The Food Network has done an exceptional job at branding monotony.
For those who didn’t view the cable station within the first several years of its launch in 1993, chances are you’ll find this editorial fraught with snark. That’s because reality TV has achieved such an endless grip on our critical thinking that it’s hard to remember when creative writing and risk-taking found their way into cooking shows.
Back then, the programming was loaded with enjoyable, inspired headliners. Among them: Too Hot Tamales, East Meets West, Two Fat Ladies, Good Eats, Cooking Live with Sara Moulton—and dare I add, Molto Mario with Mario Batali. He’s the red-head paesano who not long ago fell from grace for allegedly grabbing women’s crotches while operating an empire of acclaimed restaurants.
But I digress.
Hosts with runaway egos were kept in relative check. They didn’t preside like gods over staged cooking competitions that send home tearful losers reciting scripted lines of graciousness. Nor did they all dress and act the same.
Even Emeril Lagasse started out as a unique and humble character in the early seasons of “Essence of Emeril.” But the more “Bams!” he belted out to incite uproarious applause from his studio audiences, the less endearing and more entitled he became. He’s now peddling air fryers.
Today, many Food Network shows are more about transforming hosts, judges and guests into loudmouths, geeks and jesters than putting the joys of non-frenzied cooking first.
Low-level Acting
Behold the countless scenes of faux intensity, as witnessed repeatedly in the worn-out format of Chopped. (The same applies to Guy’s Grocery Games, Worst Cooks in America, Kids Baking Championship, and several others.)
Chopped started out with pizzazz in 2009. But it has barely changed. Contestants are urged to feign expressions of shock when opening their baskets of quirky ingredients, which they must incorporate into meal courses. Those same badly acted contortions of despair occur when they’re standing in military-style subservience during elimination rounds. They feed the camera close-ups, which the network’s uninspired hierarchy still view as fresh. Saleable, yes. But novel, uh-uh.
Originality flushes further down the drain as “chefs” drip sweat into their saute pans when devising dishes under a cruel time clock. This is when we’re supposed to think they’re verging into nervous breakdowns.
Then the judges vie for desperate minutes of camera exposure. They crave the stardom of their hosts. But they rarely find it despite casting icy stares into the nervous faces of contestants while forking into their haphazard dishes. Criticism is matched by praise and visa versa. It’s a contrived ploy to keep viewers clueless as to who will win the matches—and ultimately a grab a big cash prize tied to some heartfelt cause.
A lot of people can’t get enough of these endless drama loops. And I get it. But cable-television audiences are generally numb because of them.
Conversely, scores of viewers with a thirst for originality have abandoned repetitive shows like Chopped. Don’t believe it? Check the comment threads on social media or ask those who were devoted fans early on. The gush-fests are shrinking.
The Founding Father Wasn’t Pleased
I had the honor in 2016 to interview the late Jack Clifford, who founded the Food Network 28 years ago. In the early days, the network reached only 200,000 households. Yet by the time he sold it to Belo Corporation in Dallas in 1997, he expanded its availability to more than 100 million households. It is now owned by Discovery Inc. and Nexstar Media Group.
“I originally saw the network as a way of teaching people how to cook,” he told me at the time. “I’m disappointed by the lack of those kinds of shows today.”
Clifford cited Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa as a shining example of “a solid, educational cooking show run by an excellent host.” And I couldn’t agree more.
Garten is engaging sans the sophomoric antics. And she brings sensible panache to meals. Also, her house in The Hamptons is easy on the eyes. Serious culinary types can’t get enough of her.
Sadly, Garten and her ilk have been nudged out of numerous time slots thanks to ridiculous 15-hour marathons of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Guy’s Grocery Games, Beat Bobby Flay, Chopped, et al.
Solo Hosts Are Often Compelling
Another show deserving of more airtime is Delicious Miss Brown hosted by Kardea Brown—especially if it means scaling back a little on the Pollyanna-speaking Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman.
While Drummond bastardizes ethnic recipes for Oklahoma church folk (sorry Ree, but breakfast sausage and cottage cheese don’t belong in lasagna!), Brown demonstrates authentic Southern cooking culled from her family’s recipe files. And she does so without coming across as though she’s narrating a commercial for strawberry Pedialyte.
Some of Food Network’s biggest clowns and egomaniacs are actually pleasant to watch when they’re spotlighted in straight-forward cooking formats—as I’ve seen lately in Instagram segments.
Chefs on that list would include Bobby Flay, who I interviewed 10 years ago in the back room of a Williams-Sonoma for NBC’s The Feast. Assuming he’d be a jackass, I was struck by his charming, reserved smugness. Those traits translate well in his solo demos, when he isn’t stoked by the ingratiating emcees and fawning fans of Beat Bobby Flay.
Ditto for Carla Hall. She’s a contrived comedienne when co-hosting Worst Cooks in America. But put her in front of a small group of aspiring chefs, and she turns into a slick and captivating teacher, as proven in her Instagram videos. Flay and Hall are each superb when they actually show us how to cook stuff. If only the programming execs would realize there’s an eager, untapped audience for them (and others) in those kinds of environments.
Anyone Up for a Double Order of Respite from Guy Fieri?
Which brings me to what I consider to be the persistent bane of the Food Network—that being Guy Fieri in his hopelessly formulated shows and stunted persona.
Fieri is to cuisine what rayon jogging pants are to couture. (Think “trash can nachos” and super-stacked burgers.) Yes, he generates ratings, draws advertisers, and gives generously to charities. And not everyone finds him insufferable. But that shouldn’t allow him to dominate the network’s program schedule.
Both his “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and “Guy’s Grocery Games” represent the Vatican of TV schmaltz, with “Triple D” geared for those taking statins and “Triple G” best suited for tweens and stoners.
And that may be cool. But when Fieri’s shtick blocks out so many other shows and prevents the birth of potential shows that dare to be different, I would concur with the growing outcry of disenfranchised viewers that the Food Network has a problem child on its hands.
The Food Network of Tomorrow
The time is ripe for the network to better utilize its cache of less-famous chefs and personalities—and find some unknowns without subjecting them to televised scrutiny by uppity Food Network star Giada de Laurentiis and her cozy sidekick Flay. (The duo just launched an adventure series on Discovery Plus titled Bobby and Giada in Italy.)
The Kitchen is an adequate example of a show without countdowns and melodramatic sendoffs. It features four likable, rotating hosts who share equal airtime constructing doable dishes. Though be warned that co-host Jeff Mauro vies for dominance with his boyish squeaky-clean image.
Let’s also see more of Alex Guarnashelli, Jet Tila, Michael Solomononov, and Sunny Anderson—and Ina Garten and Kardea Brown. These are the less-brassy pros who generate big followings because of their cool ability to hold our attention.
In addition, bring back creative writers and directors who can deliver culinary history, science and innovation. How refreshing it would be, too, if the producers stopped molding every movement and expression of their on-camera talent.
And for the love of everything and everyone, the network needs to stop manufacturing overfed egos. They don’t pair well to food.
Very well done, Frank! The Guy Fieri IS absolutely out of control and too many of their shows ARE formulaic. I’m not sure if they’re making any new episodes but I’ve really enjoyed “the best thing I ever ate“ in its various permutations. It features some of the mid tier chefs you mention.
Totally agree, Frank. As a foodie, I used to watch the food shows religiously, but rarely any more because they have become a joke. Nobody “teaches” you anything about food, or cooking and baking, or how to enjoy a meal with a wine pairing. “Chopped” used to be fun to watch, but now has become a parody of itself. “Worst Cooks in America” is a clown show, without the clowns, and is ridiculous and unwatchable because no home cook could be that dumb. I still watch “Top Chef,” but even that has become over-the-top. It’s now about selling the personality or whatever product they are hawking. Gawd, I miss Julia Child.
Good Job, Frank! Wouldn’t it be nice if they listened! This is emblematic for so much of what ails our economy/society. The product’s quality and benefits suffer when those producing it don’t care if they are making shoes, art, cars, electronics or whatever, because all they are passionate about is making money.