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TV Chefs - pleasure or pain?

(41 Posts)
papaoscar Sun 16-Mar-14 08:52:10

Much as I love food and its preparation I am beginning to tire of the seemingly endless procession of pontificating, puffed-up purveyors of tripe on the telly, certainly as regards cooking.

What used to be regarded as pleasurable and informative viewing has turned into the witnessing of an ego-driven frenzy of strutting, shouty windbaggery by dreadful self-appointed food 'personalities' often out just to pump-up their own sad little personalities and line their own pockets with TV gold. All this encouraged by a bloated media eager to fill the TV schedules with yet-more cheap-to-make dollops of trash foisted on a weary public. And, yes, I do turn the telly off - often - after I have given it a good dressing-down, of course!

The days of having just one old battered, stained cook-book (mine was by Philip Harben) have long gone and now we are are bombarded with demands to buy enough cooking tomes to fill a library. Every aspect of every cuisine is fair game for the pontificating purveyors of puffed-up purple prose to push onto a jaded public. Often embellished with close-up photographs of pretentious, ludicrous, unrealistic and fiendishly-expensive meals to encourage the gluttony which is all around us, at enormous cost in our money and health.

Furthermore, just cooking is not now enough for these wearisome warriors of kitchen waffle. They are increasingly turning up in other areas. It seems that no quiz, discussion or documentary is complete these days without the presence of the latest cooking fashionistas and their fancy opinions. Their banal utterings are regarded as the holy grail on any subject, their rantings are everywhere, as is every nuance of their silly little lives. Do we need all these revolting and greasy tripe-merchants telling us what to do in the kitchen and elsewhere? No, we don't, I say! Guilty as charged. Send 'em down. Next case!

felice Sun 16-Mar-14 17:40:20

As I just posted on another forum, my X works for a 'very famous celeb chef' and he would go to the opening of an envelope to promote himself, his school,his books and himself. He sent my DD a cookery book as a wedding gift, ummm it made the Delia one on boiling eggs look exciting. I am a chef and they are all up themselves to put it bluntly.....

papaoscar Sun 16-Mar-14 19:02:07

I have a vision of a chaotic Masterchef-type programme where all the contestants are quite unsuitable and proceed to reduce the proceedings to a shambles. Egg on the faces of the patronising presenters and appalling gobbets of awfulness dropped and spattered all over the pompous judges. The graven-faced lady chef dangled over the 'sous-vide' for tenderising and poor old Monsieur Le 'ead Chef served up on a platter with an apple stuffed in his mouth. The competition reduced to an unseemly brawl in the course of which the male judges are de-bagged and chased out of the studio, and the posh lady judge required to don the Marigolds and do do all the washing-up. I must stop rolling my own!

merlotgran Sun 16-Mar-14 19:09:04

I'll have some of what you're having, papaoscar grin

Ana Sun 16-Mar-14 19:10:18

And me! grin

DebnCreme Sun 16-Mar-14 19:48:42

Happy Sunday papaoscar you have made mine grin

Aka Sun 16-Mar-14 21:26:32

Might actually watch that version papaoscar sounds more fun than the original wink

PS what exactly are you rolling? hmm

Deedaa Mon 17-Mar-14 23:24:07

There's currently a lot of talk about someone buying up the BBC (Noel Edmonds has been suggested) Any chance you could do us all a favour papaoscar and buy it yourself and get some decent programmes started?

papaoscar Tue 18-Mar-14 16:08:26

Splendid idea, Deedaa. Thanks to a lifetime's dedication to my knightly vows of penitence and obedience (no point in worrying about chastity now) I have managed to accumulate the grand sum of £5:3:6d which should comfortably see off anything young Edmonds could put up for the Beeb, so 'game-on', I say!

My first act, apart from appointing myself Life Director General, of course, and you as CEO, would be to rename the outfit the new Best of British - Cor!. I would then implement the following:-

1) Abolish all licence fees and introduce pay-to-view instead, subject to annual capping or 'season ticket' arrangements.
2) Slim down the TV channels to just two (for sport and war-films, perhaps, but I probably wouldn't get away with that). I would, however, leave the radio network intact, apart from Radio 1 and certain shouty presenters who would be fired from a large cannon. Sir Terence Wogan would be reinstated to Radio 2 in the morning with immediate effect.
3) Set up nationwide TV and radio quality-control monitoring arrangements to give the public a direct and major role in the running of the newBBC. All programmes would be subject to majority public consent.
4) Make arrangements for all news broadcasts to be delivered on the basis of facts only, by presenters of the status, calibre and dignity of, say, Moira Stewart or the late Richard Dimbleby. There would be no speculation, opinions, or pointless computer graphics. I would also restore an up-graded Ceefax service.
5) Sir Bruce Forsyth would be encouraged to slip quietly out of the back door.
6) The use of background music and voiceovers would be strictly controlled.
7)The concept and use of the word 'celebrity' would be banned, particularly in relation to programmes relating to cooking and food.

I am sure that all this could be set out on the back of an envelope and brought into force by the week-end. What do you think?

Deedaa Thu 20-Mar-14 21:40:06

I will happily be CEO if you will ban the irritating habit of filming someone talking from 6 different angles! By the time they finish the first sentence we will have seen them from the front, the right, the left, up the right nostril, and a sneaky little shot of the left ear! In my innocence I thought that we were supposed to listen to what an interviewee was saying - it may just be my age but I can't concentrate while the camera's leaping around.

By the way, will you be encouraging Bruce to leave or actually pushing?

papaoscar Thu 20-Mar-14 22:32:48

Camera angles, Deedaa, will indeed be dead in the water. And Brucie - a free transfer to ITV, perhaps, or prominent position at the British Museum. That should do the trick.

rosesarered Fri 21-Mar-14 11:35:18

Are you sure papaoscar that you are not the screenwriter for One Foot In The Grave? You and Victor do seem to have a lot in common. smile

rosesarered Fri 21-Mar-14 11:37:26

James Martin, Nigel Slater and Delia are all great, simple cooks producing delicious recipes that are easy to follow.Not all tv chefs are 'puffed up' in my view.

Deedaa Fri 21-Mar-14 21:00:57

Will Brucie be mummified before he takes up his position in the British Museum - or are we taking it for granted that he already has been?

papaoscar Sat 22-Mar-14 11:21:27

I think I'd be quite content if he just pirouetted away towards infinity. To his credit he's always well turned out and has been an all-round good performer. It's just those same old jokes over and over again....even my dear old buddy Victor M knew when the time had come to move on.

Deedaa Sat 22-Mar-14 20:33:11

I don't know how his singing is holding up but he's still a bloody good dancer. Unfortunately he's been pigeon holed in the unfunny joke department and once the Beeb have type cast you there seems to be no way back.