Do You Get Tired of Seasonal Coverage in Magazines and on TV Shows?

[kaitak98]

It seems every year from early October to January the world of food media becomes very predictable. First comes all the Halloween treat shows. Next we get to ponder how Gourmet, Food & Wine and the others are going to photograph the turkey on the cover this year. Now we are into the full month of Christmas in XXX and 8000 easy cookie recipes on Food TV. I'm sure Gala New Years Eve entertaining specials can't be far behind either.

And now my local PBS stations are having a pledge drive so most of the weekend food shows are preempted for Suze Orman, and Doo Wop concerts.

I'm not a Scrooge and I realize some of the programing is appropriate...I'm just asking for a little variety. Haven't these topics been done to death?

[Katie Nell]

I NEVER get tired of Christmas issues, but yes to all others, especially Halloween!

[bengoshi]

Right about June the "Grilling" issues start to hit the newstand. Grill this, grill that, grill everything and everywhere.

I bought a "Kamado" Japanese style grill this year, so the mags did give me alot of ideas. But if I have to see one more article with that BBQ Bible self-promoter, Steve Raichlen, I'm going to scream.

[Karl S]

Yes, we move right into Diet Fad Season and then Valentine's Day, the third of the four major candy seasons (the last being Easter, of course, which is followed by the pre-summer diet season coverage again, which merges into the Oh It's Finally Spring! recipes, to be followed by summer BBQ season recipes).

[clamscasino]

Ahh, you forgot the superbowl....

[Karl S]

Oh, yeah. I hate professional football (I mean, it's really commentary and commercials interrupted by fleeting moments of action - baseball is positively supersonic by comparison), and so I completely ignore Superbowl. As do at least all but one of some of my thirty closest friends.

One thing I long noticed in terms of diet season re Superbowl: the seasonal flood of women into the gyms waxes after New Years, but the men (except for those training for the Boston Marathon) tend to wait until after Superbowl to follow suit.

[clamscasino]

I like to play along with my hubby's superstition that if I actually watch the Patriots, they will lose. Makes Sunday afternoons the perfect excuse to get into a lengthy cooking project...or peruse CH.

[twodales]

The one I dread is Thanksgiving. The November issues rarely interest me. I see that bird on the cover and I will not buy it. I like Thanksgiving my way and am not interested in how anyone else does it really. I don't really even like going to anyone's house for Thanksgiving and eating their insipid, bland, boring bread cubes that pass as stuffing.
( My brother-in-law thinks that Wonder Bread stuffed in a Turkey qualifies as stuffing. Open a can of gravy and he's happy. He calls my stuffing "fruit-salad" because it has apples, walnuts, slightly-spicy sausage, carrots, celery etc. etc. in it's composition. Oh and yes...it does get stuffed in the bird. None of this "bake in a separate dish" jazz.)

When my Saveur arrived with the obligatory "Turkey" photo on the cover, I cringed. However, I must say that the topic did not take over the whole magazine. The articles ranged from Sugar Cane to Madrid to Shanghai. Even the featured Thanksgiving article was very good...more of a biographical tale than a "lifestyle" feature. For once, I enjoyed a November issue.
Regarding Christmas/Hannukah/New Years...at least there are so many cultures and ways to explore these topics: cocktail parties, buffets, cozy winter-fare, quick meals for busy days, ethnic celebrations and on and on. So, I don't mind them too much really.

Oh, and don't forget the January issue with diet ideas galore! I suppose it's not that easy to do a different Holiday issue. People expect certain things every year, as boring and limited as it may seem to some of us.

[bengoshi]

Boy oh boy are your right. Lets see, "What wine to serve with Turkey?" Zinfindel, yada yada yada. What a bore. These articles could be written by computer, and one could use last years Turkey cover without anyone noticing.

[amkirkland]

I agree, but at least we're not the one's testing these recipes in June to get them ready by press time!

[Pei]

I'm with you on this one. I know Christmas dinner and New Year's Eve parties are important, but I need ideas for what to eat all those other nights too!