I don't like the new Alton Brown.

[Ogre]

I liked him much better as a normal, if sometimes goofy-looking, nerd. He was knowledgeable, geeky, and had a lot of charm. Now he just seems like a sawed-off martinet. He appears more as a sarcastic, iron-fisted impresario now. Can't stand to watch him.

[Ogre]

Is it just me? It's just me, isn't it? Tell me he's the same friendly, dorky guy we all came to know and love, and not the tinpot dictator he appears to have become.

[RetroVertigo]

Does this impression come from watching The Next Food Network Star (i think that is what its called), or from something else?

[DCnDC]

I still like the guy, but yes, I did prefer him when he was more of a normal dude, albeit one with more than a little too much knowledge and enthusiasm for food. He's still mostly that guy on Good Eats. It's when he hosting all those other shows on Food Network (something in the neighborhood of ALL of them) that he gets on his high horse and looks down his nose at all of us poor-eating, bad-cooking slobs that wouldn't know the difference between a carrot and a parsnip.

[Ogre]

Does this impression come from watching The Next Food Network Star (i think that is what its called), or from something else?

As DC points out, it seems to be virtually all of them except "Good Eats".

[Dolores Reborn]

He's a bit pompous on The Next Iron Chef, but not overpoweringly so - at least in my opinion. It's Iron Chef!

I think he looks a bit haggard lately, though. He's not eating enough!

[muldoonthief]

He seems fine on Good Eats, which is the only show of his I watch. Of course, he's been on long enough that he's running into continuity issues - he recently disdained using a grapefruit spoon to section a grapefruit, because it's a dreaded "unitasker", while on previous eps he's praised it as one of his "favorite multitaskers" for cleaning out peppers, tomatoes, etc.

[Jeep's Phoenix]

His attitude on Iron Chef America is one reason I find the show to be unwatchable. I still think he's great on Good Eats though.

[kenobi 65]

I think he looks a bit haggard lately, though. He's not eating enough!

He had an episode on Good Eats on the topic early this year. He pretty radically changed his diet, and lost a bunch of weight, due to health concerns. But, I agree, the first time I saw "skinny Alton", on the 10th anniversary Good Eats special, I was afraid he was ill, because he looked so thin.

[silenus]

Alton is great no matter what show he's on. He makes Iron Chef America. But the boy does need to eat a cheeseburger or three. He took the diet too far.

[Saint Cad]

His attitude on Iron Chef America is one reason I find the show to be unwatchable. I still think he's great on Good Eats though.

I've said since day 1 he needs another commentator to play off of like Fukui and Hattori did.

[Snake Plissken]

As a chef, I feel licensed to make this generalization...Any chef worth his salt has a pretty healthy ego. If you see one in his/her natural environment, a real working kitchen, this will be apparent.

I cant really watch much of the Food Network, because I see alot of stuff that would get you corrected---> reprimanded---> fired in my kitchen.


Ever notice the gal on Secrets of a Restaurant Chef is always licking her fingers and puts them back in the food? Even when she uses a tasting spoon she will reuse it in preparation.

[Captain Amazing]

The Good Eats Alton is good Alton, and the Next Food Network Chef Alton is evil Alton.

[DCnDC]

As a chef, I feel licensed to make this generalization...Any chef worth his salt has a pretty healthy ego. If you see one in his/her natural environment, a real working kitchen, this will be apparent.

Yes, and that's fine but Alton Brown isn't, nor was he ever, a chef. He's just a guy with a show about food that works for the Food Network.

[Snake Plissken]

As a chef, I feel licensed to make this generalization...Any chef worth his salt has a pretty healthy ego. If you see one in his/her natural environment, a real working kitchen, this will be apparent.

Yes, and that's fine but Alton Brown isn't, nor was he ever, a chef. He's just a guy with a show about food that works for the Food Network.


I dont doubt it. I also know alot of real chefs that got themselves a publicist and eventually became TV personalities. I dont begrudge this, but time spent away from from the game erodes ones skills. I guess it doesnt matter, since I'm not exactly their target market.

[teela brown]

When he had that reality show a couple of years ago in which he and some other foodie buddies toured the U.S. on motorcycles, there were many unguarded moments when he came across as rather a douche. He was all "I'm the boss and the star here and anyone who disagrees with me is the equivalent of gum on my shoe."

And it wasn't a self-lampooning, done-for-comedy kind of schtick, either.

[Bosstone]

Never trust a skinny cook.

[xenophon41]

His attitude on Iron Chef America is one reason I find the show to be unwatchable. I still think he's great on Good Eats though.

I've said since day 1 he needs another commentator to play off of like Fukui and Hattori did.

They lost some chemistry potential when they combined Hattori/Fukui/Ohta into Brown/Brauch. Brown can do the Doc Hattori role easily, and with Brauch's floor reporting ties things together in the show pretty well, but there's not much interplay with the chefs or the judges. I always felt this combination would work better if they at least brought one of the guest judges down to the floor with Alton each week to jazz up the commentary.

I "get" that they want to do some teaching moments with the theme ingredient, but sometimes Brown's minilectures seem more like filler than necessary content. It wouldn't hurt the show to reduce the infotainment and increase the chatter. It's part of what made the original so great.

[Ogre]

Oh yeah, and do Brown and Brauch hate each other or something? There always seems to be this undercurrent of animosity when they talk to each other.

[Anne Neville]

I still like the guy, but yes, I did prefer him when he was more of a normal dude, albeit one with more than a little too much knowledge and enthusiasm for food. He's still mostly that guy on Good Eats. It's when he hosting all those other shows on Food Network (something in the neighborhood of ALL of them) that he gets on his high horse and looks down his nose at all of us poor-eating, bad-cooking slobs that wouldn't know the difference between a carrot and a parsnip.

Oh, that's why I haven't noticed this. I occasionally watch Iron Chef America, when there's nothing better on the Tivo, but otherwise the only Alton Brown show I watch is Good Eats.

[kenobi 65]

Yes, and that's fine but Alton Brown isn't, nor was he ever, a chef. He's just a guy with a show about food that works for the Food Network.

Depends on your definition of "chef". Was he ever the head chef at a restaurant, or owned his own restaurant? No.

He was originally a cinematographer and video director, and did a lot of commercial work. When he came up with the idea for Good Eats, he went to culinary school, and graduated from the New England Culinary Institute, in order to gain the training and knowledge needed to create and host the show.

So, he *is* trained as a chef, though I'm guessing that his work experience as a chef is likely limited to what he did during his time at NECI.

[Silver Tyger]

Am I the only one who gets totally distracted by his hair? It's AWFUL! I can't pay attention to anything but how bad it is.

[Snake Plissken]

Yes, and that's fine but Alton Brown isn't, nor was he ever, a chef. He's just a guy with a show about food that works for the Food Network.

Depends on your definition of "chef". Was he ever the head chef at a restaurant, or owned his own restaurant? No.

He was originally a cinematographer and video director, and did a lot of commercial work. When he came up with the idea for Good Eats, he went to culinary school, and graduated from the New England Culinary Institute, in order to gain the training and knowledge needed to create and host the show.

So, he *is* trained as a chef, though I'm guessing that his work experience as a chef is likely limited to what he did during his time at NECI.



The New England Culinary Institute, CIA, or Johnson and Wales will tell you to not even think about considering yourself a chef without your education plus 15 years in the industry. There is more to being a chef than writing recipes and cooking.

[Bosstone]

The New England Culinary Institute, CIA, or Johnson and Wales will tell you to not even think about considering yourself a chef without your education plus 15 years in the industry. There is more to being a chef than writing recipes and cooking.I doubt Alton considers himself a chef at all.

[Clark Cello]

When he had that reality show a couple of years ago in which he and some other foodie buddies toured the U.S. on motorcycles, there were many unguarded moments when he came across as rather a douche. He was all "I'm the boss and the star here and anyone who disagrees with me is the equivalent of gum on my shoe."

And it wasn't a self-lampooning, done-for-comedy kind of schtick, either.

I can think of several times during the show (Feasting on Asphalt) when he did it precisely is a "self-lampooning, done-for-comedy kind of schtick". In fact, I didn't find it funny since it was so obvious. Maybe there were other times when he was a real life douche, but I didn't notice them.

As far as the original question goes, I only really watch him on Good Eats. I think he is more preachy, with his diet and sustainable food and everything, than he has been in the past. I think that was mainly evident in the first few episodes of this season, and he has gotten back to the old Alton pretty much now. I will say that my wife also thinks he is much too skinny.

[Clark Cello]

The New England Culinary Institute, CIA, or Johnson and Wales will tell you to not even think about considering yourself a chef without your education plus 15 years in the industry. There is more to being a chef than writing recipes and cooking.I doubt Alton considers himself a chef at all.

He has specifically said a couple of times that he is not.

[Simplicio]

The New England Culinary Institute, CIA, or Johnson and Wales will tell you to not even think about considering yourself a chef without your education plus 15 years in the industry. There is more to being a chef than writing recipes and cooking.

Maybe, but Good Eats is pretty much geared towards people cooking in their homes, it doesn't really have anything to do with running a big kitchen or spending hours on the perfect meal to impress someone or running a restaurant or catering for a large gathering or many of the other skills I imagine you'd need on the job training for. Even if he had those skills, they'd be a pretty marginal asset for what he does.

As to the OP, I don't really see what your talking about. I think his main problem is Food Network decided to massively over-expose him. He was very good creating and starring in his scripted TV show, but for MCing and non-scripted stuff he's just kinda mediocre. I'm not sure why they didn't play to his strengths and create more scripted stuff for him to do.

The main draw of Good Eats was mixing the cooking stuff with food-science, history and anthropological mini-lectures. They should've had him create a second show where he ditched the cooking and just did documentaries on the "edu-tainment" bits of Good Eats.

[Jeep's Phoenix]

I cant really watch much of the Food Network, because I see alot of stuff that would get you corrected---> reprimanded---> fired in my kitchen.


Ever notice the gal on Secrets of a Restaurant Chef is always licking her fingers and puts them back in the food? Even when she uses a tasting spoon she will reuse it in preparation.
I haven't been able to watch anything with Paula Deen ever since I saw her stick her tongue in a running chocolate fountain.

[Tom Scud]

The main draw of Good Eats was mixing the cooking stuff with food-science, history and anthropological mini-lectures. They should've had him create a second show where he ditched the cooking and just did documentaries on the "edu-tainment" bits of Good Eats.
Yeah, but that wouldn't be YET ANOTHER FUCKING CONTEST SHOW, which apparently is all Food Network is interested in showing.