We do not like Cutthroat Kitchen at all. Brings out the worst in people.

We love Chopped.

I don't like Cutthroat Kitchen either --- and I'm a big Alton fan!

On PBS I like Andreas Viestad's New Scandinavian Cooking, John Besh's Family Table, Mary Ann Esposito's Ciao Italia, and others. They have announced a new Martha Stewart Cooking School series which I will watch as the first series was actually very good.

Teresa

I like Lidia on PBS, also anything Julia Child. I have to admit the Martha Stewart Cooking School series is pretty good, just have a hard time tolerating her. On the Food Channel my favorite is Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, although I dislike his new show about the supermarkets. I don't care for the cut-throat style competition shows either.

I don't care for Cut Throat Kitchen either.

Love Chopped, Top Chef (though Padma is a waste of air time), Ina Garten reruns, Michael Chiarello reruns, Lydia, John Besh and will have to look for the new Martha Stewart show.

I LOATHE Rachael Ray and Guy Fieri and would never watch anything that either was on.

Alexa

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This post was edited by caliloo on Sat, Jan 4, 14 at 17:19

I really don't like most cooking shows but I love diners driveins and dives. I actually get inspired to cook from watching it. The places it shows are the type of restaurants I want to eat at. I do learn things.

I enjoy watching Laura Calder, Ina Garten, the PW, Gale Gand ,Lydia on PBS & the Unique Eats & Unique Sweets on the Cooking Network--use to enjoy Sara Mouton's show too.

Diane

There are so few actual cooking shows on the Food Network. I despise all of the competition shows.

I love Ina, but I don't even know if she's on anymore (Canadian Food Network). We've recently discovered PW and like her. I really like her blog and the humour she puts into it, but her food looks great on her show too.

We used to like Tyler Florence when he was on as well.
We watch Lidia when we can.

I used to like Alton when I could catch the show. And the only other one I ever see (weekend morning) is Lydia which I like. Lately I've see a number of Anthony Bourdain shows which I find really entertaining. I've never watched the competition type shows as they don't interest me.

Wasn't one of the CF members on Rachel Ray in a cooking segment? Or am I losing my mind on the drugs they gave me after surgery! LOL

Teresa

Hubby and I both watch America's Test Kitchen on PBS, and usually catch it Saturday afternoon, if for no other reason than to see a giant pink pig on the counter behind Bridget and Chris, or yesterday's rerun when Chris showed up in dreadlocks. I still pick up a tip or two occasionally, and I love it when they include the cooking science.

It's had an influence on Hubby. One day he had a number of different styles of vegetable peelers out on the counter and was doing his own Adam-style test on carrots and potatoes. And anytime a cut of meat is removed from the heat, he mentions tenting it with foil and letting it rest. This from a man who doesn't cook, but at least he has seen it done (LOL). He also uses Chris Kimball catch phrases and can imitate Kimball pushing his glasses up on his nose, when tasting something I've made, which is a hoot!

-Grainlady

I started watching food competition shows lately, DD tapes them so I throw one on when I'm at her house helping out, it's easy to get hooked on them.

yesterday I watched 4 teenagers compete on Chopped, their skills were impressive, although 3 out of 4 were quite stunned at having to do something with a leg of goat, I would have been perplexed also, lolâ¦

I like to watch Ina Garten, Alton Brown's chopped, not the cutthroat one. Sometimes Martha Stewart, Cook's country too. These are some of my favorites.
Mary

Like shows that actually TEACH you something. Usually have PBS shows on during weekend. Pretty much all reruns, but better than some of the stuff on other channels.

Not one BIT interested in cake/cupcake shows. Some are just SILLY IMO... like cook your dish over a cigarette lighter, or cut all your ingredients with a stale slice of bread!?!

Looks like "Chopped Canada" is starting on food network next week. I like Chopped so interested in what makes Canada different... other than some EHs and ABOOTs:)

I'm not sure if the PBS channel we get, airs ATK or Cook's County. I hope so, I really like those.

I don't know why stations that used to be so good, like Food Network, HGTV, etc have to all have such stupid shows and themes now. All competition shows, cupcake shows, like klseriverd mentions, hoard/auction/storage/ etc etc. It seems if one was successful, producers come up with more and more outrageous ideas to out-do it.

I love PBS cooking shows and our local PBS station no longer has Create tv which had some great shows. I don't watch Foodtv or Cooking network anymore because the shows I like have all been discontinued. I miss Laura Calder. I don't like Pioneer woman, and the new Paula Deen. I can tolerate the lady from the Midwest but can't remember the shows' name.

The only competition show I like is master Chef on BBC America. Great talent on the show cooking aspiration food. I love Hubert Keller and Eric Ripert on PBS also. I have not found many of these shows in ROKU or iTunes (Laura Calder in particular).
Homepro01

PBS has quite a few. Like simple, easy, informative style to make meals. Not interested in gourmet cooking. But was just thinking, I've never tried to cook what they cook. Nor have ever bought any of their cookbooks offered.

Like many have mentioned already, the fun is in the learning. The competition shows that grab from grocery shelves or cut-throat each other have nothing to offer but teen humor...watching some silly fools sweat.
Chopped is total entertainment, (and a great sleeping pill), just for the inclusion factor...makes one think of what to do with odd ingredients. And many of the competitors are good cooks.

I like many of the PBS shows. Saw 'The Mind of a Chef' yesterday with Sean Brock as the featured Chef. Really good and informative.

We have been home bound due to weather and holiday...cooking and doing home improvements. Channel surfing more than usual...background noise while multi-tasking.
Can't get to the channel changer fast enough when Rachel or the Pioneer person comes on, lol. So much product placement and 'name branding'. Horrified when the family went grocery shopping and just grabbed willy-nilly no mater price or reason. At the check-out all packaged products were shown with labels...Benniful is one of the worst bottom of the barrel dog foods...and grabbing 2 expensive packages of raspberries when they could be easily grown and frozen...not much 'pioneer' about packaged foods. No attempt at gardening? Could be such a great platform for education, especially children...gardening, composting, etc.
I like to be inspired. Making Shrimp Perlou tonight because of the PBS recipe list...

Here is a link that might be useful: The mind of a chef

Hate all the competition shows. I enjoy those shows that talk about the science behind cooking, e.g. America's Test Kitchen and Good Eats.

If you have Amazon Prime ($79/yr) and a halfway decent internet connection, you can get ALL of Julia Child's 'The French Chef' programs dating back to the beginning in the sixties (Sponsored by S&H Green Stamps!). It's a hoot to watch her, but she manages to convey the essence of what she's doing, and in every show I learn a little more.

Plus, when we cooks in the 21st century absolutely HAVE to have the latest gadget/cookware/whatever, she was producing all this good stuff on an electric coil stove with minimal gadgetry.

I have learned a good deal from these shows that I used to watch regularly:
- Good Eats, my favorite by far
- America's Test Kitchen, as close to a video cookbook as there is
- Secrets of a Restaurant Chef, efficient, unfussy, and direct cooking of serious comfort food
- French Food At Home, good food and an, err, appealing hostess

I occasionally watched these shows, and learned things from them as well.
- Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten), until it got too basic and slow paced
- Yan Can Cook, but I can't seem to find it regularly
- Chuck's Day Off, used to be a favorite
- Julia Child's show, again, sort of basic and I'm only interested in the dishes about a quarter of the time
- Galloping Gourmet, great fun but I can't find it often
- Jacques Pepin's shows, e.g. Fast Food My Way, fantastic show

The competition shows are very iffy. Iron Chef America can give me ideas of food/technique combinations to experiment with. Many of the newer competitions are just soap operas in a kitchen, of zero interest.

I don't watch nearly as much TV as I used to, and am in fact thinking about dropping cable. Nowadays almost every series we care about is available on the Internet.

I watch some cooking shows on TV, and many cooking shows on youtube.

Competition cooking show are kind of fun to watch, even they are not real. I believe all episodes are stages for drama, and all contestants are coached. Come on, the Children's Masterchef series, every one of the kids can plate food like famous chefs?

I am not that impressed by America's Test Kitchen. Every single dish/recipe is perfect? the best? Many of the scientific theories are wrong. I don't trust any product test when they get paid advertisements. They don't do very well testing appliances/tools durability.

dcarch

My cooking show tastes have changed significantly over the past few years. I used to prefer shows that displayed cooking a meal start to finish, but now those are relegated to background noise at best. If there's meaningful discussion about ingredient choices or cooking methods I'm all ears, but beyond that the recipes are a google search away and I no longer feel I gain anything from watching someone dice an onion or throw a chicken cutlet on a grill pan.

Sorry Giada, Ina, and especially Ree, but while you've each got excellent recipes which I almost consider T&T before even trying, your shows have become painful for me to watch.

Unlike others who have commented above, I now actually prefer some of the competition shows. Chopped, Iron Chef... what can be more inspirational than watching accomplished chefs pull creativity out of their @sses under the pressure of competition and time constraint, and see what works and what doesn't? Much more interesting to me than watching someone execute a recipe.

If you were to judge by my DVR or dinner table you'd see that I take the most inspiration from shows that "observe food" and at most give a few minute Cliff's note of the preparation. They give me an idea from which I can google and/or improvise on my own. To that end, while the goofy catch phrases and grease-dripping-down-the beard are a major turn-off, Guy's DD&D has influenced my kitchen most in recent memory. It's typically nothing gourmet (heck, look at the name of the show) but it's got some good looking food.

I'm also a growing fan of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown because it's so not boring.

I find myself watching Giada, mainly because it comes on in the half hour before Jeopardy, but instead of listening and watching what she's making, I find myself counting how many times she says "There we go".

I avoid nearly all of the competition type shows, whether they are about cooking or any other type of competition. I count myself fortunate that since I don't have cable there are far fewer of them for me to avoid. Of the PBS cooking shows, I like America's Test Kitchen, although it's formula is getting a little tired, I do like how they explain the reasoning behind what they are doing, I think I have learned more from that than form any specific recipe they've presented. I don't think they are necessarily claiming their recipe is the best one possible, just that they tried varying things and they present the "best" version they were able to come up with.

I also watch Jacques Pepin's show, and am amazed how effortless he makes everything seem. And even though he looks arthritic to the point where he has trouble moving his arms and hands, he still can chop an entire onion in about 5 seconds.

I'll also occasionally watch Lidia, or Rick Bayless, but most of the rest of the shows I find the voice or mannerisms of the show host so annoying that I cannot bring myself to watch.

A pet peeve of mine with nearly all of the shows is how much salt they use. Using salt-laden ingredients, brining or rubbing the meat down with salt, and then continually adding more salt every step of the way, and then putting the food on a plate and salting it some more.