When will cooking related shows jump the shark?

[Woodfireguy]

Everything has a window of opportunity….right? How much more food related content is out there that can be exploited? Primetime cooking shows on major networks, Reality cooking, American Idol style star manufacturing show’s, Rock Star Chefs. What’s next?

[John E.]

The shark was jumped when Bitchin' Kitchen first appeared.

[Kagemusha]

That's the least of FN's problems.

[John E.]

I don't know if FN has big pro lems or not. I am sure they anticipated a loss of some viewers to The Cooking Channel when they created it.

[EWSflash]

Oh no it's not. It actually epitomizes the programming circling of the drain they've been doing for a while now.

I really wish they
d quit with the Next Food Network Star. The only keeper there was Guy Fieri, and he has plenty of detractors. The rest have been as dull and interchangeable as beige throw pillows.

[Withnail42]

If you questioning about a whole genre jumping the shark that probably won't happen. Popularity has it's ebb and flows. So we might see fewer shows in the future. FN programing has not helped matters by continuing a downward slide and getting it's self far away from quality as possible. But there will always be good shows an bad ones.

[Woodfireguy]

I think you're right. There's always room for quality programming. Maybe they can get some more real food people to punch up some of that crap on FN instead of TV people punching up food programming.

[Kagemusha]

Maybe but there's also a TV programming variant of Gresham's Law where schlock kills a category, taking quality products with it. Good shows won't have much chance if Food Network/Food Network.ca estranges viewers with subpar programs. There's not much time left before it tanks, especially if FN proves unwilling to do it differently. Maybe they're done?

[Kagemusha]

Abattoir All-Stars! Join our celebrity guests for weekly episodes where teams race the clock for the best times on the "You Stun 'Em/You Skin 'Em/ You Gut 'Em/ You Cut 'Em" course through the slaughterhouse.

[mamachef]

That reminds me of Top Chef season one, when Dave and Harold were talking in their suite. Dave made a comment that their next challenge (for the finale, before Tiffani F. arrived) would prolly involve a crossbow, a kill, and a campfire.

[Woodfireguy]

BIG. Very big. Now, can they get Michael Pollan to MC is the question.

[Kagemusha]

"Now, can they get Michael Pollan to MC is the question."

By all means. He could star in a spin-off after his first season on "Abattoir All-Stars." Something like "USDA for a Day" where Pollan reprises his role as meat inspector, this time undercover as he busts America's most revolting meat packers.

[Woodfireguy]

Yes...Slaughterhouse Sleuths. Lets pitch it.

[Kagemusha]

Solid. I'm thinking a "tour of the sewer in a glass-bottom boat" vibe with Pollan at the helm.

[ediblover]

I thought they already did (with Bitchin Kitchen).

[roxlet]

What's next? Gwyneth Paltrow? Seriously!

I think that your ideas are great DougRisk, but they don't really fit in the food shows as entertainment/contests that seem sadly to dominate the sector these days. Your ideas are intelligent and seem more like PBS shows than the usual FN and Bravo fare. I'd love to see these too. We used to watch a show many years ago that took you into the kitchens of well-know restaurants and had the chef prepare some of their dishes. I wish we had a show like that now!

[DougRisk]

Those shows may dominate in numbers, but not in popularity. Bourdain is a great example of someone who has almost nothing in common with "Let's see who can 'erect' the best Disney Princess Cake in under 7 hours" and has a very successful TV show with a successful book deal.

Alton Brown is another example.

"Your ideas are intelligent and seem more like PBS shows than the usual FN and Bravo fare."

Well, I don't think this thread was about, "Food Network Sucks". Like I said, I still think that there is room at the top.

[Woodfireguy]

Yes...where are the Great Chefs series now? I loved that show and can’t find it anywhere. For me, I like shows that combine travel with food. Andrew Zimmer was the kid that ate his boogers to gross out the girls. If it was not for Bourdains wordsmithing I doubt he would be as big. I think I’m going scream if I hear foodie one more time.

I miss the day’s when you looked forward to Saturdays on PBS. Gourmands where kind of geeks then.

[mamachef]

I miss the heck out of Martin Yan's show.

[DougRisk]

Martin Yan has a newer show on PBS. I currently don't have a TV, but I know that it is there.

[Woodfireguy]

Me too. I miss his old shows. I see him on PBS and he's been doing a show about China for what feels like three years now. I'm in the kitchen and bath industry and he's always at our trade shows. He looks great for 98. LOL

My favorite quote of his is. “Hot wok cold oil food no stick” then he would clap his hands and smile.

[jmckee]

Mine is during a multi-chef show during a pledge drive, where Julia Child was the intended audience. He kept fluting her name as she would say it: "I learned this from [falsetto trill] Julia CHILD."

[Woodfireguy]

Funny

[mamachef]

Mine was the Walnut Chicken episode. It's not particularly PC, but my kids used to love that show, and they'd walk around for days doing Yan's accent and patois: "Toooodeh, we makin' Wow-nut Chikkin!

[Woodfireguy]

cute

[DougRisk]

I agree with the Zimmern comment, but in almost every episode, he will show something that you basically can not get anywhere else, like:
- How a traditional Fish Sauce is actually, truly made in Thailand
- How do the Masai actually drink fresh blood from a Cow
- How are certain Starchy Tubers/Roots actually prepared.

I bring these up because, I believe, a lot of people do not realize that Starches can be hard to digest and metabolize, and in many traditional African cultures/tribes, the Tubers/Roots will be put into what amounts to an enormous Mortar and pound it constantly for minutes and minutes so that it not only breaks down much of the starch, but also acts as a fermenting process.

Granted, he does not really say all of that, but it is fascinating none the less.

[DougRisk]

"If it was not for Bourdains wordsmithing I doubt he would be as big." Well, I think that you could say the same about Alton Brown, "If it was not for Browns scientific explanations, I doubt he would be as big."

Each star needs to shine somehow.

[Woodfireguy]

Good point. I'm a fan of Bourdains and Browns although, I think Bourdain nuked the fridge after San Francisco a couple years ago. I still watch him.

[DougRisk]

I am not following "nuked the fridge" comment about SF. I remember the episode, what specifically are you referring to?

[Woodfireguy]

I think he did not do SF any justice and it felt phoned in to me. He was to drunk and was eating a crapy sliced white bread sandwiches in the outer mission. It’s been awhile but I remember feeling like the guy that they got to show him around was more of a drinking buddy. His knowledge of San Francisco food was weak at best.

Nuking the fridge (Indiana Jones) is the same as Jumping the shark.

[DougRisk]

Ah, ok, I do know what you are talking about now. I sorta felt the same way about the Czech Rep. episode. He is eating around town with 1.) an artist (who he likes, and that is always important in this context) who does not particularly care for food, nor does he care for run-of-the-mill Czech food (which they were eating) and AB kept saying how much he liked it, then 2.) gets Vietnamese food in the Czech Republic and says that he likes the food. I thought that was kind of ridiculous.

I really got the idea that he liked Prague because of how cosmopolitan it is, so he stretched himself to say he liked the food.

[Woodfireguy]

O well, they all can't winners. He's a good egg.

[roxlet]

Yes, that's right, it was the Great Chef's series. I loved that show. Saturdays on PBS were really something to look forward to then!

[yankeefan]

Not sure if it is a regional thing, but it sounds a bit like the show Mike Colameco used to run. I always really liked that one.

[DougRisk]

I believe that his show is still going. I was always hoping that he would get a good nationwide show. He is a much better host, in both knowledge and personality, than so, so many hosts of various Food related shows.

[DougRisk]

Also, we still have never had a show that shows you exactly how many 3 Star Michelin dishes are created. We get glimpses with appearances from Keller, Achatz and the like, but nothing in series form...and that includes the recent series from people like Ripert and Boulud.

[DougRisk]

I think that we still have a ways to go. I personally think that there is still room for someone to become a big food star that will cook things like Tripe, Chitlins, Heart, etc. They may not become as big as Emeril did, or Rachel Ray, but I think that we still have room at the top.

Also, we still do not have a Travel and Cooking show star, which I think we can still get. Bourdain and Zimmern come close, but you do not really get many cooking tips from these shows (nor should you, that is not the point of those shows).

So, I think that you could have someone travel to Japan and show you EXACTLY how a Tuna is broken down (and even shipped, preserved, prepared, served and consumed). That is just one example.

[mamachef]

You haven't heard of Chris Cosentino, then? Re: popularizing offal? He's already a FN star.

[DougRisk]

I am very familiar with Cosentino. But, other than some videos posted on his website, he has never had a show that let him do everything that he does with a pig (or any other animal). That is sorta my point.

[mamachef]

I think something like that would play beautifully on PBS - but not network tv, since it appeals to a much smaller cross-section of folk than the food competitions, which, at the end of the day are about a whole lot more than the food. Hey, I'd watch it.

[mamachef]

All-Star Barbacks and Busboys.
Top Tournier
Garde Manger Masters
Devilishly Clever Dishwashers
Prime Line Cook

[Woodfireguy]

Did you get a sneak preview of FN 2012 fall line up?

[mamachef]

No, but please do tell.

[DoobieWah]

I think Woodfire was complimenting your prescience.