How one man destroyed the Food Network: Guy Fieri has made culinary TV into a viewer’s hell

[ashling]

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/08/how_one_man_destroyed_the_food_network_guy_fieri_has_made_culinary_tv_into_a_viewers_hell/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

How did this polar change happen? Two words: Guy Fieri. That’s right, the so-called rock-n-roll comfort food king — but more accurately the extremely unhealthy-looking, ear-splitting maniac who thinks he’s fronting a college garage band circa 1995.

Did the head of their programming issue a mandate to seek out the most supremely irritating people who may or may not be able to cook decent food to host gimmicky competition shows interspersed with confessional interviews à la “Real Housewives”?

[hifiguy]

1. I remember when Food Network was must-see teevee.

I got more recipes from Emeril Live, Molto Mario and the other good shows that dealt with, you know, COOKING, for years.

Fieri sucks donkey balls and these days so does the Food Network.

[AwakeAtLast]

14. Mario was comfort TV

I loved his show, he was always so soothing to listen to. No shouting.......

[Rhiannon12866]

16. I used to watch it all the time, as well, but I can't remember the last time

I enjoyed the same shows, liked the ones where there was actual cooking and I learned something. I'm really not interested in visiting fast food places or how jelly beans are made.

[Arugula Latte]

2. I hardly watch the Food Network anymore because that buffoon is always on.

Last edited Thu Jun 18, 2015, 08:44 PM - Edit history (1)

I can't change the channel fast enough I catch a glimpse of his stupid mug.

Edited to say: The Cooking Channel is much better than the Food Network. It seems to stick mostly to, well, cooking.

[Throd]

3. Meh, he seems like a nice enough guy. Hating him is like hating Nickelback, you're just supposed to

[awoke_in_2003]

12. He may be a nice guy...

but he shouts too much, and it is spreading around the channel. The competition shows are the worst. They aren't building excitement, they are building irritation.

[JanMichael]

29. that and douchleback sucks. nt

[trueblue2007]

4. i can't stand Guy Fieri

[RebelOne]

9. Same here. Never could stand him and especially his hair. n/t

[Auggie]

28. He sold out to the highest bidder

[bigwillq]

5. I think Guy is annoying.

Never really cared for him.

[Miles Archer]

6. Bigger no-talent ass clown than that Bolton guy.

Sammy Hagar can get away with being Sammy Hagar because he is Sammy Hagar.

Guy Fieri cannot get away with being Sammy Hagar, and watching him eat is about as entertaining as watching him take a dump.

[Snobblevitch]

7. I too do not like the competition cooking shows,

but I don't blame Fieri. I blame whomever is making the programming decisions at Food Network. They figured out that they would get more viewers with that sort of program.

I don't watch the Food Network too much. What nothers me as much, actually more, than the Food Network programming are reporters who don't tact check their writing. Fieri won the second season of the FN Star ccompetition, not the first.Fieri did a cooking show, Guy's Big Bite. Of the TV chefs listed, only Sara Moulton ever had her own show on FN.

[frogmarch]

8. I see only ads for food shows on

commercial breaks. The Guy Fieri guy is totally unappealing to me. So is that other guy, whatshisname, the one that's all in my face and cocky acting. Oh, well, I'm not a foody, so they're all alike to me.

Speaking of foodies, the other day while reading old B.R. Myers columns, I happened onto this one of his from a few years ago:

The Moral Crusade Against Foodies

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/03/the-moral-crusade-against-foodies/308370/

snip:

We have already seen that the foodie respects only those customs, traditions, beliefs, cultures—old and new, domestic and foreign—that call on him to eat more, not less. But the foodie is even more insatiable in regard to variety than quantity. Johnston and Baumann note that “eating unusual foods is part of what generates foodie status,” and indeed, there appears to be no greater point of pride in this set than to eat with the indiscriminate omnivorousness of a rat in a zoo dumpster. Jeffrey Steingarten called his first book The Man Who Ate Everything. Bourdain writes, with equal swagger, “I’ve eaten raw seal, guinea pig. I’ve eaten bat.” The book Foodies quotes a middle-aged software engineer who says, “Um, it’s not something I would be anxious to repeat but … it’s kind of weird and cool to say I’ve had goat testicles in rice wine.” The taste of these bizarre meals—as researchers of oral fixation will not be surprised to learn—is neither here nor there. Members of the Gastronauts, a foodie group in New York, stuff live, squirming octopuses and eels down their throats before posting the carny-esque footage online.

Ugh. I won't read the books mentioned in the column, and I won't be watching any food shows either.

[kentauros]

10. It seems like he ruins everything he touches.

I used to eat sometimes at TGI Fridays (because it was close to where I worked) and they had two delicious vegetarian items on their menu that kept me coming back. One was a perfect red-pepper soup that was not based in a tomato soup (like pretty much everyone else does) and the other some kind of panini sandwich with veggies (not a "salad on a bun.&quot

Well, someone brought this "guy" on board, and anything vegetarian, other than the house salad, disappeared. Even formerly good specialty salads had meat loaded into them. Sure, you may suggest I could just order those salads without the meat, but the price wouldn't change. Why not make the meat an option instead of automatic? When I saw his new menu, I walked out. I let the waitress know why, and they did seem disappointed to lose a customer. I doubt if my dissatisfaction ever made it through "guy's" thick ego, though...

[awoke_in_2003]

11. It is becoming unwatchable...

between this turd, the cooking contest shows, etc, every body is shouting. It makes me wish Julia Childs were alive and wielding a rolling pin in their direction.

[fizzgig]

13. i have never seen that douchebag dudebro jackass cook

i have seen iron chef america judges cook, i have seen the chopped judges cook, but i have never seen that ass clown do anything but shovel junk food down his gullet.

i don't have cable, but it's almost nothing but him shouting at me on the rare occasion that i do get to watch food network.

he showed up in my city a couple of months ago and all i can say is that it's a good thing i was at work. the temptation to go and rip out his vocal chords might have been hard to fight. i had a beer at that place awhile ago and asked the bartender if he was as big a douche as he appears to be. the bartender laughed.

he just makes me

yeah, i know my visceral hatred of him is overblown and irrational

[olddots]

15. I miss The Galloping Gore you know the french chef from down under guy

it was more of a drinking show .

[ashling]

25. I think you mean the Galloping Gourmet

Bloody Brit

[vanlassie]

17. Then there's the sad new Alton Brown train wreck

where he gets people competing to cook while wearing handcuffs and shit. Pitiful.

[Phentex]

20. I just don't understand it...

I want to see how people make food. I am not interested in handicapping them in order to do it. That just seems so odd to me. I watched one time to see a local chef's appearance. That was enough for me.

[alarimer]

18. And the Travel Channel now belongs to the guy from "Man vs. Food".

And Andrew Zimmern.

Now, I don't necessarily mind Zimmern, but travel is more than about food.

But we could play this game all night. The history channel has no history on it, etc.

[Coventina]

21. Hahaha! Don't even get me started!!!!!

I should probably just make this an OP, but cable has been a huge disappointment.

Being poor, it's only now in the middle of my life that I've achieved the financial means to ditch the rabbit ears and get cable.

All the stuff I heard about and envied in my youth is simply not to be found!!

MTV = no music
History = very little history, and even what they have is often incorrect
A & E = is neither
Bravo = wtf? I thought this was the channel where you could see opera, classical music, etc.?
Speed (the motorsports channel) = no longer exists

It's just sad.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

24. you missed the worst of the offenders... TLC n/t

[Coventina]

27. You're right. "The Learning Channel"

[Phentex]

19. I won't watch him in anything!

Can't stand him. I don't feel he has any real talent which is why he has to host instead of cook.

[SaranchaIsWaiting]

22. oh, THAT guy. Total turn off. He loves gross food

and is a bit gross himself.

I haven't watched food tv for a long time now because of the general change. I think what did it for me was that swearing, yelling buffoon, forget his name. Chopped, I think was the name of the show. It's like TLC and the Nat'l Geo channel changed to horrible content.

Is this some sort of Big Plan, to make everyone dumb?

[seveneyes]

23. Building houses on sand

[arcane1]

26. So that's who that guy is. I've seen his picture in a restaurant and had no idea.

[CrawlingChaos]

30. I'll just leave this here