I’ve had it with the cooking and car channels on cable

I used to love watching cooking shows on the channels devoted to foodies like me. But not anymore.

Simple, instructive shows on how to prepare foods seem to have been replaced with contests, competitions, and high drama that might mention food from time to time.

Instead of  shows that actually teach the novice like me how to prepare desirable dishes, we get cupcake wars, restaurant rescues, and all sorts of silliness which have to have drama and conflict.

Where is Paula when we need her. Oh, that’s  right  —  too controversial. Yeah, right.

The same thing is happening to car shows. Channels like Velocity, Discovery, et al., have had some great shows, but now more and more of these shows have to have the same level of drama and conflict that infects the cooking channels. Always a tight deadline and not enough money to do the project correctly. Add to that the inevitable shop conflict. Tempers flare, feelings get hurt, people sulk.

Far too many shows on the cooking and car channels have adopted to same tired, formula composed of conflict, too little time and too little money, and way too little actual instruction.

With hundreds of channels from which to pick, you would think I could find the perfect shows. That is not as easy as it used to be.

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