Fake Chef Shows

I do like watching cooking shows--competitions or ones run by trained professional chefs who actually have good ideas to share.

I am noticing lately.....there are more and more useless shows. The usefulness of the shows tends to be negatively correlated with the education + experience level of the 'chef'.

Some are not even real chefs.

Down Home with the Neeleys. Please. Who doesn't know how to batter and deep fry, throw together a sauce made from a can of soup, and serve it with Jello mixed with Cool Whip? Why are you on tv? I want the last 30 minutes of my life back.

Paula Deen. Histrionic deep south accent, sayings, and mannerisms. Just be yourself, Paula--no need to be so phony. And again, I know how to cook with refrigerated biscuit dough, cake mix, marshmallow fluff, butter, butter, and butter. Big whoop.

Whatsername with the 30-minute meals. Gross ideas. Crumble some ginger snaps over pork and put it in the oven. Or non-ideas, such as warm some berries and serve them over sorbet. How do I get a multi-million-dollar gig cooking uncreative things and selling cookbooks?

Whatsername with the semi-homemade stuff. Should be called 'barely homemade'. Put some food coloring and flavored extract into *gag* a can of frosting and call it a cooking show? And did you notice there's always a lot of alcohol...?

I'm not trying to be snobby, but sheesh, isn't it disrespectful to the profession when hobbyists pretend to have the equivalent level of quality to offer us?