Why does Food Network suck ass?

They recycle the same shit over and over again.

I used to like it when it actually had shows that taught you how to cook - like Barefoot Contessa. Now it's just a bunch of reality TV competition shows, and the only shows that teach anything are on weekend mornings.

They're all about the TV personalities over the food itself. Which is annoying because none of their stars are that engaging in the first place.

They are the HBO of food shows, same shows over and over, never anything new. I fucking hate Guy Fiere, sick of chopped

Its reduction in force to occasional new Barefoot Contessa seasons was the main reason I cut cable.

Guy Fieri has killed this channel for me. He’s insufferable.

Yes, Fieri can't go on to the trash-heap of history soon enough.

Aunt Sandy hasn't been on the Food Network in an eon, and God help me, I miss her.

Remember how fun it was to come on here after her show to bitch about whatever monstrosity she whipped up that week? 500 message threads that were just an imagined argument between Sandy and Ina Garten? The Kwanzaa Cake episode alone probably brought more people here than most any other topic.

I hated her at first, but by the end of her run, I sure learned to enjoy her.

She certainly has more personality than the dead weight they have running the joint now.

I like watching PBS CreateTV now for cooking shows.

Good Eats is back with new episodes. That should improve the channel's general hideousness.

Sandra was recently hosting a baking competition show on the network. I don't know if it's an old show, though.

Ree Drummond, Val Bertanelli, and Tricia Yearwood all teach the viewer how to prepare the food they cook. There are a lot of competition shows but they aren't all competition shows.

I forgot about this until just now...

You can blame the downfall of the network on me!

It seems like every single time I look to see what’s on, it’s a horrid Guy Fieri show. I have Hulu and pick and choose what I want to watch. I still like Giada and Ina.

Are they rerunning any of Aunt Sandy's classic Halloween episodes? I have them on my DVR and watch them every year.

I know Sandra is the butt of many jokes, but when I heard the story of her childhood, I fell over and cried. I will always wish for her the very best life has to offer.

And who the hell decided Ree, Val and Tricia knew fuck-all about cooking???????

Who the he’ll wants cooking information from those women? Where are their bona fides as to their culinary skills and knowledge???

That is why FN is in the toilet now.

It used to be aspirational watching. You saw what they were doing and thought you could do the same.

If you really wanted to, you could make what they made (Anne, Ina, Giada, yes, even Emeril and Mario and Tyler and Bobby) they taught me that it was something I could create at home, no matter how complicated it might be.

It’s all crap nowadays.

It’s just a further dumbing-down of our culture and populace.

Those white trash women who “cook” have to appeal to the deplorables and their lack of taste and skills.

It’s sad, really.

Yes, food network has become about reality competition shows. They are more popular than cooking shows I guess, it's just business.

And I'll say it, I find Guys Grocery Games entertaining dammit. It is a great mindless entertainment to have on when I want to relax.

I go to HGTV for that, R19.

Because they went from actual cooking show teaching people how to cook to all these stupid ass game shows.

At least they are still vaguely food related. The Travel Channel is now the Ghost Hunters channel with occasional treasure hunt show.

I caught Giada's current show recently and all she does is make shitty, unhealthy gross food for kids.

I haven’t watched Giada in years. Does she still over-enunciate all of the Italian words?

The downfall of Food Network is due to cord cutting. Fewer subscribers means less revenue. So they can't pay the good chefs like Ina Garten, etc. Remember, reality TV is the cheapest form of TV to produce.

Food Network Formula:

Take a popular show and put into heavy rotation, like a hit song on the radio. Then give the host of that show 10 more shows and put those 10 in heavy rotation too. Just like a hit song, play them until viewers never want to see that person again.

e.g. Rachel Ray, Guy Fieri, Ted Allen

I have to admit I complain about the Food Network as much as all of you are right now but it's still my go to when nothing is on.

The Food Network's website does have really good recipes that are not overly complicated. Some of the competition shows display creative uses of ingredients, and both Top Chef and Worst Cooks in America teach cooking basics and how to think on your feet. Many of the other shows though I skip, especially these insipid Halloween competitions.

Too much shifty grocery stuff. I hate those shows. Too many weird and nasty products on Chopped.

R28, Top Chef is Bravo. I've always wondered, however, why Food Network has never been able to create a cooking competition at the same caliber as Top Chef.

My go to for food programming is Create, R27. Most of their cooking shows have actual chefs. The only cooking contest is The Great British Baking Show, which is pretty decent.

Food Network made Ree Drummond a gazillionaire. She’s swimming in endorsements and has her own store, her own hotel, dog food, frozen food, luggage, appliances, books, etc.

But you think that Ina Garten and other snooty chefs are turning down shows because the Food Network salary isn’t big enough? You don’t know what you’re talking about.

Just how bad are the Pioneer Woman's recipes?

Umm, NO ONE said that, R32.

We are saying that the real chefs aren’t on anymore because most Americans now have the attention span of a gnat.

Educating and teaching people to cook might not be a goal any longer for them. I imagine real cooking shows are expensive to produce and obviously FN no longer wants to invest in them. They prefer the quick cash of cheap reality or contests.

R34, those contestant shows with all of their gimmicks and hijinks seem more expensive than a no-frills cooking tutorial with just ingredients and kitchen equipment.

Guy Fieri: closet case homophobe.

Is he still traveling with his personal hairdresser, or did he and the guy split up after that messy public hissy fit?

The Drummonds were gazillionaires before there was ever a Pioneer Woman.

Did anyone notice there was no Food Network Star this summer? It's usually their highest-rated show and apparently they've either cancelled it or skipped a year.

How many Food Network stars can they have though? The only memorable one was that Aarti woman. Her recipes are actually good and she brought something new to the table (Indian food).

Guy Fieri, Melissa D'Arabian, Damaris, Jeff Mauro, Eddie Jackson, and that "Lord, honey" queen were all FNS winners.

Who's the Lord honey queen r40? Could be many people.

Sarah Moulton's Cooking Live was one of the best

I even miss Emeril. I loved that live show he had.

I agree. The competition shows fucked the Food Network up. Too bad they like that douche bag Guy so much.

Guy Fieri's look is so Year 2000. Will he ever change that dreadful frosted-tip spiked hair?

Paula Deen is a two faced bitch .

r41 Jason Smith

The Food Network is geared to people who Eat Too Much Bad Food.

There was no [italic]Food Network Star[/italic] this year because the program has run its course and is not producing a "star" since... well, Guy Fieri won it the first year. (Not that this is atypical; sister-network HGTV's "Who will be the next HGTV Design Star" or whatever they call it has produced no "star" since David Bromstadt.) And it's too bad because they had some very promising contestants that taught people how to cook very well, but did not even come close to winning because they didn't fill a niche that the network was looking to occupy (looking at you, Jeff Mauro, as sandwiches are good but I mean, come on, how many sandwiches do middle-aged men need to know how to make?).

This is also what's behind the food competition shows they've made a staple in their diet. Food Network is trying to gain as many viewers as possible, and it's clear that middle America has no interest in learning to cook gourmet French or Italian dishes... but they love to go grocery shopping! Or making something edible out of chicken feet, cough drops, bouillon and marshmallows (I've told hubby that I'd love to go on [italic]Chopped[/italic], but if they put something never intended to be eaten by human beings in the basket, I would simply throw it at the judges and tell them to give me real ingredients).

There are too many good chefs and programs sourced elsewhere to bother with Food Network for anything other than background noise. When I'm serious about learning a new dish or method, why bother with Food Network when you have dozens of YouTube channels, streaming channels on Roku, and classics like Julia Child available to download?

Geoffrey Zakarian dressed as Guy Fieri a few years back on Halloween.

Guy is branching out!

Kids Baking Championship is actually very good and Valerie and Duff are great hosts. I thought they were married when I first saw the show because they have great chemistry.

A while back someone posted in a thread saying they're a chef and that they worked behind the scenes on one of the kids cooking shows and that all the cooking is done by adults and the kids are just actors messing around in the kitchen as if they're actually cooking.

I have to think that most people who enjoy good culinary programming stopped viewing that channel long ago and they're left with the lowbrows and rednecks who enjoy watching that pig Guy Fieri all day long. If that's the type of people who're watching the channel now they have to provide the programming for they want to watch. PBS is my go-to source for food programming.

R54 Agreed. I stopped watching the food network years ago. Everything is competition and game shows now. I don't want to watch that.

I really miss the individual cooking shows. They were the best.

Its like after they fired Paula Deen back in 2013 the whole network slowly started going down hill.

I hope one day the food network we all love returns with quality programming again.

I had no idea Guy Fieri was foisted upon humanity because he won that Food Network Star show! I wonder who the target audience is who watch his shows? His whole look is straight out of a 1999 time capsule.

I wouldn't eat anything that dirty looking creature touched. He looks like he picks his nose and eats his own boogers.

The Onion: Celebrity Chef Ted Allen Cooks His Favorite Pretentious Foodie Bullshit Meal

All cable channels wind up doing this eventually. As somebody noted, Travel Channel has zero to do with travel anymore. HGTV used to have shows teaching people how to design and decorate their homes and how to garden. Arts & Entertainment (A&E), anyone?

They start out filling a niche in order to get a place on the cable companies' rosters. Then as soon as they can, they transition over to cheap trash aimed squarely at the great unwashed.

Yep, look at the programming lineup for what used to be the Sci-Fi Channel, now the SyFy channel. At one point (still may) they had pro wrestling on at night.

I agree R19. Guy Fieri isn't my favorite but I always love that show. Mainly because he's not the one cooking. The judges are usually pretty entertaining and the challenges are fun.

Look at TLC. It's become a modern day freak show. Sure the people on there that have shows become rich, but in some ways they still seem to be taking advantage of them the same way the circus did decades ago. But OTOH how else would many of them make so much money. They're not all already well to do doctors in RL. That's what happened with the old circus freak shows. It was the only way some like the fat or bearded lady or the tattoo guy or the Dog Faced Boy could ever earn a living. Very sad. I don't know if many remember but even Lifetime was once a classy network that showed informative things. They all cater to the lowest intelligence people out there. Hell some of the shows even run commercials bragging that they are a show for the dumbed down viewers.

Some nights are all Halloween contest shows. Waste of time. I never watch them.

Food Network sucks because there are no cooking shows airing anymore like how TLC has nothing to do with learning or MTV not airing music videos. Create is a much better channel, even if it isn't all cooking.