering of baby back ribs in stock to cook them most of the way and then basting them with bbq sauce on the grill is fine -- its just that I would NEVER used canned beef stock (I would use homemade stock, or a decent frozen stock product) and I would make my own BBQ sauce (or buy a better product) instead of mixing honey with a commercial product like Kraft BBQ Sauce. I like the "Hot Dog Burgers" she did by molding hamburger meat into sausages, grilling them and serving them on hot dog buns -- its just I wouldnt put meatloaf-like fillers into it.

I like some of her beverage/punch ideas as well, but I would tone them down alcohol wise and put fresher ingredients in.

Most of the recipes she demonstrates on the show would make perfectly fine meals, provided that many of those products are replaced with decent stuff. I think there is a halfway point to total commercialized shit that we can all agree is perfectly acceptable.

[lyz2814]

sure, I suppose the concept is fine, but Sandra Lee's execution of it on the show is execrable. And doesn't Ray Ray already do the good-food-for-people-with-no-time thing on 30 minute meals?

[Jason Perlow]

sure, I suppose the concept is fine, but Sandra Lee's execution of it on the show is execrable. And doesn't Ray Ray already do the good-food-for-people-with-no-time thing on 30 minute meals?

I think if you accept the show for what it is, and extract the data that you need, its a perfectly good show. Actually I find her performance to be extremely entertaining and I find her a lot more personable (in a ditzy, ex-cheerleader "MILF" way) than Rachael Ray.

The Food Network is a perfect platform for shows like Sandra's, because its no longer a food education or cooking education type of resource. Shows like Good Eats or Sarah Moulton are in the minority now.

[beans]

I like some of her beverage/punch ideas as well, but I would tone them down alcohol wise and put fresher ingredients in.

I get your point that her premise is fine as long as quality or some more homemade preparation is in place of the Kraft variety of ultra processed, ready-made products.

However most of her alcohol abominations gross me out. Beer margaritas? Heavy handed cheap brandy and cheap schnapps/cordials in an ultra sweet, rot your teeth out mixtures? Many of those recipes appear to be the ones she and her friends got drunk on as sorority girls on Spring Break in Mexico which she freely offers to tell her audience all about.

Okay, I guess it just is not for me.

edit: And you did say some.

Edited April 2, 2004 by beans (log)

[tommy]

And doesn't Ray Ray already do the good-food-for-people-with-no-time thing on 30 minute meals?

can't there be two shows whose focuses (foci?) might overlap?

there wouldn't be much on TV if that wasn't the case.

Edited April 2, 2004 by tommy (log)

[pattimw]

I went over to the FN bulletin boards just to see what they say about Sandra, just out of curiousity.

I would say that the show attracts more negative and more caustic criticism than it does here. Does FN read the bulletin boards? Sandra Lee must be pulling in ratings. (Who watches it????)

[FoodMan]

But there may be a lot of people who make the step up from getting Pizza Hut on Saturday night or reheating Boston Market.

If these are the only two options then I would go with Pizza Hut or Boston Market over her crap, I am sure they will taste better.

Jason- If you make your own stock then you have no business saying one good word about this wannabe MILF .

Elie

[chiffonade]

First, Martha is taken out of circulation (but kudos to TVFN for continuing to run From Martha's Kitchen) NOW The Antichrist is back for another two year stint? Is there no justice AT ALL??

[Raynickben]

Have you all seen her "new?" commercial for Campbell's cream of mushroom soup? She makes that green bean, fried onion thingy and well...I am at a loss for words. Gordon Elliot makes an appearence too!

Again, I thank god for TIVO.

[kimmyb72]

she says fantastic too much

[TrishCT]

Sandra Lee makes a Banana Tart....

a/k/a 'Jaws attacks'

At first it doesn't seem so bad... a happy looking set, an enthusiastic cook, let's call her "Jaws" because of her neverending chatty talk...

It's happy sailing as Jaws breaks out the first ingredient in the tart... frozen puff paste. Hey, I have nooooo problem with that, I use the stuff too, it's a timesaver and it's good!!

The ocean is still calm, as Jaws mooshes up some fresh bananas for the filling. Everything is going just swimmingly!

And then...

Dah dah... dah dah... ooh ooh did I see a fin?.... dah dah... dah dah...

dah dah dah dah dah dah dah dah

Jaw's voice crashes like a tsunami......

"And now to sweeten it just put some pancake syrup on the bananas...."

As she severly mutilates the fresh fruit by pouring an unhealthy dose of Log Cabin Brand fake stuff all over it...

"Could this be any easier???!!!" Jaws is yammering, but I can't hear her anymore because my brain has just been eaten....

As I swell into unconsciousness... I find myself mumbling incoherently...She couldn't use REAL maple syrup??? The tart has only three ingredients...and...she...couldn't..... Ohhhhhh... if she used REAL maple syrup then 2 out of the 3 ingredients would be REAL and it would be 2/3 homemade and NOT semi homemade... But on the other hand by using the fake syrup it's not semi-homeamade either, it's only 1/3 homemade....

Too late. Stick a harpoon in me, I am done.

[Lady T]

I have to admit a shameful thing here: it took me until the third or fourth time I'd seen her show to realize that it wasn't some sort of comedy put on for the entertainment of people who actually do cook: the ingredients are contemptible, the skill is non-existent, the resulting tastes are horrifying, and the bared-fangs-fakey perkiness of the presentation makes me instantly homicidal.

Now that I know better, I'll go find a good cookbook to read, and I am well pleased.

[PopsicleToze]

Take a look at the website and you'll see why it was picked-up. On the fan site, she has THOUSANDS of hits/posts, and poor Sara Moulton (who CAN cook, by the way) has maybe 300.

The people on that site who post, and they post mostly negative comments, should learn to just ignore the woman, and then she might go away.

I can't stand her. She's done as much for real cooking as Hamburger Helper!

Rhonda