That’s the only channel I’ll actually sit down to watch! Whoever the fellow is who does <i>Unwrapped</i> annoys the heck out of me though. He has these pauses… when he speaks… that make me think… he went to the William Shatner… School of Orating. The show itself is pretty fascinating, but his style is so distracting!
I adore Alton Brown, Mario Batali, and the couple who won the network’s “next Food Network star” competition.
Rachael Ray is too damned perky. I can handle her 30-Minute Meals show (though the whole “EVOO giggle - that’s extra virgin olive oil” at least once a show is beginning to grate on me), but her $40 a Day show is way too much of her stuffing her face and simulating orgasm over how absolutely delicious every morsel is. (I’m a straight chick; this doesn’t turn my crank.)
Giada de Laurentiis - she’s good but I find her too-large head very distracting.
I hate Sandra Lee (“Semi-Homemade Cooking,” IIRC). That woman shouldn’t be allowed near a kitchen, with the crimes she commits against food. And the woman who does the “Barefoot Contessa” shows also irritates me to no end.
Good Eats and Iron Chef (both versions) are high-priority TiVo season passes for me. Alton Brown is just amazing. I also watched some of Dave Lieberman’s Good Deal, which was passable, but mostly focused on reintroducing kitchen basics to inexperienced cooks; it’s a show to start with and graduate from.
Also, I used to think Emeril was a tool, but I changed my mind. Actually, it’s his audience that is made up of tools, and he’s just playing to them.
Emeril: And now… we add… <suspenseful pause: it must be something truly unique, something unusual that will take an ordinary dish and make it extraordinary, something I’ve barely heard of, like star anise poached in aquavit or a whole habanero full of congealed duck fat or quail eyeballs skewered on grouper pinbones or something; and then he produces the ingredient dish with a dramatic flourish> …GARLIC!
Audience:<goes nuts, braying in joy and banging their hands together like monkeys in a Vegas sideshow>
Alton Brown is the only reason I turn on Food Network any more (I used to enjoy some of Mario’s shows, but I haven’t seen him on anything but Iron Chef America any more, and I can take or leave that). I love AB - he can have my baby.
At my house, we call her Crazy Lady Who Melts Butter. I mean it in the nicest possible way and I enjoy her show, but you could make a drinking game out of every use of butter and heavy cream.
BBVL: I didn’t know about Anthony Bourdain’s other show. So he’s slamming those guys, huh? I can see Food Network being a little touchy about that. I just assumed his show was on so late because it’s the only food show where I ever heard the host drop the F-bomb, even if it was bleeped out. Food Network’s decidedly family-friendly, even when they do a show on geoducks.
Corii: The host of Unwrapped is Marc Summers, who hosted Nickelodeon’s Double Dare back in the '80s. He’s amazingly low-key for the former host of a raucous children’s game show.
cbawlmer: That’s hilarious, I thought I recognized him from somewhere! I liked the one where they explored diners across the US, but I don’t think that was Unwrapped, he has another show doesn’t he? Anyway I’m a Jersey girl at heart so the diners were very nostalgic for me.
They act like that even when he’s not trying to play to them. I watched it yesterday. He was tossing a salad and had too much dressing in the bowl.
Emeril: See, this is too wet…even when we add the broccoli.
[adds the broccoli. Shows the camera the salad is still too wet]
[adds more lettuce]
The crowd went wild when he added that lettuce. They were laughing and clapping.
Later in the show, he was trying to get some powdered spices out of a bowl and having a hard time, so he said to explain why he was having trouble, “It’s humid in here”. The crowd couldn’t stop applauding. I just don’t get it.
Maybe it’s just really easy to be happy when you’re smelling good food cooking. I think they’re a little cuckoo too, but Emeril’s not a real low-key kinda guy and he’s obviously superexcited about his food.
I met Bobby Flay summer before last when he did a cooking demonstration to promote one of his books. The steak and pork he grilled were among the best things I’ve ever eaten, and he was very personable and nice to the folks who attended, especially the kids. I brought my young brother and sister (then aged 11 and 10) who are big fans of his shows and they were thrilled with the whole experience. I’ve heard he has a reputation for being difficult and egotistical, but I think that’s really common among ambitious, hard-working perfectionist types. He was definitely on his best behavior the day we met him.
Alton Brown did a demonstration in Austin a couple of months ago and I really wanted to go, but I couldn’t get away. I was so disappointed!
Food Network made me the happy cook that I am today, particularly Alton Brown. Even if you don’t like his recipes, you still learn enough to fix problems you may have had with your own.
I’d really like to find Rachel Ray annoying, but I can’t. She’s just so damn cute in a kinda hot way.
Can’t forget about Iron Chef. I like both of them, but American has Alton Brown as the host and Mario Batali. It’s almost a match for the Chairmans puffy sleeves.
Over the summer I had a lot of free time at night - a couple of my best friends were working nights and I wasn’t - so I spent an uncharacteristic amount of time in front of the TV. An extremely significant portion of that was spent watching Emeril and Iron Chef, I must admit. So much more entertaining than almost all of my other choices, and practical/educational, too!
I find Rachel Ray annoying, but only because she’s exactly like my mother in her speech and mannerisms. Other than that, I can totally see the hotness. And she can cook!
I wasn’t trying for Haiku, there. I also love Alton Brown, but we get Food Network Canada, and I haven’t seen a new show from him in a while. I like Michael Smith, too.
Nigella sure is luscious, but she has never, as far as I know, been on Food Network. I think she was on the Style Channel, or one of those other channels, and she has written a bunch of best-selling cookbooks (helped in part by her gorgeous cover photos), but I’ve never actually seen her in action on TV.
I love Paula Dean. Seriously. I want her to be my grandma. I want her to be grandma that lives in the garage and cooks for me all the live long day. Granted, I’d weigh 300 lbs and have a heart attack at 25, but OH BOY would it be worth it.
Rachel Ray is so. friggin’. annoying. I cannot stand her at all. And the worst part: Oprah has arranged for Rachel to get a one hour, day time talk show.
AN HOUR! The woman drives most crazy after 30 minutes!
I love the food competitions. The only problem I have is that I don’t always understand why someone wins or loses. I would like to see them delve a little more into the mechanics of why something was good or bad rather than just tell us who won.
