The Food Network can quit pretending now. It’s not about cooking.
Last night a new schedule took effect, with Chef Emeril Lagasse moving to 7 PM Eastern, an hour earlier than the time slot he’s had for years. When I heard the promo, I assumed it was so the network could re-run his show at 10. After all, before Emeril took the country by storm, The Food Network was barely there as a cable channel. His fan base built that channel. Fact.
Well, how naive of me. As of last night, if you want any prime time cooking instruction, you’re out of luck. Sure, there’s Alton Brown at 8 now, always a good choice for 30 minutes of food science. After that, it’s travelogue and lifestyle time, along with programs showing us for the umpteenth time how junk food is made. This repeats into the wee hours without a replay of Emeril.
I’ve never been a big fan of Emeril. His first cookbook was a howler, full of recipes that didn’t work. Those of us who prefer our ham in sandwiches and not on the TV screen couldn’t help but roll our eyes (smug little brats that we were) and the anti-Emeril chorus hit its high note with a scathing November, 1998 article by Amanda Hesser in The New York Times called Here’s Emeril! Where’s the Chef? I still have the clipping; unfortunately the link is behind that blasted $4.95 door. the article is here.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would look back and consider those the good old days. Hell, it was the Golden Age. He is a bona fide chef, even if I don’t like his style. Others abounded - Sara Moulton, Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, Mario Batali, a young Bobby Flay and even a few kinescopes of the late Dione Lucas, a legend long before my time but what a treat to have seen her.
What the network is offering now is little more inspiring than a tarted-up version, with higher production values, of the very first Food Network show to air in prime time in New York. It was a pre-Emeril-era talk show hosted by Robin “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” Leach and his first guest was Donald Trump.
I should have seen which way the wind was blowing, right at the outset.
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Posted elsewhere on the blog by sandi 7/14, moved here by ella:
Are you at all a fan of the Saturday PBS cooking shows? I am when I can catch ‘em! My favorite is Mexico One Plate at a Time, followed by America’s Test Kitchen. Just thought about ya while trying to catch ‘em this week! (((((HUGS))))) sandi~I like Tommy Tang too~he’s fun!
Hi, {{{sandi}}}…I am too when I can catch them, which isn’t often. Sarurday noontime isn’t a great time for me to be watching TV. I enjoy ATK but haven’t seen Mexico — I’ll look for it!