Food Network Has Done It Again

[garball]

Last night I watched an episode of the show "Chopped" and was completely disgusted, not by the food, but by the judges and their actions. One of the contestants bled in his food in the first round, then double dipped in his ramp pistou in the second, and still made it to the final round. Has this crap network ever given a flip about actually presenting what might go on in the actual professional culinary world. I don't care how good or bad the food was, this m------ cut himself and went right on cooking and the judges passed his food. Holy crap! WT! Does anybody have the email address to one of the actual producers of this network?

[lebelage]

You know, I learned my lesson Garball.

I too used to watch FTV knowing that it meant a day spent ranting, screaming at the tv, throwing empty bourbon bottles and crushed beer cans.

Eventually... well the clean up always sucked and the wife didn't appreciate the miasma of obscenities hanging over the living room so I stopped. It is very hard to stop... like it is hard to walk away from S&M feral midget scat porn. Sometime you gotta just make the choice to look away. 'Coz you KNOW what you're gonna see... and you KNOW it ain't good.. but you kinda wanna see just how bad it could be.

The Food Network is a freeking addiction to self torture for chefs.
Get Netflix, watch Julia Child instead. Then go to a strip club.
You'll feel much better.
Walk away from the FTV. I suspect they hold controlling stock in blood pressure medication- it works on 2 levels- the peeps who watch Paula Dean are gonna need it and the chefs who have a stroke and/or heart attack everytime they see the jackassery are gonna need it.

Back away man, find another way to get your adrenaline up.. it just ain't worth it... some things are just so terrible you can't unsee them.

[garball]

I have always had great disdain for FTV. I thought this show might be fun, but I was wron. It was a trap. It wasn't five minutes into the show before I had scared the pug under the couch

[lebelage]

you have a pug too?

mine got to the point it started shaking when it saw me grab the remote... it knew what was coming..

[foodpump]

Huh? ohhh, TV..... That's the thing that holds up Jane's gernamiums, I think the kids pop in a dvd into the player every now and then, but that's alll. The remote was lost a few years ago, got a sneaking suspicion it's still in the couch we threw out .
Gave up on cable a loooong time ago. Get my news fix on the radio every morning when I do my prep, and from the papers.

Who's Paula Dean anyway?

[ChefJune]

Who's Paula Dean anyway?

Trust me, you don't want to know!

[FishinChef]

I just got back from a long weekend trip to Memphis last week. Just over the state line in the Tunica MS Harrah's casino they have a "Paula Dean Buffet" Her face is everywhere, advertising posters, wrapped on shuttle and tour buses, and most of the above 40 female crowd had her hair style as well. She even has a slot machine, instead of 7's or diamonds on the reels she has ears of corn, a stick of butter, chicken drumsticks, cornbread,......The buffet was 75% deep fried and you can get an all day pass for to eat as many times as you want daily. They mark you with a wristband. You also have to walk through her retail store to get to the buffet.

The best part was the biscuit and hoecake station; when they put out fresh product they rang a huge dinner bell. Then you could watch the morbidly obese people (gotta remember MS is #1 in the US) try to scramble on to their scooters to get the hot cakes/biscuits But on a side note the booths and chairs are very big and comfortable.

[lebelage]

FishinChef,

You have very ably described my vision of Hell.

[foodpump]

And I always thought hell was an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch, where the patrons heap on beet salad, chocoalte mousse and bacon all on the same plate, and then scream at the carver at the roast beef station for "Crispy on the outside and rare inside"......

[bohica]

Every once in a while Dish Network offers a free weekend of some of their channels to get you to add them to your subscription. This Labor Day weekend they are offering Bravo channel as one such offering.
I got to watch "Top Chef." the other day and I wish I hadn't.

The young Chef's were in Montana and had 20 minutes to prepare trout. They were given access to a small pantry of items and had a portable propane stove. The ensuing madness had nothing to do with showing me their extemporaneous creativity, as much as their attitudes towards one another.

One would be Chef said........."I'm not a seafood Chef....I hate seafood....and anyway trout isn't seafood."
One Chef dropped half his fish on the ground. The French Chef Eric Rippert was one of the judges. He looked by his facial expressions to be uncomfortable to even BE there, but he played the game nicely. The female Chef won that round.

In the next venue the Chef's were required to work with Elk. The display had several different cuts on the pan. I could identify several and decided to continue watching. The meat was domestically raised not wild. Some of the baloney that came from the Chef's was very entertaining, but not at all truthful and I was made painfully aware of their inexperience.

I know that it is all for entertainment. These shows are NOT for people in the industry to watch. I know the programming is hyped in order to make it interesting, but it ends up doing the exact opposite.

I have 2 choices....either turn it off, or put my foot through the television screen. Guess which one I chose.

[Silverfox]

...I have 2 choices....either turn it off, or put my foot through the television screen. Guess which one I chose.

So, which "wide-screen" are you going to get? ;)

[Patchouli]

Ahh, thanks for the laughs, that was f'n hilarious!

Back away man, find another way to get your adrenaline up.. it just ain't worth it... some things are just so terrible you can't unsee them.

Then you could watch the morbidly obese people (gotta remember MS is #1 in the US) try to scramble on to their scooters to get the hot cakes/biscuits

You have very ably described my vision of Hell.

And I always thought hell was an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch, where the patrons heap on beet salad, chocoalte mousse and bacon all on the same plate, and then scream at the carver at the roast beef station for "Crispy on the outside and rare inside"......

[FoodHacker]

I have 2 choices....either turn it off, or put my foot through the television screen. Guess which one I chose.

Dang man sorry to hear about your foot. :P

[ActionPatrick]

What's all y'alls opinion on A. Bourdain? I really like his No Reservation series on the travel network... but then again he shares the same disdain everyone else does for FTV. Yeah... Paula and Rachael Ray seem to have too much energy to take them seriously. At least Rachael openly admits that she is not a chef. FTV is almost like Nick Jr. of the culinary media world. I swear one of these days I'm going to see a cameo of Blue from Blue's Clues on the station.

P.S.

Actually now that I think about it, I think that Elmo made a guest appearance on Paula's show...

[bohica]

A. Bourdain's "No Reservations" is one of the better shows I agree. I enjoy learning about what other cultures eat and what they consider to be trends in dining culture. He has showed me some really cool places and foods.

I'll just bet he feels the same way as we do about the Food Network and that's probably why he is not on there any more either.