I was just watching Down Home with the Neelys, and felt inspired to start this thread.
The Neelys fascinate the holy heck out of me. Here is a sincere and non-snarky question: Are they for real?
I mean, I hope they are. I want them to be that in love and show it that much.
Do you think they are that lovey-dovey off camera? They are a treat to watch. Pat clearly DOTES on Gina and thinks the world of her. I like the way there’s a lot of mild sexual innuendo in their interactions, but the emphasis is on affection. Also, there’s no touchy-feely, which if there were, and it matched the level of their verbal affection… the show would have to move to one of those pay channels.
Contrast them with the reserved, slightly awkward way that Ina Garten relates to her Jeffrey. She spends all day cooking something for him and serves it to him expectantly and with a girlish giggle. He usually reacts with mild enthusiasm. She leans over and looks at him, seeking eye contact and sometimes he looks up from his plate. Do you think THEY’RE that awkward when the cameras aren’t around?
*Other cooking couples or cook & spouse: *
Rachael & John
Giada & Todd
Paula Deen & the Strong Silent Michael
Cooking couple who are not spouses:
Rick Bayliss & daughter
Jacques Pepin & Claudine (Jacques Pepin is my personal hero. Watching that man bone a chicken is poetry in motion.)
Paula Deen (again) & sons
I just dropped in to say when I read the title I thought immediately of the Neelys! My wife has been interested in Spanish culture of late and DVR’ed Vacation Bites – Episode NY0110 last week or so. I watched the show and was fascinated by their charm and cooking skills. Nice people.
Neely’s Barbecue is a Memphis concern but they tried to open a place in Nashville. Unfortunately the location was one of those dead zone affairs (in a heavily trafficked area but with poor access) and it failed to catch on. Nothing in that location has worked and there have been some good tries.
I don’t watch much cooking on TV. Last show I really got into was Justin Wilson’s Cajun Cooking show, which I watched mostly for the humor.
Lidia’s Italy (Lidia Matticchio Bastianich), as well as her other shows, intermittently feature (i) her mother (Erminia), (ii) her daughter (Tanya), (iii) her grandchildren, and (iv) her son, Joseph to recommend wines (head winemaker for her restaurant group).
The Neelys are both on-air personalities, and both cooks. The above couples aren’t; it’s an on-air personality with a husband who occasionally does cameos. I’m not at all surprised the husbands come across as stiff and awkward and affectionless – being on-air is something they’re not familiar with.
The relationships seem to come across better when the host is actually cooking with whomever – Paula with her sons, or Giada with her mother or aunt (actually, her mother and aunt come across better than Giada often). Absolutely nothing rescues Ina and her uncomfortable, fabulous gay friends though; that always comes across as awkward.
And I understand (from someone who’s met the lady) that Ina Garten is, indeed, just as stiff in person. My friend said she was “awkwardly gracious. and did that nervous giggle thing.”
I forgot about Lidia. I love her. She’s no-nonsense, but still warm.
One time she went to some estate in Italy where they grew rice- I think, maybe I’m wrong about the crop. Anyway, she and this guy were out in the field, and he pointed to a sprawling red-tile-roofed house about half a mile away. He said his family has lived in that house since the 1100’s. As someone who had 43 addresses by the age of 40, I had a hard time wrapping my brain around that kind of continuity and longevity.
I have wanted to start a thread about this for the last couple of years, but always hesitated, as it is a creepy subject, but what the hell, here it goes…
Am I the only one who finds the interaction between Rick Bayless and his teenage daughter Lanie a bit “off”?
She (not him so much) gives off a vibe that pings something on my “something is not quite right” meter, and she has a manner about her that makes me think that she is trying to be much more mature (seductive?) than her 18 years would dictate.
She may just be naturally flirtatious, but when the object of her flirtation is her father it is unsetteling to watch, at least to me.
I’ve not watched the two of them so take this with a pinch of salt (hah!), but maybe she thinks she needs to act seductively for the camera, or her efforts to act appealingly for the camera comes off that way.
There’s also the couple who won a Next Food Network Star competition, Dan and Steve on Party Line with the Hearty Boys (The Hearty Boys is the name of their Chicago catering company). I think those two have decent on-air chemistry.
Re. Rick Bayless and daughter - I think she might just not be that good on camera and unsure how to act, so she screws it up a bit. I think she’s the weakest part of his otherwise excellent show and I’d be happier without her there.
I cannot stand the Neelys. They come across as big phonies to me because I just can’t see how people could interact like that normally and not make themselves sick. The wife is always going on about pleasing your man, I half expect her to unzip him, slap some BBQ sauce on his little chef and go to town. I’ve only seen them as guests on some other shows and a few minutes of that was too much, if I happen to be watching Food Network and their show comes on I can’t turn it off fast enough.
I think Rick Bayless is creepy with or without his daughter. And he seems to be getting creepier as he ages.
OTOH I loved “Cooking with Claudine” with Jacques and his daughter. The vibe between them was so lovely.
My mom loves the Neely’s and when I lived at home their show absolutely drove me crazy.
I decided eventually that their interactions made more sense if I thought of them as a gay man and his fag hag (sorry, but I don’t know a more appropriate PC term).
At Home on the Range was the first show I thought of. It was a low-budget production (actually videotaped in a garage) that I thought was strictly local, but according to the Web site had some international distribution. She was a ditzy redhead, he was rather matter-of-fact. I thought they were married, but apparently they were just good friends.
I’ve always thought Rick Bayless is creepy, too. I think Lanie is too aware of the camera. She’s always trying too hard and exaggerating her actions and words. I’d rather she wasn’t on the show, too.
Ming Tsai cooks with his mom once in a while. But he bugs me, guys. Hey guys. You need to do it like this, guys. Guys, this is how it works. I want to punch him, guys.
Lidia’s ok but I love her mom (you betcha!) and grandchildren. I like Tonya’s husband better than Tonya. As far as I know he’s only been on as an eater, not a cook. Joe reminds me of my brother so I don’t like him.
Caprial & John (no idea what their last name is but they’re in Portland) are all right.
That sort of interaction is kind of a cultural thing in certain areas of the south - some of my friends from south-central Kentucky act in a similar manner.
I think it has something to do with how pre-marital sex is SO looked down on, that once you ARE married, you have to prove how really INTO each other you are.