Food Network's Lineup

ExtraMSG · March 20, 2004

I do deny thing "dumbing down" claim, though. They've added a lot of food oriented shows.

Just to explain what I meant when I said dumbing down... It has nothing to do with food content or the entertainment factor or personalities of a show, but the message and attitude the show conveys to its audience.
1. In my opinion, Sandra Lee's Semi Homemade treats viewers like stupid idiots with processed food palates.... Compare this dreck with How to Boil Water which tries to teach people how to prepare basic recipes from scratch. At least this show has some technical merit and serves a useful purpose for its target audience of young, inexperienced cooks.
2. Date Plate? All I see here is a feeble attempt to cash in on reality dating shows ala The Bachelorette.
3. Unwrapped...Oh boy let's watch twinkies being processed.
4. Emeril Live. The repetitive schtick has grown oldhat and annoying. Compare to Essence of Emeril where Emeril proves he is a good chef and instructor. But no, it's the dumbed down, in-your-face, throw essence on everything, BAM version that dominates Prime Time.

Emeril Live, though, has been on for a long time.

How to Boil Water is one of the newer shows.

Other newer shows that are pretty decent, imo, are Boy Meets Grill and Ciao America. Boy Meets Grill has character often showing local markets and interacting with real people. Ciao America is such an improvement over Mario Eats Italy it's astounding.

Tyler's Ultimate was also a new show and really an improvement, imo, over Food 911 since he's at least showing true experts doing their craft.

Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class was an improvement over his previous show, like his Emeril's essence to his live.

And many of the weaker shows have been around for a while, like Best Of and Food Finds.

Other decent shows that were added in this last season were The Barefoot Contessa and Paula's Home Cooking. Neither are great, but I think they're decent and both of these women have decent personalities and seem to know the foods they're presenting. The former is too Hamptons for me, but she obviously loves what she's doing.

They've always leaned towards entertainment. Iron Chef, Emeril Live, Good Eats, and A Cook's Tour are all entertainment first and food second. I'd love it if they had a Great Chefs or a Globe Trekker style food travel show that lasted an hour.

bsan · March 20, 2004

Since everyone's putting down a list of all the Food Network shows that they will watch, I'll do it as well. Everything in blue will be something that I at least express an interest in, something in green is something I will watch if I find a particular episode interesting, and anything in red is something I try to avoid at all costs:

$40 a Day

30 Minute Meals

A Cook's Tour

All American Festivals

Barefoot Contessa

The Best Of

Boy Meets Grill

Calling All Cooks

Chocolate with Jacques Torres

Ciao America with Mario Batali

Cooking Live

Cooking Thin

Cookworks

Date Plate

Dweezil & Lisa

Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello

Emeril Live

The Essence of Emeril

Everyday Italian

Follow That Food

Food 911

Food Fight

Food Finds

The Food Hunter

Food Network Specials

FoodNation with Bobby Flay

From Martha's Kitchen

Good Eats

Good Food Fast with Family Circle

Happy Days Live

Hot Off the Grill with Bobby Flay

How to Boil Water

Iron Chef

Jamie's Kitchen

Keith Famie's Adventures

Low Carb and Lovin' it

Mario Eats Italy

Molto Mario

The Naked Chef

Oliver's Twist

Passion for Dessert with Jacques Torres

Paula's Home Cooking

Recipe for Success

Roker on the Road

Sara's Secrets

Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee

The Surreal Gourmet

Sweet Dreams

Top 5

Trivia Unwrapped

Tyler's Ultimate

Ultimate Kitchens

Unwrapped

What America Eats with Parade

Wolfgang Puck

Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class

Damn, I have quite a lineup headed my way. :shock:

TrishCT · March 20, 2004

How to Boil Water is one of the newer shows.

Actually this was one of the first shows on FN... originally hosted by Emeril... now by Chef Frederique something something...

All I ask is that they try to raise the bar...not lower it.

Steve Ramsey · March 20, 2004

I disagree.

FN's lineup has become to a great extent, facile and shallow.

Take away Alton Brown and easily a fouth of FN's airtime goes dead.

Take away all shows that mimick the style of the weekday morning news programs and are every bit as pompus, prancing "hey look at me" exercises, and you go well over half.

Sure, there is time in the day for lighthearted fare, but the number of programs that get down to brass tacks, burnt knuckles cooking, ones that advance a persons knowlege and enjoyment of food, ar waning on FN.

$40 a Day? :might as well be a five minute segment on Good Morning America.

Dweezil & Lisa?: Probably rejected by MTV

Date Plate?: This show isn't even about FOOD.

Top 5?: Splain how this advances anyones kitchen skills or food appreciation.

I could go on, but there is now a dire need of an alternative to food network.

ExtraMSG · March 20, 2004

I disagree.
FN's lineup has become to a great extent, facile and shallow.
network.

What's the former glory? Everyone talks about the food network like it used to be this shining beacon of gastronomy. I've tried to google for a show lineup from the late '90s and haven't found one.

tommy · March 20, 2004

What's the former glory? Everyone talks about the food network like it used to be this shining beacon of gastronomy. I've tried to google for a show lineup from the late '90s and haven't found one.

there were a handful of technique oriented shows that appealed to a handful of people. it also aired for a handful of hours a day, and probably not even 7 days a week. i've always watched PBS when i wanted to watch technique oriented shows. PBS always delivers if that's the sort of thing you're into.

when the pundits complain, i have to wonder where it's written that the "food network" should focus on technique, which seems to be a big part of the complaint. i would never assume that this was its initial goal, nor do i expect that at this point. i'm interested in the history of food, including candy and hot dogs, as well as travel. they seem to fill the void for programming like that.

Edited March 20, 2004 by tommy (log)

Steve Ramsey · March 20, 2004

What's the former glory? Everyone talks about the food network like it used to be this shining beacon of gastronomy. I've tried to google for a show lineup from the late '90s and haven't found one.
there were a handful of technique oriented shows that appealed to a handful of people. it also aired for a handful of hours a day, and probably not even 7 days a week. i've always watched PBS when i wanted to watch technique oriented shows. PBS always delivers if that's the sort of thing you're into.
when the pundits complain, i have to wonder where it's written that the "food network" should focus on technique, which seems to be a big part of the complaint. i would never assume that this was its initial goal, nor do i expect that at this point. i'm interested in the history of food, including candy and hot dogs, as well as travel. they seem to fill the void for programming like that.

But they do so in the most vapid sterile manner possible.

If they would like to do a special on Escoffier, or tell us how Careme, Robuchon and the Troisgros family influenced the cooking world, more power to them.

I don't need another show on the production of cheese curds, carmel apples, or the Georgia Peanut festival.

No matter how cutely the tiny junior peanut queen says "Y'all".

Technique isn't the end all, but whats coming out of FN is largely overly sanitzed, over produced tripe, a sort of television happy meal.

Edited March 20, 2004 by Steve Ramsey (log)

ExtraMSG · March 20, 2004

Steve, I think you're making the same mistake that I mentioned in my first couple posts, that you're extending their prime time lineup to the whole day, whereas most of the day is things like Molto Mario, Sweet Dreams, Chocolate, etc. Like I said, I think the prime time lineup is the most likely to have broad appeal because they need to capture a family audience. I wouldn't mind a 2 or 3 hour block of shows like Great Chefs, or a history of food/gastronomy, or even a topical news/politics of food show that discusses subjects like mad cow, veganism, Atkin's, etc. But none of these are going to have an audience to sustain a prime time lineup. Obviously few people on eGullet are content with the Food Network, but:

A) What else is better?

B) Was it ever better? Be specific.

C) Compared to other topical cable channels, how does it do in presenting its topic?

tommy · March 21, 2004

I don't need another show on the production of cheese curds, carmel apples, or the Georgia Peanut festival.

the flaw with that beef, as i see it, is that not everyone is you, and a lot of people are seeing the show on carmel apples, cheese curds, and the peanut festival for the first time.

TVFN needs to appeal to a wide audience. it's a business. if it wasn't for the fluff, we wouldn't be watching the few shows that we think are the bees knees. although, for me, those shows are on PBS, DVD/video, and in books, to extend the thought a bit.

Edited March 21, 2004 by tommy (log)

Steve Ramsey · March 21, 2004

I don't need another show on the production of cheese curds, carmel apples, or the Georgia Peanut festival.

the flaw with that beef, as i see it, is that not everyone is you, and a lot of people are seeing the show on carmel apples, cheese curds, and the peanut festival for the first time.
TVFN needs to appeal to a wide audience. it's a business. if it wasn't for the fluff, we wouldn't be watching the few shows that we think are the bees knees. although, for me, those shows are on PBS, DVD/video, and in books, to extend the thought a bit.

Yes, and they can see that stuff in dozens of outlets from the local news on up.

As to mass apeal, that's fine. They can cater to mass apeal.

The Big three networks do, and they have all fallen from their mighty perches as cable and sattelite channels handed them their heads.

One way or the other, FN is hellbent on marginalizing itself with mass appeal.

If folks really want another episode of Top 5, let them eat cake. Perferably mass produced cake lovingly videotaped as it winds it's way down the production line, closely videotaped by by the Food Finds crew.

Folks just can't seem to get enough shots of modern rube golberg food production machinery kicking out thousands of desert snackies at a whack.

Someone else will come along with a network for folks interested in food, not the over hosted and vacuous programming that now makes up well over half of FN's schedual.

MTV had it knocked for awhile, back in the day when it was abouit music.

Then it climbed onto the youth and pop subculture high horse, neccesitating VH-1. Then, after the fact MTV-2 comes along.

Fn will cheese curd and carmel apple itself into a McDonaldland like state of flashy colors and hollow content.

The sooner the better. It's just a few smiling, chuckling, bleeched tooth hosts away from higher ratings, and somebody will come along with an new network that is actually about food.

SWoodyWhite · March 21, 2004

Three stellar examples from FoodTV's past:

A talk show, hosted by Robin Leech, purportedly live. While there have been comments here about some current hosts getting drunk on camera, this is generally limited to specific episodes. The Leech talk-fest was filled with the effects of the bottle on a nightly basis.

A show reviewing restaurants, I believe Alan Richman was co-host for a time. A camera crew would visit the restaurant, to give viewers an idea about the ambiance. Alan and Nina (?) would then sit in their NYC studio "restaurant booth" and sample the dishes...that had been FedExed to them and reheated! They were, in effect, reviewing doggie bags!

And there was Debbie Fields' baking show, all about desserts. I never did figure out how she managed to get her hands in the dough while wearing those talon-shaped fingernails.

Does anyone else remember the wonders of the past the way I do?

Gifted Gourmet · March 21, 2004

And there was Debbie Fields' baking show, all about desserts. I never did figure out how she managed to get her hands in the dough while wearing those talon-shaped fingernails.

I actually do remember watching this and thinking much the same thoughts as you have ... she looked almost too much like a model to be digging into pasty raw cookie dough .... not exactly a Keebler elf, Debbi .... :laugh:

http://www.shsu.edu/~pin_www/T@S/2002/DebbiItem.html

and I imagine a lot of it stuck under her nails as you have just described!! Wonder where she is today ... no doubt making money with her talents! :hmmm:

Edited March 21, 2004 by Gifted Gourmet (log)

laurenmilan · March 22, 2004

What's the former glory? Everyone talks about the food network like it used to be this shining beacon of gastronomy. I've tried to google for a show lineup from the late '90s and haven't found one.

Here, here!

I've been watching TVFN loyally since its premiere, the days when 2-3 shows shared the same set, and Emeril would have to tape in the pre-dawn hours. There were a lot of truly awful shows "back in the day"... take my hand...

*cue harp music*

* Food News and View - A Food-based news program. As bad as it sounded. Had two prissymary "experts" regularly face off on a food issue as a sort of culinary "face the nation".

* Cooking Monday-Friday - Gives Sara's Secrets an erudite feel by comparison. A humorless soccer mom showing you how to get through the hell that is domestic cookery.

* Debbie Fields Dessert show - Good lord, can't remember the real title. But you know what they say about skinny chefs? She had an overreliance on cream cheese, chocolate chips and gooey things...

* Chef Du Jour - Actually a fairly cool show at times, depending on the "du jour". Some great TVFN personalities, like Ming Tsai (made me swoon when he came on, I'll admit it!) and Mario Batali. But the vast majority of the guests were so uncomfortable on camera I felt a little sorry for them.

* repeats, repeats, repeats - For every Julia Child episode there were 3-4 episodes of series that should not be repeated. I don't care how hard-up you are for programming (most new cable channels use repeats as their mainstay, so I can at least understand that part.)

* something awful with Robin Leach talking about the lifestyle of the rich and gluttonous.

There was stuff I loved, like How to Boil Water (I was learning to cook, and the old version was so much fun that I think I would still watch it religiously), and Essence of Emeril (sorry, the guy's fun when his only audience is a sleepy camera crew!)

Edited March 22, 2004 by laurenmilan (log)

tan319 · March 23, 2004

Chef du Jour was a pretty great show.

Gale Gand, Ming Tsai, a lot of great great chefs were on there, and they never really dumbed it down.

Sure would love to see something like that again.

Especially since there's some really great new talent out there right now.

pjs · March 23, 2004

Three stellar examples from FoodTV's past:
A talk show, hosted by Robin Leech, purportedly live. While there have been comments here about some current hosts getting drunk on camera, this is generally limited to specific episodes. The Leech talk-fest was filled with the effects of the bottle on a nightly basis.
A show reviewing restaurants, I believe Alan Richman was co-host for a time. A camera crew would visit the restaurant, to give viewers an idea about the ambiance. Alan and Nina (?) would then sit in their NYC studio "restaurant booth" and sample the dishes...that had been FedExed to them and reheated! They were, in effect, reviewing doggie bags!
And there was Debbie Fields' baking show, all about desserts. I never did figure out how she managed to get her hands in the dough while wearing those talon-shaped fingernails.
Does anyone else remember the wonders of the past the way I do?

You forgot the series devoted to how to prepare treats for Fido. Damned if I can remember the name of it. It WAS heavy on technique though.

PJ

SWoodyWhite · March 23, 2004

You forgot the series devoted to how to prepare treats for Fido. Damned if I can remember the name of it. It WAS heavy on technique though.
PJ

Three Dog Bakery. Dang, I forgot that one. They've since written a book about one of the dogs, who is no longer with them. I liked that show; the hosts were honest, and clearly loved their companions.

SWoodyWhite · March 23, 2004

* Food News and View - A Food-based news program. As bad as it sounded. Had two prissymary "experts" regularly face off on a food issue as a sort of culinary "face the nation".
* Cooking Monday-Friday - Gives Sara's Secrets an erudite feel by comparison. A humorless soccer mom showing you how to get through the hell that is domestic cookery.

Cooking Monday through Friday, hosted by Michelle Urvater (sp?). She wrote at least a couple of books to tie in with the series. It could have been called "Hi? I'm the Left-Over Lady!"

The news show was called In Food Today, hosted by David Rosengarten and Mrs. Rudy Gulianni. He was very good, as always; she was a pain. One of the dueling "experts" was Barbara Kafka, who took over David's Taste for a while when he needed to recharge his batteries. She always seemed to me to have been Robin Leach's guest one too many times, without ever recovering.

edit for spelling

Edited March 23, 2004 by SWoodyWhite (log)

TrishCT · March 23, 2004

Last night..9:00 pm... I've stopped writing for the evening and want to just chill in front of the tube.... I turn on FN...It's Unwrapped... Aaargh... Back to reading.

Gifted Gourmet · March 23, 2004

Last night..9:00 pm... I've stopped writing for the evening and want to just chill in front of the tube.... I turn on FN...It's Unwrapped... Aaargh... Back to reading.

Slam dunk, Trish!! I also wanted to do something different and watched snippets of FN ... back-to-back "Unwrapped" followed by back-to-back "Top Five" ... and when I switched to the History Channel, "The History of Guy Food" ... dear God in Heaven, is this an alternate universe??? :unsure:

truly I have entered one of Dante's lower circles of Hell!! :shock:

laurenmilan · March 23, 2004

You forgot the series devoted to how to prepare treats for Fido. Damned if I can remember the name of it. It WAS heavy on technique though.
PJ

Thanks for dislodging that gem from my longterm memory! :shock: Looks like Food TV has slowly traded in its loser cooking-format shows for loser reality shows.

You know, back then it REALLY felt like they had enough quality programming to serve 6, but they had to stretch it to serve 10. If TVFN's lineup were a meatloaf, then DoorKnock Dinners or In Food Today would be a heaping cup of corn flakes.

pjs · March 24, 2004

I liked that show; the hosts were honest, and clearly loved their companions.

I wouldn't begrudge your liking the show, nor would I disparage the hosts.

It was the fucking theme music that sent me lunging for the remote.

PJ

laurenmilan · March 24, 2004

I wouldn't begrudge your liking the show, nor would I disparage the hosts.
It was the fucking theme music that sent me lunging for the remote.
PJ

You guys are giving me traumatic flashbacks! :raz:

Toliver · March 24, 2004

Has anyone seen "Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class"? I was wondering whether it was worth viewing.

PamelaF · March 24, 2004

Somewhere earlier in the thread someone mentioned googling for an early FoodTV page. Here is a link to a 1997 page that lists the current programs:

Archive.org

mrbigjas · March 24, 2004

Has anyone seen "Wolfgang Puck's Cooking Class"? I was wondering whether it was worth viewing.

It's mildly interesting; the shows I've seen were pretty basic--an egg show with omelets, lardon/frisee salad, etc. Things like that.

The key thing that's grating about that show is the constant swooping, diving camera work. It's like they're trying to film it for IMAX. And then every once in a while--OK actually all the time, whenever he flips something over in a pan, or stirs something, they do this camera thing where they zoom in and go digitalized slo-mo on it. You can practically hear that Six Million Dollar Man noise when they do it. It makes me homicidal.

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