Whatever made me think it would be anything but more of the same? For
now, there are no loud blustery cooking challenges and "Next Best"
anything competitions, but that won't last long. It's just the usual
assortment of artificial personalities who call themselves "food people"
generating prefab, highly edited drivel. God help them if one of them
should make a mistake while pretending to generate their foodie fare.
There will be only perfection here, and I'll bet there's a sign at the
door saying so!

I had hope for it when I saw they'd be running old Julia Child shows and
(saints be praised) Graham Kerr. Those two knew how to live on camera:
Julia dropped things, burned herself and misplaced ingredients, and
counseled cooks on how to deal with that, and Kerr cavorted about his
set and his kitchen meeting both success and failure with equal abandon.
Things were allowed to play out in order from start to finish, and there
was limited editing. Something terrible might happen to either of them
at any moment, and it was great television. And oh my, watching these
two shows again on the Cooking Channel, I'm reminded of just how much
harvest gold, avocado green and burnt orange there was around at the
time. My god, it was everywhere!

The last of my hopes for the Cooking Channel faded quickly when the
first commercial break plowed into Julia's public television realm.
There are three commercial breaks in a half hour program, roughly jammed
into programs not meant to have any. The effect is harsh. It tears
jagged gaps into programs that heretofore had impeccable continuity and
timing. I grieved when, on return from commercial breaks, our Julia
would suddenly be in the middle of something new while leaving pre-break
tasks unfinished, or the action would abruptly jump to another room, or
finished dishes had already been laid out in array, or dessert was being
served... What had I missed? Was I the only one lost?

The Galloping Gourmet was designed for commercial breaks, so the
interruptions don't hurt it so much. The effect on Julia, however, is
stultifying. But the biggest problem I have with it is that the Cooking
Channel has taken programs that show the genuine article, treats them
like curiosities instead of the roots of its own tree, then spends the
rest of its time catering to big egos with nerdy glasses and overwrought
kitchens who aren't really doing anything but talking loudly and leering
sideways into however many cameras there are. I mean, we knew that Julia
and Kerr had their hands in the mixing bowl, but these new guys who rely
on ubercloseups and beauty shots for everything... Jesus, those could be
anybody's hands in there. Why don't they show me that they know how to
do something?

I just don't like the reality TV approach that these newer shows evince.
Flash over substance, flash over skill, flash over patience, flash in
the pan. There is no style in there anywhere. And cooking shows need
style. Not what the kitchen looks like style, and not who made the
appliances style. I mean real style. Real personalities with real
talents and real abilities instead of flash.

On 2010-06-04, Pennyaline > wrote:

> the pan. There is no style in there anywhere. And cooking shows need
> style. Not what the kitchen looks like style, and not who made the
> appliances style. I mean real style. Real personalities with real
> talents and real abilities instead of flash.

Which is why I don't miss tv.

With Netflix I can rent the movies I want and the streaming is not
bad. The Comedy Channel just put their whole Comedy Channel Presents
series on streaming, about a hundred half hour stand-up shows. They
also have some of Julia's French Chef series, but not streaming. I
think PBS online is now offering some old French Chef episodes on
streaming video.

nb

"Pennyaline" > wrote in message
...
> Whatever made me think it would be anything but more of the same? For now,
> there are no loud blustery cooking challenges and "Next Best" anything
> competitions, but that won't last long. It's just the usual assortment of
> artificial personalities who call themselves "food people" generating
> prefab, highly edited drivel. God help them if one of them should make a
> mistake while pretending to generate their foodie fare. There will be only
> perfection here, and I'll bet there's a sign at the door saying so!
>
> I had hope for it when I saw they'd be running old Julia Child shows and
> (saints be praised) Graham Kerr. Those two knew how to live on camera:
> Julia dropped things, burned herself and misplaced ingredients, and
> counseled cooks on how to deal with that, and Kerr cavorted about his set
> and his kitchen meeting both success and failure with equal abandon.
> Things were allowed to play out in order from start to finish, and there
> was limited editing. Something terrible might happen to either of them at
> any moment, and it was great television. And oh my, watching these two
> shows again on the Cooking Channel, I'm reminded of just how much harvest
> gold, avocado green and burnt orange there was around at the time. My god,
> it was everywhere!
>
> The last of my hopes for the Cooking Channel faded quickly when the first
> commercial break plowed into Julia's public television realm. There are
> three commercial breaks in a half hour program, roughly jammed into
> programs not meant to have any. The effect is harsh. It tears jagged gaps
> into programs that heretofore had impeccable continuity and timing. I
> grieved when, on return from commercial breaks, our Julia would suddenly
> be in the middle of something new while leaving pre-break tasks
> unfinished, or the action would abruptly jump to another room, or finished
> dishes had already been laid out in array, or dessert was being served...
> What had I missed? Was I the only one lost?
>
> The Galloping Gourmet was designed for commercial breaks, so the
> interruptions don't hurt it so much. The effect on Julia, however, is
> stultifying. But the biggest problem I have with it is that the Cooking
> Channel has taken programs that show the genuine article, treats them like
> curiosities instead of the roots of its own tree, then spends the rest of
> its time catering to big egos with nerdy glasses and overwrought kitchens
> who aren't really doing anything but talking loudly and leering sideways
> into however many cameras there are. I mean, we knew that Julia and Kerr
> had their hands in the mixing bowl, but these new guys who rely on
> ubercloseups and beauty shots for everything... Jesus, those could be
> anybody's hands in there. Why don't they show me that they know how to do
> something?
>
> I just don't like the reality TV approach that these newer shows evince.
> Flash over substance, flash over skill, flash over patience, flash in the
> pan. There is no style in there anywhere. And cooking shows need style.
> Not what the kitchen looks like style, and not who made the appliances
> style. I mean real style. Real personalities with real talents and real
> abilities instead of flash.


My thought is they had to start a new network as a place to put the 'winners
of their own cooking shows' from all the contests on FoodTV.
-ginny