» Food Network: Has It Gone Downhill? Options

[bj1968]

Of all of FN's theme weeks, I hate barbecue/grilling week the most. I can't explain it since in real life I adore barbedue/grilling but something about this time of year and FN gives me the heaves!

If I were a potential food network star there is no way that I would sign an agreement that would give FN rights to any future product lines or commercial revenue that I could potentially earn. Anyone who signs that agreement is a fool!

[toolazy]

That might explain why the recent crop is so relatively lame.

[Biosynth]

I wouldn't mind a cake show, so long as they actually showed you how to make one and decorate one. There are thousands of cake recipes out there, it would be nice to see some of the actual process to make one.

DIY had a cake decorating show on once in a while. It did just that. *sigh*

[Chyromaniac]

I would argue that "product placement" is a term which has only one sense.

JHeaton's take on product placement has been spot on, however I'd like to add that even in regular TV/movies, not every brand name on screen is there because of product placement. Often times producers or directors will use real products because fake ones can break the reality of a scene, or because they don't want to spend time/money creating "phony brand" props. So, just because some bottles of an Aussie EVOO happen to be on set for one or more FN shows, doesn't mean any money has changed hands to put them there. Quite frankly, I find the idea that FN is conspiring with "big food" to pull off some sort of reverse psychology product placement where all the labels are disguised to be a pretty big reach. Trust me, if a company pays to place their products on a FN show, there won't be anything subtle about it.

As for their recipes and their "recommended" ingredients:
I cannot speak to all FN chefs, but Sandy does list brand name ingredients in her recipes. Her reasoning is that different brands of a particular product have distinct makeups- so if you really want to get her exact results, those are the ingredients you should use. For example, if she says to use a jar of "mild chunky salsa," the end product could taste different if you use Pace vs. Tostitos, Old Dutch, Newmans, etc... The same thing goes for the spice blend preferences of the chefs- even on something as specific as "cajun seasoning" Lawry's will have a different composition than, say, McCormick. However, in the end the recommendations are just that- suggestions on what you can use to achieve results of the recipe author's, not necessarily an endorsement of one product over another.

Cakes:
Ace of Cakes is a very entertaining show, and I have never had any questions about their sanitary standards. What specifically is it about them that you find unhygenic??? Mainly I watch AoC because it's fun watching Duff & Co. interact, solve problems, and put together some really cool looking cakes. And, when I watch I don't get the sense that anyone is putting on a reality show persona- they are who they are. Plus, they remind me of people I used to hang out with in college.

With Challenge, we get so many cake/sugar/chocolate sculptures because they're very visual, they lend themselves well to specific themes, there's plenty of work that they can show, they can get top-rate people to compete, and of course, there's the drama factor of whether or not the end product will hold up or come crashing down. I can take or leave Challenge- most often it ends up being background noise while we make Sunday dinner. It's cool seeing the end results (whether it be cake, bbq, burgers, or whatever), but otherwise I don't care about it too much.

[OHgamer]

What I currently like on FN and will make an effort to watch if the show is new

1) Secrets of a Restaurant Chef
2) Chopped
3) Good Eats
4) Iron Chef America
5) Throwdown

and when they finally begin airing it later this year, the new Jeff Corwin travel show (the Thailand pilot show he did which aired in Feb 09 was probably the best thing FN has had on in ages)

FN may be going downhill, but there are still diamonds in the rough.

This post has been edited by OHgamer: Jun 25, 2009 @ 12:38 pm.

[JHeaton]

Do you think Tuschie and Susie think it's a form of entertainment for viewers, watching cakes get decorated?

Yes, of course they do. That's sort of the point of a television network, you know, to broadcast shows that viewers find entertaining. The ratings would tend to support their belief; Ace of Cakes is one of their top-rated primetime shows, and someone must be watching the challenges since there are so damn many of them.

[Muwarr90]

If they were honest, The Next Food Network Star wouldn't have the contestants cooking at all. It should all be cake decorating, travel shows, and "informative" segments like Unwrapped. Since actual cooking has been banned from the network's prime time line up, if you are going to be a true "star" of the network, You aren't going to be doing a cooking show, so why pretend?

This post has been edited by Muwarr90: Jun 25, 2009 @ 2:30 pm.

[wingsabre]

http://www.goodbite.com/

New website created by several food bloggers. There's recipes, quick tips, etc... This might be a good alternative to foodnetwork.com

[copperdryad]

Thanks for posting that, wingsabre.

[VaxAlpha]

You know, I had an insight the other day into the reason for FN's rather obvious decline. The primary execs with programming responsibility are from Nickleodeon. Of course they are dumbing down the content because they can only relate to people with less than a 7th grade education.

but a short, fat woman just on this side of middle-age won't be a hit with their frat-boy demograpic.

I guess this explains why RR is headed for behind the camera work.

[Happygrl6]

Speaking of the theme weeks, one f my biggest complaints about Food TV is that they take an idea and then turn it up about eight notches above what is tolerable. An occasional cake-decorating contest? Fine! Eight contests a week? Overkill. Paula in her early days? Fine! Paula now? Overkill. A show about food chefs like to eat? Fine! Seven times a week? Overkill! A show like Unwrapped occasionally? Fine! Thirty-four times a week? Ridiculous! They took decent travel food shows like The Best of and Food Finds and replaced them with the ridiculous $40 a Day and the Deen boys show.

They get an idea, have it get good ratings and then, instead of trying to make it the best it can be, they turn it up a hundred notches, make every kind of spin off/similar show they can and then run them a hundred times a week.

I LOVE the cooking shows. When I was in preschool, one of my favorite shows was The Frugal Gourmet. But I'm also one who enjoys the non-cooking shows and think they can have a place on The Food Network. I enjoyed the old Ready, Set, Cook!, an occasional Unwrapped or FN Challenge, The Best of & Food Finds, etc. But WHY do they have to take those concepts and run them into the ground?!

[Sandstar]

I LOVE the cooking shows. When I was in preschool, one of my favorite shows was The Frugal Gourmet. But I'm also one who enjoys the non-cooking shows and think they can have a place on The Food Network. I enjoyed the old Ready, Set, Cook!, an occasional Unwrapped or FN Challenge, The Best of & Food Finds, etc. But WHY do they have to take those concepts and run them into the ground?!

Because, like a child, when they see something people like, they a: try to finetune it so MORE people like it, and b: CLONE THE FUCK OUT OF IT. Cause if people like it one night a week, they'll orgasm if it comes on 5 nights a week. Look at what happened with Who Wants to be a Millionaire. ABC killed it by having it on 5 nights a week after it got popular. Even now, movie studios are trying to figure out how to make their movies more like the Dark Knight, no matter how innapropriate it is. Trying to make a movie about sunshine fairies? Make it dark and brooding. People loved it with the Dark Knight, they'll love it here too.

[JHeaton]

No, it's because television executives are a bunch of chuckleheads. It doesn't matter if you're talking about a cable channel like Food Network or a broadcast network like ABC, what Happygrl6 and Sandstar describe is a behavior that can be observed almost universally. And the reason they do it is because, in the short term at least, IT ALWAYS WORKS. Obsessive cranks on the Internet notwithstanding (and yes, I include myself in that group), viewers like what Food Network is doing. Ratings are good, better than ever, and while it's possible that the ratings may take a dive, as ABC's did when they ran Millionaire into the ground, the execs don't care because there's never been a TV exec who plans for the long-term.

For my nickel, the balance between instructional shows, cooking competitions, and informational shows is pretty good. The thing that irritates me most about FN is that they turn over so much of their schedule to paid programming on weekday mornings. Having something on in the morning before work other than infomercials would be really nice. I'm thinking maybe a morning show kind of thing, with food news and restaurant reviews and cooking demos ... I don't know. But it'd have to be better than another Ab Coaster commercial.

This post has been edited by JHeaton: Jun 28, 2009 @ 9:08 pm.

[wingsabre]

The problem is, the main source of revenue for FN is through adds. This means that ratings matters. If they begin to sell their instructional series through DVD or online on iTunes, then we would see them go in a different direction. Look at the CW, or the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy). They were at a cross roads, they could either fill their network with reality series like Top Model, or Ghost Hunters, and get good ratings, or they can do scripted shows that will get them poor to decent ratings, but will pay off in DVD sales. They're now essentially balancing between the two to stay profitable. Since FN doesn't really sell DVD, or is not trying to heavily promote that, they have to focus on ratings. However, we are seeing them expand into that market but in different ways.

They now are trying to sell products endorsed by their television personalities, or are part of their television personalities brand. That's why they are so focused on personality instead of cooking. They're now trying to make a brand like Martha Stewart, but in the process are completely ignoring why Martha Steward is able to sell her products. In other words, their shows like TNFNS is trying to find a personality, but none of the contestants really have the clout and substance that someone like Emeril brings. Additionally, chefs like Emeril generally are big names already, and have their own brands. This means that they can't really do cooking shows because what they sell will be their own profit, while FN will not get a piece of it. Look at Chris Cosentino, or Mario Betali, they both have brands of their own and are not selling their products exclusively through the Food Network site. That's why they're doing reality shows instead of cooking shows. They Network would like to sell products from someone like RR and essentially own their soul in the process, since profit will be maximized.

BTW, for TNFNS, they kind of pick the person to win half way through, so I think the top three will be Debby, Jeffry, and Tamika. I really don't like Melissa, she's just super hyper and annoying. I'd like Jeffry to go very far in TNFNS. He's all about the food, and I feel like he's not going to win because Bob and Susie wants a personality. That kind of suck, since I don't give a damn about their personal life. I'll watch FN for the food, not the personality. I avoid Sandra Lee, Rachel Ray, and Paula Dean specifically because they talk more about themselves than about the food sometimes.

[toolazy]

Jamika. With a J.