Comments on: Memo to Food Network: Your programming is going rancid

By: Food Network, the Decline of Stand and Stir Programming, and Where to Go From Here | Food Network, the Decline of Stand and Stir Programming, and Where to Go From Here dr oz | Food Network, the Decline of Stand and Stir Programming, and Where to Go From H

Sat, 11 Sep 2010 02:31:43 +0000

[...] this week, True/Slant’s Michael Greenberg wrote a scathing open letter to Bob Tuschman, the SVP of Programming at Food Network. In it, he rails against their lineup as of [...]

By: Food Network, the Decline of Stand and Stir Programming, and Where to Go From Here | Food Network, the Decline of Stand and Stir Programming, and Where to Go From Here healty| Food Network, the Decline of Stand and Stir Programming, and Where to Go From H

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:42:14 +0000

[...] this week, True/Slant’s Michael Greenberg wrote a scathing open letter to Bob Tuschman, the SVP of Programming at Food Network. In it, he rails against their lineup as of [...]

By: stonesean

stonesean — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:43:45 +0000

I agree with your thoughts, but feel you left out one BIG piece of what remains of Food Network’s appeal.

Alton Brown. He not only teaches you how to roast a chicken, but WHY you’re roasting a chicken that way. Thus, instead of simply following a recipe, you are learning how meat reacts when cooked a certain way, and can apply some or all of that knowledge to roasting other things. While laughing at his corny puns all the way through.

Now that Mario has moved on, Brown is the only reason to watch, and your only opportunity to LEARN something beyond how to follow a recipe….

By: Mathew Hennessy

Mathew Hennessy — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:02:17 +0000

That’s the nice thing about Tivo: it will pluck good stuff (like, say, _Good Eats_) from wherever these benighted executives seek to dump them.

But yeah, half the fun of the original _Iron Chef_ was all the odd Japanese ingredients they’d use.. Squid ink sorbet? Jinkies!!

By: uuuuuuuuu

uuuuuuuuu — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:48:12 +0000

there were so many problems with this essay that it’s cramping my brain and i don’t want to go through all of them.

i’ll just say that you’re as good as michael moore, trying more to SEEM big rather than be big, what with the bullshit about saying “Bob”

why couldn’t you just title this “i hate the next foodnetwork star”? the show does suck. but there are a LOT of shows that suck. and the fact that you like rachel ray nearly makes your point invalid.

you don’t like the next foodnetwork star. and they shouldn’t have cancelled the shows you liked. what a LOOOOOONG way to go for that.

By: SteveInTransit

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:09:50 +0000

Unwrapped is interesting to grade school-aged kids- and maybe educational. I don’t think that’s the intended target audience, though- food for thought, if you pardon the bad pun.

By: SteveInTransit

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:15:09 +0000

“How to Boil Water” saved me from endless diners of ramen noodles or boxed mac & cheese as a grad student.
How I wish they’d just go back to the basics- in these times, a whole generation needs to learn how to pack cost-effective, nutritious lunches. Food Network just feels like another aging Gen-Xer.

By: Botonio, the new trend for Food Network ? - Food Network Fans

Botonio, the new trend for Food Network ? - Food Network Fans — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:27:33 +0000

[...] to say the least, but it is written with truth. The writer says alot about the way I feel. Matthew Greenberg – Worst Episode Ever – Memo to Food Network: Your programming is going ranci… I for one will not accept a show because it is not the same old cookie cutter cook slapping things [...]

By: cathleenritt

cathleenritt — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:15:50 +0000

I just saw this response now. Thanks for letting me know. My sister and I still love Bob Tuschman even if he comes up with dumb shows. We will have to find another way to meet him.

By: rothnh

rothnh — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:38:30 +0000

You’ve identified the core of the Food Network problem of late — extremely bad programming.

This is especially visible in Food Network’s nightime/prime time line up.

The Food Network Challenge is just terrible. Matthew’s comments about Disney cakes, sadly, while meant to folk fun, is actually not too far from the truth. The show’s host has the personally of a rock and he has zero stage presence. And how many damn 6 foot cartoon cake shows can viewers stomach? It seems Food Network has an endless supply of these shows. If they must be aired, place them on Saturday/Sunday afternoons and for God’s sake, don’t produce/purchase any more of them!

Unwrapped is also a truly disgusting program — it’s Howdy Doody host and the show’s aim to appeal to middle America by explaining in anguishing detail how a pretzel is made or taking 10 minutes to show viewers what salt water taffy is just falls flat. Again, Food Network obviously has an endless supply of these 22 minute disasters. If they must be aired, put them in between the Food Network Challenge shows on weekend afternoons.

It doesn’t take a genius in television programming to realize that Food Network’s all too common prime time line up of three or four Unwrapped programs on one night or a three Food Network Challenges featuring cartoon character on the same night — which happens on a regular basis now — is just sad and forces viewers away.

Mr. Tuckman, why not give us more old shows instead? For example, you’ve pulled out a few old “Iron Chef America (ICA)” and “Boy Meets Grill” programs, but good Lord, Food Network has hundreds of “old” cooking shows, beloved by foodies, that would be much better and could actually garner the viewing audience. It’s not hard to understand that there are MANY foodies who never saw some of your older shows — it wasn’t that long ago the Food Network viewing markets were much smaller.

One has to wonder why Bob Tuckman lets this happen. Better yet, I wonder why Bob Tuckman is still in charge of programming at Food Network?