Food and Competition

I used to watch Food Network and Cooking Channel religiously. I also seemed to have a hell of a lot more time on my hands. A couple of years ago the shows on both of those channels took a turn for the unbearable. In the past, there were numerous shows about actual cooking, showing you techniques and recipes that you could recreate at home.
Nowadays, the only crap you see on TV is people doing everything possible to win some sort of competition. The whole reality TV thing became old very quickly, at least for me. If I watch a channel about food and cooking, I do it because I want to learn how to cook and maybe learn a new recipe. I certainly don’t turn on the TV to watch a group of idiots run around madly in search of ingredients and create Lord knows what ridiculous dishes in hopes of winning money. Last I remember I didn’t turn the channel to Money-Hungry-Contestants, but to Food Network.
What happened to regular shows that have a host and instruct you how to cook? There are maybe a handful left if you watch an entire day of the said channel. And the rest is all BS and cupcake wars. Cupcake wars, for crying out loud! Because network executives could not think of something more gripping than a bunch of youngsters creating unappetizing cupcakes.
And forget about the weekend. Saturday or Sunday night is nothing but competition galore.
I have switched to other channels as I was flipping and discovered that they have regular cooking shows that I crave, rather than mediocre reality TV that is supposed to suck in viewers.
There is the Create Channel that has no commercials and focuses on all sorts of shows about creating something, whether that’s food, art, construction or even travel. And channels like PBS always have the traditional cooking shows as well. And they have variety to boot.
Cooking Channel started out with new shows that were not featured on Food Network, with new talent and multi-cultural aspects. Now you get mostly reruns of the Food Network cast-offs, with ancient episodes of Giada and her Italian dishes I’ve seen ten years ago and Rachel Ray. Not to sound offensive but I liked seeing new peeps on the Cooking Channel. They have however been removed and replaced by the old money makers of Food Network.
If both networks don’t make drastic changes, I’ll be making a permanent switch.