Brutal. Of the 15-35yr olds that I know (including myself) that watch the Food Network, it's watched because we want to see some cooking! Everytime I see the cheaply produced/made Unwrapped and Top 5 reruns I want to shoot myself and I change the channel (being fickle you know)

At first I thought they were just filler.. but the lack of cooking shows this season is just horrible. The Canadian version of the channel sounds a bit better off than the American but the slide towards non-food-non-cooking shows is happening up here too.

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Their daytime line up is still cooking shows. As soon as they go to food soap operas or controversial food talk shows with lots of yelling, I'll stop watching.

I've got the same complaint about Animal Planet - shows with too many humans and not enough animals.

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I am part of that demographic, 19 Year old male, and I am very put off by the new shows. Bring me some IC or some GE even Sara Moulton was good. Everything is going down hill.

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PBS is where it's at lately. I am hooked to their Saturday morning cooking lineup. Between my two local PBS stations I get a local chef's funny and informative show, Lidia, Ming, and Cook's Illustrated. The only thing worthwhile on the Food Network seems to be Alton Brown, and even that schtick is getting a little tiresome sometimes. FoodTV is has been heading down the toilet for months and months it seems.

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Obviously, the foodies aren't happy with the changes, but does anybody know if they're having success or not? Don't get me wrong... I'm certainly among those who think this is horrible. But as with most things, if it's helping their business in the end, much as I hate it, I can't fault them. It seems like they have to be hurting themselves, but I wonder what the numbers say.

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It seems that every channel on the dial follows the same formula and targets the same demographic. It makes no sense. Specialty channels like FoodTV should target the rest of the population and forget about the Generation-Y audience.

I've always thought that any network that counter programmed well could clean up. For instance, try putting a quality show on Friday night and all the people that stay home for whatever reason will watch it. But no... you never see quality programming on Friday nights. If your Friday audience is 1/2 a regular night then a 20 share then still beats a 5 share on any other night.

If FoodTV (a food channel without food) ends up like MTV (a music TV without music) then they will fail. No one I know under 35 watches anything on MTV and that is their entire target audience. This new president needs to be fired before she takes the channel down the road to mediocrity.

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I have totally written off the Food Network. The cooks are almost all gone and we are left with what appears to be a bunch of crass refuges from the WB and UPN. If that is the demographic the new pres wants, she is welcome to it. I, too, have returned to PBS.

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Gah! I am smack dab in the middle of that target demographic and I can't stand the non-cooking shows. I hate that Behind the Bash show with a passion. I'd much rather watch just about anybody actually cook, giving me something I can use, than hear what celebrities eat when they are partying and looking at fashion shows as a hook. I'm not a fan of the travel food shows, either. Though I am increasingly finding Rachael Ray grating, I don't mind 30 Minute Meals. $40 a Day and Tasty Travels, though? I switch the channel immediately.

I don't know. I watch the food channel to see people cook, not see them eat. I can eat pretty well without any help. It is the cooking that I want to see more of.

I should note that I am speaking of the Canadian verison of the channel, which seems to be going down the same road, though perhaps more slowly. That said, Top 5 and Unwrapped were each on probably six times in six hours.

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I hate what Food Network has become. Every time I turn on FNTV, I'm subjected to no-talent hacks that can't make anything that doesn't come in a box or the over-gestured host that makes nothing but burger variations and hotdogs. How much cheap programming can you load into a 4 hour block? Ask Food Network, they've become the experts on this subject.

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I am also in the middle of the demographic and hate the non-cooking shows. However, I read recently (I wish I could find it now) that Food Network just had their most watched quarter ever. Apparently, somebody likes the new programming.

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I've been watching Food Network for years, but I've grown tired of shows like Unwrapped, and Rachael Ray. I am on vacation this week and Monday was a Rachael Ray marathon. I was so disappointed they had her on all day. It truly has become the Rachael Ray Network. If they ever do a Popeye the Sailor Man movie, she can speak his lines . . . her voice is absolutely grating on the ears. as for the rest of this week, all reruns, some they had just shown a few days ago. They're losing the audience who have been with them from the start. I'm one of them.

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P.S. I am turning to PBS for the REAL cooking shows, especially America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated.

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Apparently the programmers of Food Network have entirely forgotten the original concept of their channel. I'm not a foodie but I do enjoy learning about cooking and I can't say that Rachael Ray all Effing Day accomplishes that. It's mindless at best and insulting to my intelligence at its worst.
I'm not alone in this regard. I learn more in 30 minutes of Lidia Bastianich than I could watching back to back to back 30 MM . While the Food Network still has a couple of people who respect my intelligence and their craft , the trend is becoming apparent that FTV is dumbing down to the lowest common denominator.
There is more than enough programming time on FTV to have something for everyone . Cooks come in all shapes and sizes and with an enormous variety of needs and passions. To that end , maybe the Food Channel should re-explore what it is they want to do. Perhaps they can spin-off another network for the rest of us .

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A DVR helps a little. The cooking shows are still there (albeit most are reruns), just not when it's convenient to watch them. Sarah, Mario, old Flay, Paula, and Ina are still around. Timeshifting makes them more available, but I'm barely hanging on to the network at this point.

Mike's right about PBS picking up the slack - if you're willing to live with only a handful of quality cooking shows per week.

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I've been trying to watch more Food TV lately -- perhaps only so I can do informed snarking -- and the more I do the more it grates. Like a microplane.

In addition to what everyone else has said, as a denizen of evenTinierTown, I object to the seeming reliance on having a serious grocery store next door. I have a great herb garden, but you know what? Those huge clusters of basil in February? Not so much. Yet, I have seen three shows as I've wandered in and out of the room in the last few hours where the "personality" pulled out a veritable bouquet of basil.

And convenience is one thing, but pre-sliced squash? Pre-chopped onions? How lazy do you have to be for cutting onions to be too much work? Okay, now Sandra Lee is using that dried "parmesan cheese" from the little green can! WTF? Must. Kill. Television.

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I agree. Even the brief bits of Food shows they have on DIY in the digital area of my cable system is getting to be better. I do still watch Good Eats, Emeril and Iron Chef Japanese, but I'd rather watch Science Network nowadays. And for food wait until Saturday morning on PBS.

And someone just get Semi ho-made just off the network! What a waste of air time. (but I'm sure it's appealingly cheap) Yikes.

Sigh.

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I don't even bother to stop at the FN anymore when I
channel surf. Occasionally, if I look at the clock and Alton Brown is on I'll tune
it in but I've seen most of them over the last couple years so
there's no great incentive that guarantees I'll be watching more than 20-40 minutes in a week. My son is in their demographic.
They'll be scheduling naked girls larping Dungeons and Dragons in pirate dialogue and serving Taco Bell before he'll turn to the FN.

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I too find I am not watching as much food network as I used to. But to be honest, I've never been a big fan of the Emeril type show. I have to say something about Rachael Ray though. I never minded her shows and even liked some of them, but I have found her increasingly mannered and more "Rachael Rayie" Her show the other night was so full of spunk, cutsey hand movements and her little verbal and non-verbal tricks and tics that I wondered what was up. I couldn't pay attention to the food.

I wonder if she is being directed to be more over the top, (a more exaggerated version of her old self because the public has certainly shown that they can't get enough or her) or if in the past, her director toned down her hand movements and other expressions, but now her influence is such that such directorial input is now avoided?

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Semi-Homemade can't be /that/ cheap - her set budget must be enormous.

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KUDOS to the Food Network, for hiring GIATA and her low-cut dresses........

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