Brunch with Paula
I know there are a lot of Paula Deen fans out there. Heck my father is one of them and he can barely boil water. I guess it’s that kooky charisma of hers, plus the way she cheerfully ignores every dietary restriction ever conceived by man. Part of the pleasure of her show is imagining the reaction of the food scolds of the world: red-faced and hooked to a blood pressure gauge that’s steadily rising.
That alone makes me want to enter this contest, so I can express my gratitude. You may have a different reason for wanting to fly to Savannah for brunch. But do me a favor if you win: tell her Joe says thanks.
I used to like Paula (and the rest of the Food Network cooks) when they actually cooked. I get tired of the travel around and eat shows and the competition shows. I’d rather watch a Good Eats marathon, or Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. I lasted through just one viewing of The Next Food Network Star before I turned it off and said, “Go away, I can’t stand any of you”
Yeah, Food TV isn’t much fun anymore. Those reality shows are only secondarily about food. TFN figured out a long time ago that most people who tuned in weren’t interested in learning about cooking, they were interested in eating and/or watching food being prepared. A strange sort of voyeurism. Anyway, most of the actual instructional shows got weeded out ages ago. It’s a shame.
I agree it is a shame! My mom and I used to watch a bunch of cooking shows late at night (terrible idea, ‘eh?) on the weekends and had a blast just learning all the tips and tricks each chef had for cooking or handling certain types of food. Now it’s all gone, so sad. No more Barefoot Contessa! Or Rachel Ray! Or Anna Olson! What is this world coming to?
I think it’s kind of odd that TFN decided to axe such a large percentage of the instructional shows from the network (are there even any of those left?). There must be *some* percentage of viewers who actually enjoy the instructional shows and instead of the reality/celebrity type shows. Couldn’t they have kept a small portion of cooking shows to keep us foodies, who actually *enjoy* watching people make food and find it really helpful to have a dynamically visual guide, happy?
One would think so. But there’s only one reason they do what they do: ratings. They must pull larger audiences to their current shows, presumably of a demographic character that’s more appealing to their advertisers (i.e. younger with more disposable income). That’s the name of the game in advertising, sadly (I know because I play it pretty much every day). I think TFN is hoping that people who really want to learn to cook will go over to their new project, The Cooking Channel. I checked it out a couple of times, but just can’t get interested. I think it’s because the hosts are so carefully screened, selected, focused-grouped and groomed, they come off as 2-dimensional. I don’t see that channel lasting terribly long, but who knows? Maybe it will.
I have to agree about TFN. But I was delighted to find the Two Fat Ladies again on the Cooking Channel. They disregard almost as many nutritional rules as Paula! Jaime Oliver, Nigella Lawson & Rachel Ray’s shows are cooking oriented, as is Julia Child. Maybe because I have sons, I think Food Jammers is great! You do have to pick and choose. Some of their travel shows are just silly.
I love paula