So what food-related programming do you watch these days?

[Jenise]

I can't stand the Food Network, anything on it, but for Chopped any more. And Chopped we collect on the DVR. I have to admit that over years of watching it I've gone from skeptic to fan. It's what we watch, sometimes, while having dinner. We don't take it seriously, and the food's often pretty gross: it's just fun entertainment for two to talk/boo/groan/guess over, and we've come to like and know the judges who all seem to like and respect each other greatly. I love the After Hours versions where the judges take on the baskets given to the amateurs--the repartee makes the show, much more than the food. I will admit to usually fast-forwarding 3rd dessert segment though and just watch the presentation and final judgement. I don't care a bit about the process of making desserts.

We're working our way through the Cheffy program on Netflix whose name escapes me. Where each is the profile of a single well-known chef somewhere in the world.

Other than that: Masterchef and Top Chef. Wish there were more that satisfied at that level, but most are for and by idiots.

Is there anything else out there that I should know about?

[Robin Garr]

We cut the cable a few years ago, so that took Food TV and Cooking Channel right out. To be honest, I follow the NYT Cooking section online regularly and a few other foodie blogs, and that suits me just fine. I can read in five minutes the same amount of content that would fill up a 30-minute program, so it just seems more efficient.

There's a couple of Asian cooking features on (Canadian) Netflix that have interested me as I just like earning about cuisines I am less familiar with (am pretty good on North African and Middle eastern, but oddly enough don't cook Asian as much,with a couple of exceptions).

Things I am looking at lately while waiting for the next 'cheffy' series to start:

New show on Asado - Todo Sobre El Asado. Like Argentine meat cookery (might feature it in a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the liberation of the Falklands!) Have been doing homework reading Mallmann.

Foodies - mildly interesting

King Georges - classic French chef with changing business.

Agree that the usual food shows patterned after game shows suck. If Fieri shows his face I switch channels. Wonder how guys like Alton brown can look in the mirror in the morning considering the shows they have to participate in.

Guilty pleasure - will watch the next series of Iron Chef - have done so since it was a Japanese show that first came over here.

[Jenise]

Bill, you mention shows I've never heard of! There are no serious chefs on the American Food Network anymore. They're all just variations on Rachel Ray or Guy Fieri--game shows. It's food tv for people who don't cook. Is Iron Chef coming back? The version they did last year was awful.

[Jenise]

Bill, p.s. did you watch the finale of Master Chef yet?

Bill, p.s. did you watch the finale of Master Chef yet?

Yes - figured either of the others would have won it!

[Jenise]

Bill, p.s. did you watch the finale of Master Chef yet?

Yes - figured either of the others would have won it!

I was certain it was Jason. I grew to like Dino a lot, he's so quirky, but from my sofa his finale food didn't look like the winningnest, nor was he the strongest coming into the it, Jason was.

[Jenise]

Robin, you were one of Alton Brown's biggest fans back in the day. Did you see that he is going to have another shot at Good Eats? Apparently not on the FN, but somewhere where the occasional F word won't get censored.

[Robin Garr]

I was a huge fan back in the day, but I kind of tired of him after he moved on. He just didn't impress me the same way on Iron Chef America and the other stuff he's done since. I'll probably look for his new show, but I don't have high hopes.

Bill, you mention shows I've never heard of!

Remind me to run a couple of shows on the Canadian Netflix next time you stay over - I think you'd enjoy them.

We meander through the occasional Chef's Table, GBBS, and Good Eats reruns. That's about it.

[Jenise]

GBBS? Oh, the baking show. Now that it's not on the BBC channel, I've lost track of it. Wasn't there an American knockoff? Oh yeah, with that Big Fat Greek Wedding lady--a carbon copy of the Brit version, tent, pastel Kitchen Aids and all. It was like they just bought the entire set. I saw one episode of it, I believe, quite some time ago but am unaware of any new/future seasons. Got a clue?

[Jenise]

Say, Bill, did you know there's a Chefs Table France? I picked up four episodes labeled Season 1 today when doing a search on the word 'Chef'--Troisgros, several others.

Btw, I was searching Chef for the Anothony Bourdain-produced Mind of a Chef. I'm friends with Patricia Wells on Facebook (don't be impressed, it's me and 15000 others or so) and she mentioned that she's going to appear on an episode being released this week on various PBS stations. I wanted to make sure I had the DVR set up to capture it (problems months ago with my DVR could have eliminated the recording instruction, and an episode hasn't popped up in ages), but my crappy local PBS station is too busy raising funds from old fogeys who can't get enough 60's music to continue showing this series--there are none in the queue. Apparently.

Yes, I've watched Chef's Table France and am waiting for the next series.

We don't have Mind of a Chef currently on anything but Netflix.

[Jenise]

While plumbing the depths of Netflix, I found another interesting program: Cooked, by Michael Pollan. We watched the first episode, Fire. Coming up: Water.

I liked that a lot - he makes a good commentator.

I'll add - Theatre of Life - Massimo Bottura opens a soup kitchen
A Cook Abroad
Barbecue
Decanted
Fannie's Last Supper

We watch MasterChef, TopChef regularly and on occasion I'll catch the Saturday PBS lineup America's Test Kitchen, Lidia, Ming Tsai.

[Jenise]

We watch MasterChef, TopChef regularly and on occasion I'll catch the Saturday PBS lineup America's Test Kitchen, Lidia, Ming Tsai.

Love Ming. Haven't seen ATK in ages, since Chris left. Have they filmed new episodes without him?

Bong Appetit on Viceland tv. Stumbled upon it one day while channel surfing. Thought it was pretty funny. Then, by episode 2 I realized these we serious cannabis aficionados and chefs. Their creations are fascinating as are the discussions. Worth checking out.

Love Ming. Haven't seen ATK in ages, since Chris left. Have they filmed new episodes without him?

They have. Julia Colin Davidson and Bridget Lancaster are co-hosts. Their ok but sometimes a bit to giggly. Not that it should be serious but it's always like there is some inside joke going on.

We are a bit addicted (is that like being a bit pregnant?) to Masterchef Australia, if you can find it have a look, of the genre it is very good, series 1 was not so great but the food focus and level of skills development over the years has been remarkable, particularly for a cooking competition. Many of the competitors have gone on to real careers in the food industry.

We have only had a free to air food network for about two years (ww personally have never gone pay TV) so have watched with curiousity, interest and sometimes downright horror, what is served up as
-entertainment
-food
-cooking
A very mixed bag.

We get Masterchef Australia (co-members of the British Empire has to have some bonuses!) and I agree that it is quite good. In fact it and Masterchef Canada have a much kinder less antagonistic flavour than the US one does - I find the latter a bit tiresome sometimes, although someone turned Ramsay's bitch dial down a couple of notches from some of his previous shows.

Oh, we watched the US version of Ramsay's F-word this past season. I liked the old UK version better as it seemed less frenetic and more endearing, showing his antics with his young kids at home (I particularly liked the one where they got a bunch of turkeys at Christmas and named them Nigella, Ainsley, Jamie, et al before slaughtering them), working with farmers and ranchers across the UK. But the US show is entertaining and shows the more playful side of Ramsay.

[Jenise]

Bill, I watched the first episode of F word and never watched again. The part of it that was supposed to be a cooking competition was pretty rank and gratuitous, I thought, as they showed so little of it, and the rest was just celebrity pandering. It must have gotten better, if you found it entertaining.