Cookaholics Bulletin Board

...to tune in Food Network, I see "Big Daddy's House." O. M. G. Hot dogs wrapped in bacon? Move over, Paula. You've got company in the lame category.

He was last year's winner of the "Next Food Network Star" pretty lame, if you ask me. His show was renewed for a second season, while the "Gourmet Next Door" was dropped.(previous winner) I like her, can't watch him....just goes to show you that the Food Network has almost completely separated themselves from serious cooking.
ilene

You know, that is exactly right. It started with "Semi Homemade" and was all downhill from there. Too bad, really.

All,

Blame the viewers. If you graphed "serious cooking content" against "number of viewers" it would form a big "X". When the Food Network dumped serious follow-the-cook shows like Graham Kerr for showmen like Emeril, viewership went up 10x; when they dumped chefs like Emeril for "TV Personalities" like Rachel Ray, viewership went up another 10x.

Seems that most American TV viewers don't actually want to see real cooking. If you're going to be eating a TV dinner anyway, why would you?

I expect most of the "serious cooking" shows will go online, or to PBS.

IIRC there was an article in the NY Times awhile ago about this (I posted on it here or on CI). The point of the article was about the growth as cooking as a spectator sport vs. a participative endeavor. You're no longer expected to actually prepare the recipes, so they generally aren't presented with detailed ingredient lists or sufficent information to avoid messing something up. Now it's more about watching, and so more spectacle ("BAM!", or doughnut cheeseburgers, or esophagus tacos) is what draws the crowd.

Also, for FN, it's more about owning the entire product, which is why their talent seems to be more and more someone you've never heard of outside of perhaps another FN show.

"Talent?" ahahaha. Good one.

I second that: "talent?"

And now a confession. (You don't know where I live, so I can do this......invisibly ):oops:

Three years ago (I think) I had The Book. The Nielsen book. I didn't get any equipment installed (would have been easier) no, I had a diary. Strangely, it was the third time I was asked to participate in a Nielsen Survey.

And DS that I am, I actually gave them my gender and age. And that I watched the FN, or had it on all day (white noise.) Since my name is somewhat androgynous, I realize now, I could have lied and said I was a 26 year old male, but no, I told the truth. Evidently, sixty year old retirees are NOT their target audience.

So now you know. It's all my fault. (Hanging head in shame and remorse.) If they ask me again, I will lie. But too late for us. Oh, well, there's still PBS......

Speaking of PBS, I just read in this week's Newsweek, that Eric Ripert will have a show on PBS shortly called "Avec Eric". Another great PBS offering.
ilene

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Rachel Ray has talent, and works really, really hard (her average shooting day is 13 hours long). It's just that her talent isn't cooking.

I haven't seen any of the newer "FN Personalities", but some of them would be similar. FN hires TV actors, not cooks. And just because they're bad cooks doesn't mean they're bad TV people. They're doing what they were hired to do.

Well said Fuz....and for those of us who wish to learn, thankfully, we still have PBS
ilene