# Food Network Star



## Jaasy (Feb 28, 2009)

Anybody watching?

Who do you think will win?


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

I haven't seen this yet, but I LOVE the FN challenges. usually they are cakes and/or chocolate or pastries. I love seeing what the artists come up with.


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## ladyknight33 (Feb 2, 2009)

I have been watching. I think the lady is going to win.


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## rocky mountain reader (Jul 8, 2009)

I like the lady better, but I think the man will win, because he is more comfortable and polished in front of the camera.


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

Between Melissa and Jeffery it's got to be Melissa. Although I like Jeffery. I'd give either of their shows a try. I'm so glad they FINALLY kicked Debbie off, she has no integrity and I would not have watched her show if she won. Although I haven't been very impressed with any of the previous seasons winners except Amy. I can't stand Guy Fieri and Aaron McCargo does nothing for me. He is totally boring, I can't believe he won last year.


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## Tana928 (Jul 12, 2009)

I'm pulling for Melissa.  I think Jeffrey is boring!


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## Buttercup (Oct 28, 2008)

I really like Melissa and she seems to have outcooked the others quite a bit.


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## Jaasy (Feb 28, 2009)

I like Melissa's cooking but after about 5 minutes of that bubbling personality, she gets on my nerves.  Maybe they can tone some of that down if she wins.

She's right in saying that no one saw her coming!  lol


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I wasn't thrilled with much of anyone this year, but the two best of the group (except for Michael) made it.  I hated Melissa but she's really grown on me.  She's bright and cheerful and most of all she LISTENED to the judges.  When they told her to stop being so manic she pulled it together and she stopped spouting off the "I'm a housewife and I have kids." lines every chance she got.

I am so glad the "Soul to Soul, Hi I'm Korean!  Did I mention I'm Korean?  I don't care if you like it, that's how we Koreans eat it." woman is gone.  Especially after she all but admitted she knew nothing about being Korean except for the last couple years and I have to wonder if she's even ever been.  It just got really old.  The the other woman who told the judges she was p*ssed off   I knew she had to be gone after that debacle.  I really wanted Michael to win.  He was really fun and I would have definitely watched a show with him... if he didn't have that fear of cameras he would probably have replaced Jeffrey... he's just way to dry even though I like him okay.

Last week when Melissa, an untrained cook, outcooked all of them and impressed a French pastry chef with not one but two handmade pastry dishes I think she pretty much clenched the competition.  If she doesn't screw up in this last show she's got it in the bag.  Maybe Jeffrey will make another risotto.


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## Wunderkind (Jan 14, 2009)

I think Melissa should win -- she has definitely shown that she is getting stronger every week and I think in terms of her being able to have an interesting show with audience appeal it seems like she has a hook. I don't think Jeffrey has been effective in communicating and showing what he would do with his own show. He's been talking about "cooking without borders" but in my opinion he hasn't really shown it. He seems like a nice guy but I don't see him developing a show concept that will have a following.


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## B-Kay 1325 (Dec 29, 2008)

I like Melissa and think she should win, although she does need to tone it down a bit more.  Her nerves have calmed down a bit and she has listened to the critics and tried to change her behavior to meet the expectations and she has seemed to make food that has impressed the judges and last week even impressed the "top chefs" that they had to cook for.  I don't think that Jeffrey will bring anything new to the programming lineup and he doesn't have any personality when he is on camera.

I too think that they have not done very well in picking previous winners and creating formats that suit their personalities.  The Hardy Boys show was OK and I did watch but didn't relate to their show as I don't do a lot of entertaining and they were caterers so the show was all about that.  I like Guy's triple D show but not so much his Guy's Big Bite.  Amy never did anything for me and her show was a dud.  Aron's show is OK and some of his recipes are interesting.  It should be interesting what they do with this year's winner.


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## KindleMom (Dec 11, 2008)

Melissa.

I've liked this season a lot better than the last one.  I didn't like any of those finalists.  

This show has made me think I'd like to go to culinary school.  So many things, so little time.


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## koolmnbv (Mar 25, 2009)

KindleMom said:


> This show has made me think I'd like to go to culinary school. So many things, so little time.


Culinary School would make everyone around me happier also. I am not the best cook (to say the least)


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## B-Kay 1325 (Dec 29, 2008)

Yea Melissa won!  I loved her final presentation and her dish looked and sounded amazing!  Looking forward to her first show next week.


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## Jaasy (Feb 28, 2009)

Congrats to Melissa.


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

Her show is called $10 dinners. 

I like her and will give it a shot but I'm kinda bummed that they are limiting her to this concept. I liked her demo concept of cooking survival and she had good tips I wish they would have kept with something along that line.


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## kari (Feb 15, 2009)

Oh I can't believe they changed her concept to $10 dinners!  Actually I would have preferred to watch Jeffrey and his concept...but they probably would have changed his too.

Debbie, the Korean contestant, now has a hot dog stand of some sort.  I read it about a month ago in Food Network magazine so I knew she didn't win if she was doing that.  After I read that, I kept referring to her as "Hot Dog Debbie."  lol  Not very Korean though??  lol


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

I love this show and am pulling for Melissa.  I think she has great potential and would definitely watch her show.  I agree with KindleMom that this one was better than last season and I've watched them all.


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## Mikuto (Oct 30, 2008)

kari said:


> Oh I can't believe they changed her concept to $10 dinners! Actually I would have preferred to watch Jeffrey and his concept...but they probably would have changed his too.


I know exactly what you mean. I was pulling for Jeffery the entire time, and after the last episode I KNEW I would rather watch his show, but I also KNEW they would go for Melissa because she's the "safer" choice. She appeals to Mom's, she fills the niche that "How to Boil Water", "30-Minute Meals" and "Semi-Homemade Meals" i.e. lazy/busy people who want to cook but have no idea how. Since I already know how to boil water, I would have been much more interested in Jeffery's show.

Well, Adam got a show and he wasn't the winner last season. Maybe they'll give Jeffery one too. *Crosses fingers*


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

I'd be really surprised if they don't give Jeffrey a show too, I just think we won't hear about it for awhile so that it doesn't compete with Melissa since she won. Same way they did with Adam.


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## KindleMom (Dec 11, 2008)

I hope you're correct, Rasputina. I'd love to see a Jeffery show.

I thought Jeffery rocked the finale. He should have won if it were based on that one show.

I think I'll pop of an email to foodnetwork and let them know there's an interest. And in case anyone else wants to comment...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/contact-us/package/index.html

I'm learning if you don't say anything, they have no idea what we'd like to see. The mighty consumer ($$$) has some power.


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

I was bored this morning and read up some of the previous seasons, I haven't watched all of them. I guess Amy Finley chose to decline renewing her show, she won season 3, and moved to France with her family. I liked her show and I still make her Moroccan meatballs recipe.


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## Cowgirl (Nov 1, 2008)

Guy is definitely the best of the winners.  I love his show!


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## Lizbeth (Nov 12, 2008)

I watched TIVO from Sun and saw Melissa won.. I was liking Jeffrey and his "Ingredient Smuggler" concept.. as I am a "spice nut"
and would have loved to see more along those lines.. BUT right after watching her Demo.. "4 Ingredient Chicken" I actually MADE it AND the muffin tin Potato Gratain.. and liked them both very much.. so to her credit.. she does have some cool ideas.. I agree with previous post.. I did like the "Survival Guide" idea better than "10 dollar meals" but guess we will see.............


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

You know, when I'm feeling better I'm going to try her 4 step chicken, I thought that was a great presentation and it's just not something I ever do. She is so right that you just switch out the aromatics, sauce ingredients and meats and have infinite combinations.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I really wanted Melissa to win but then seeing Jeffrey's show idea I wanted him to win more.  His show is just different and more fun than anything they have on right now than Melissa's was... but then Food Network proved this didn't matter anyway.  Melissa's "Food Survival Guide" turned into "Meals Under $10".  Don't we have enough of this mess already?  I am getting a little tired of all the stuff on Food Network targeted at the masses...  Yeah, we may not be able to afford to eat like royalty, but it doesn't mean we wouldn't like to see it.  Some of us still want to see the amazing stuff we'll never get to eat cooked by people who are famous for cooking, not just famous because of the Food Network marketing board.  I'm scared they'll start creating "cooking personalities" like Disney creates "pop bands".

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of talent there and I love Alton Brown and can even stand Bobby Flay now... but where are all the Julia Childs and Wolfgang Pucks making gorgeous food that makes you want to run out and buy a duck and caviar?  The closest we've had in a long time is Emeril and even he wasn't that close to these classically trained chefs who cooked instead of putting on a show.  Malto Mario and Giada I guess come close as well, but they're still not the same feel... plus they annoy the heck out of me with their compulsion to drop out of a perfectly ordinary speech pattern to pronounce everything Italian "correctly" (Spih-gee-tee?  Really?).  Heck, with all the buzz about Julia Child they should get the rights to some of her shows and rerun them.  I'd love to see them again without having to hunt them down on PBS at 4am.


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## Lizbeth (Nov 12, 2008)

Scheherazade:  WELL SAID! .. I agree with all  you said.. I too was bummed about the 10 dollar meals idea.. and WAS liking Jeffrey's spices.. oh well....maybe it will be a good show.. who knows... certainly not as creative and fun so to speak.. as if their was not a budget..


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

Well my biggest complaint with the FN is that they lack cultural diversity in their show subjects. I really really want to see good cooking shows on Indian food, Iranian, Turkish, Greek, Lebanese food, Japanese and even French country food. Enough with all the Italian and Asian fusion and Latin American. Don't get me wrong I love those cuisines too but those cultures have been done repeatedly. I also can't stand how everything is Americanized. I study cooking in depth and to me the most important thing is traditional cooking techniques and ingredients. You can't understand and cook a cuisine well if you don't know how they cook. I don't want to see extra virgin olive oil instead of ghee in Tyler's curry for example. I love him but I wish he would stick to American fair. He butchers other cultures foods. I do not want to be dumbed down too. I know enough about Indian cooking that I can spot fake Americanized recipes. Please, 1 masala for every single dish in the menu. I wanted to throw my shoe at the tv.


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## Rasputina (May 6, 2009)

Scheherazade said:


> Iplus they annoy the heck out of me with their compulsion to drop out of a perfectly ordinary speech pattern to pronounce everything Italian "correctly" (Spih-gee-tee? Really?).


As someone living in a multicultural family this kind of native speaking and pronunciation is totally normal to me and I prefer it. I can't stand butchered language. If it isn't native to you or you don't know fine I don't expect everyone to know the correct pronunciation but by the same token, when it's a culture that is part of your life, it's normal to speak this way.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

Giada has gone so far as to say she goes out of her way to do it because she hates when people mispronounce stuff... but I've never in my whole life heard anyone say spaghetti the way she does.  It just comes off as her trying to be better than everyone else, and from her statements about why she does it that sounds like the case.

I agree on them needing a heck of a lot more diversity.  I think someone said to diversify and they did the knee jerk thing and we got At Home with the Neely's.  I'd love to see more international shows, but it seems to be only Italian or else a show geared toward the home cook who apparently only has $10 to spend and wants to use velveeta cheese for their bechamel sauce.  Even just having one show that has a guest chef every day or even every other week who does different food from different countries would be nice.  It's funny, but if you want anything even close to this The Travel Channel is your best bet right now.  They have at least three shows geared toward showcasing food from different countries or, in the case of Man vs. Food, different regions of the US.

Anthony Bourdain has been pretty outspoken and eloquent about a lot of these Food Network woes and he's hilarious to read/listen to.  It's definitely worth googling some of his Food Network rants.


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