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Is this like when MTV decided it was a lifestyle network and virtually stopped playing music videos?

Are they going to become the Way More Than Food Network, then? I hope all their shows are still at least about food. Or maybe it will go in the way of "Gourmet" magazine, which was looking more like a travel magazine than a food magazine when my subscription ran out earlier this year.

Aside from the pastry competitions and "Good Eats," I didn't miss really Food Network after I canceled my extended cable last year. I get my cooking-show fix from CreateTV/PBS (America's Test Kitchen, The Endless Feast, Diary of a Foodie, The Endless Feast, Hubert Keller's show, etc.), and that's all I need for the week.

Sounds about right. I've always found the best cooking shows to be on PBS anyway.

I agree with you guys on PBS.

It's easy to be distracted from watching PBS but it's nice to know that it's always there when you need it. I'm proud to say that I literally pay for that privilege.

Food Network, to me, is like when any artform has it's 5 minutes of public fame. After that, corporations come to conclusion that "art" doesn't sell and after that you must dumb the content down to the lowest common denominators of sex, flash, gimmicks and commercialism.

I have to say I'm really proud of what Mario Batali stands for. Keep up the good work!

What a shame. I am so sure that the FN will go down hill from here I have written a song about it:
(Sing to the tune of "Video killed the radio star")

"Rachel Ray killed the real cooking stars
Paula Deen's draw is the fakest by far..."

It's a work in progress. With the cancellation of Emeril and Mario Batali jumping ship, this is just signs of bad things to come. I mean, RR has a talk show. Am I the only way thinking..."Why does RR have a talk show?"!?!

Please Alton save us from this abomination! Bring us back the food instructions, techniques, and general foodie education!!!

TableBread

Art - thanks for pledging! If y'all like food on PBS, remember the most direct way to give that feedback is to let your station know during the pledge drive (by becoming a member!)

Food network is dumbing themselves down. I hate that! All the real chefs are gone!

Too bad. Remember Molto Mario? That was one of the best shows on Food Network. Gone. The only watchable thing now is Alton Brown's Good Eats.

This is sad, sad, sad! I agree with foodiegirl about dumbing down. Mario Batali was easily one of the most informed and informative chefs on TV - a modern day Julia Child.

Rachael Ray and Paula Deen are, by their own admission, just cooks. Ironically, I think the blame for this shift lies with Emeril himself. With his snappy catch-phrases and mugging for the camera, not to mention his complete over-exposure, he dragged the Food Network down to a 'common' level.

And Sandra Lee?!?! Since when does TV glorify white-trash cookery?

Let's hope Alton Brown and the Barefoot Contessa survive this horrible change.

Someone please tell me that a cancellation of Sandra Lee's show is in the works. Please!

I agree with all, what ever happened to all the great chefs and cooks out there. I remember the FN had a few good shows, I can only remember this one called "The melting Pot" which each show featured a new chef.
Also, since when does showing your BOOBS, (sandra lee and Giada) make you a cook.

It seems the FN has about 5 chefs and each one of them have 5 different shows each...
I've stopped whatch the FN also, lets hope they take the hint. I've been tuning in to Travel Network, Discovery Network and PBS....

So disappointing. I love watching cooks like Batali who know everything about a country and all its regions. Even if i don't cook the food, it's great to learn about it.

This is sort of off topic but....

Notice how travel and cooking/food often get tied together?

Note to magazine publishers (if anyone would like to publish my idea and hire myself and my wife as the editor in chief as she is a highly experienced editor), there is room for a strictly food focused monthly magazine. Sure, there is Cook's Illustrated but that is pretty bare bones. It does the trick but it is totally focused on home cooking and without personality. I'm talking about a good, glossy, informative, artistic, cutting edge magazine. Sort of an alternative to Gourmet or Bon Appetit.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy all the cooking/travel shows and magazines like Saveur, Food and Wine, Cooks Tour, etc. but I'd like to see a different kind of food magazine. It could make economic sense as all of the same advertisers would be there. I would take a gamble and say that the readership would be there too.

I know, magazine world, tough business.

The food network makes me sad - it just keeps spiraling downward into the land of "See? Cooking is easy!!! *cheesy grin*". I watch PBS more than the FN, now.

Molto Mario and Alton Brown were the BEST shows on cookingtv but they just can't let a good thing last can they? I agree with Art 100%, if it is a bit too creative then it just doesn't make enough money... corporatism - always follows the money without worrying on how the souls that make the corporation die out.

Why is it that they have more and more travel shows on Food Network and more and more food shows on the Travel Channel? Perhaps the time will come when they simply switch names.

By the by, old episodes of Malto Mario can be found on the Style Network.

I was with Mario until the Wal-Mart comment. People with fame, talent and money have no need to slam those who don't have the same income he does.

Other than that, I'm on the FoodNetwork dislike train. I loved Rachel Ray when she first showed up on the scene, but the honeymoon didn't last too long and when she went Ray-Ray and the FoodNetwork became the Ray-Ray network, I stopped watching almost everything on it. Sandra Lee was like the icing on the cake as far as worthlessness goes. I still watch the Mario re-runs and sometimes watch the Barefoot Contessa (although she is way contrived and I don't buy into that whole Hamptons posh schtick she portrays) but other than that, I've stopped watching the network. Since it sounds like its going to get even worse, I may just boycott the silly thing.

Batali isn't slamming people with low incomes, lots of wealthy people shop at Wal-Mart.

He probably means that the Wal-Mart crowd would think something like this is funny:

http://www.dailywav.com/0905/houseguest.wav

Finally, someone else who feels the same way about Barefoot Contessa. She makes me want to barf. I don't see why anyone would want to watch a show hosted by a woman who does nothing but cater to her "Jeffrey"'s every want & whim. BLEH!

I agree that Racheal Ray is over-saturated on the FN though. I think the FN would do best if it mixed both the true culinary chefs & the "cooks". A fair balance would work best.

I think what REALLY threw me off the FN was the "Who wants to be the next FN Star" show. Now don't get me wrong at first I was enjoying the show until I realized (through the contestants own admission) that almost NONE of them were actual chef's. In fact the winner had never cooked professionally EVER!!! I watched one of her shows (Amy Finley) on inDemand and wow, what garbage. I mean the ingredients she was using were just out of this world and it was a show on an "easy" brunch. Lots of smiles, face shots, and the "tips". If you watch the series you will know that they were encouraging them to use a lot of tips.
IMHO Bravo's Top Chef was and is a superior show because the are not trying to dazzle and wow everyone directly. (Now, I personally absolutely, positively cannot in any way stand Padma but I love the show). Also, as the show said in one interview, they are not trying to build a new TV personality, they are trying to help a good CHEF get his/her own restaurant. Perhaps FN should take notes.

Amazing.

And Sad.

Three little letters: PBS.

I think that cooks like Rachel Ray have their place. I don't particularly like her, but have made several of her recipes (with some punching up), which are good for busy weekdays. FN seems to be way too focused on gimmicks now and is lacking in variety. Some of the dishes that my friends ask for over and over are from recipes I wrote down while watching "Great Chefs," which used to air on PBS, and may have aired on the FN in the '90s. And I've learned so much in terms of technique from the actual *chefs* featured on cooking shows, and I can't say that about folks like Rachael. She teaches me that I can put scaps in a bowl and then tries to sell me a bowl. Um, yeah. Just show me the pork that can be turned into two additional dishes and let's leave it at that.

Just because Giada is pretty and has a large bust doesn't mean she doesn't know how to cook. I've made several of her recipes, and I've always been more than satisfied. Plus she actually went to culinary school.

I guess FoodTV will be jumping on the reality train next....

oh, wait....

too bad there wasn't a happy balance between kitchen how-to and lifestyle-type coverage (which, you have to admit, IS actually relevant AND important to cooking; I mean, consider the differences in lifestyle and the informative possibilities of such things as "locavores" or green-foods, farming practices and food industry coverage)...

Food network, I think should have been all things food in general (without being too vague); and now, I agree totally, has gone celebrity quasi-chef and LCD to achieve popularity with the after-school special crowd...

I don't think any one magazine or TV show/network can answer these problems because invariably, they head toward easy money and the cheap tricks.

But that's why I'm all for access to information in general and taking responsibility for self-education. Aside from the occasional obvious Wikepedia-esque (you know, truth by consensus of the lowest common denominator) problems, I enjoy the internet best for such things... Chowhound, anyone?

They're no longer the network that helped get me excited about cooking, that's for sure, but I'll forgive them anything if they'll just get Sandra Lee off of my television screen forever. Her stuff's not food, it's sodium and preservatives with garnishes. Until then, it's PBS and blogs for me.

Is it sad that I am soooo happy to find that there are as many folks as passionate about the slow death of the the shows on the FN?

Sandra Lee and Rachel Ray REALLY need to go away. I watched FN to learn techniques, understand the reason behind the process in order to cook on a broader scale with my understanding. The only one who does that now is Alton.

Yes. PBS, The Joy of Cooking cookbook, and food blogs. That is where we must run to in order to get our fix. So long FN. Thanks AT, you turned me on to Tastespotting, which is my new addiction.

I remember when PBS was the only place to watch cooking shows. "Yan Can Cook" and "Frugal Gourmet" were favs when I was growing up and watching them with my grandfather...So, I'm not surprised or dismayed at the change of face at FN. It only appealed to me for a short while anyway and, now that I'm a vegetarian, watching general cooking shows grosses me out sometimes.

@art: There was a great food magazine that was cutting-edge and just about food: Chow. Unfortunately, they went out of print. However, they have an online presence now and talk about all things food. I highly recommend it!

The best shows on Food Network are the recycled BBC shows - Jamie Oliver and Nigella. I used to obsessively watch everything on FN and now I can't stand it. I don't have time to run around frantically for 30 minutes after work preparing some faux ethnic dish and I can't afford most of the ingredients. I like the slower pace of the PBS shows like Mollie Katzen and where the presenters really give you a 'taste' of their cooking experiences. I'm Italian, so I know how much oregano or basil to add to my marinara. But when I'm trying Thai, how much fish sauce is too much? I don't want to measure neurotically like Barefoot Contessa! FN no longer offers that kind of show like they did 8 years ago.

Thanks Lorena,

I thought Chow was just Chowhound, the culinary chat forum.

I realized that's just part of it. It really is a comprehensive site with videos, recipes, reviews, etc. I'll be checking it out regularly now.