Reality Cooking/Baking shows....are they getting out of hand?
By coffeebreak
@coffeebreak (17798)
United States
December 27, 2010 8:58pm CST
I enjoy the baking/cooking reality shows...in the beginning. Now they have so many and they are so intense and so fast...it is hard to enjoy them.
I specifially like the Cake Challenge and Cupcake Wars. They give the Xamount of hours/minutes to bake/create this huge, enormous, intricate, detailed creation and then have a winner of $10,000. Ok, fine.
8 hours for the four foot tall cakes that have animation. 40 minutes for a cupcake. However, lately, they seem to be demanding an extreme amount more, yet less time. I mean, 8 hours for a 5 foot tall cake with tons of extras, including plumbing, electrical and other automation issues, and so detailed and they are so heavy and enormous....yes, the competitors get them done, but it just seems that by the time they finish...I am exhausted in watching as they did so much in so little time... I got stressed out just watching! Not finding to much fun in that!
The Cupcake wars...it started really fun, but then it seems they require so much in so little time. three different kinds of cupcakes to total 1000 cupcakes, complete with speciality, unique flavors and detailed specific decoration on top and a display to wow the folks! And all in about 2 hours! They just go so fast, and have to much crunched into the little bit of time... it is getting to where it isn't fun anymore....it is just to stressful to keep up with it.
What do you think? Do you still watch them? Do you enjoy watching them? I don't suppose I'll stop, but I just don't seem to enjoy them as much anymore... maybe I will stop! What say you?
3 people like this
11 responses
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I like to see the Iron Chef, the original Japanese version. And I do watch Challenge from time to time . But I haven't watch Cupcake Wars. I am not interested.A did see a good episode of Chopped though. In this show 4 chefs compete against each other They have to make a entree, main dish, and a dessert out of surprise ingredients. Three judges eliminate a chef in each round until two are left to compete with dessert. The winner gets 10,000. What I like about it is you get to hear the motivation of each chef to win. The episode I saw the last two were fine people and the winner was really worthy.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I've seen Iron Chef and Chopped. My problem with those...they cook things that I have never heard of with foods I have never heard of or dont' like...that kind of thing. But it is the basic same...little bit of time to do an emmense amount of cooking/baking.
1 person likes this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I don't cook and Most of what I see made on T.v. I wouldn't eat.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 10
I'm the same way. I started out watching Rachele Ray and her meals were great, but I never made a single one! Mainly cause my husband stopped eating anything I cook and I didn't want to go through all that for just one, so I just let him cook and ate what he made! But her stuff was great...just never did anything with it on my end. But I wouldn't want to eat most of what the chefs create...it doesn't even look appealing!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I used to love Cake Boss...but lately they have intertwined so much idol chatter and film footage, it takes away from the point of the show. But his new reality show...Next Great Baker...where he is gaming 10 people and the winner wins $10k and a job with him....this is my final point of the novelty wearing off. It is just to much in to short of time with very limited space to work etc. I am not enjoying that one at all. His regular show is getting old to as they show to much talking and non-cake baking stuff that the few minutes they do spend on the baking is hardly worth while anymore. Oh, they have a few times better than others, but I don't make a point to tune in anymore.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 10
Ain't that the truth! They do a good job and get good ratings and then think their stuff don't stink and ruin it all!
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
6 Jan 11
Although I like the cooking shows like you mentioned it wears me out as well. I'd like it more if they slowed down and enjoyed it more. The reality shows are out of control anyways, I think, it seems like that's all there is on TV anymore. I'd rather watch a good movie then a reality show any day.
[b]**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
7 Jan 11
It's getting that way! I to wish they'd slow them down and let us see and enjoy what the show is all about. I don't really care how fast they can put a 4 foot cake together, I'd like to see HOW they put that thing together! I'd like to see how they make the things they use to put it together and I'd like to see their mistakes. Knowing "what not to do" is always a good lesson when it comes to cooking. But I doubt there will be any changes. It is all about the challenge, not the work or info. Oh well, no good movies on anymore either, so I guess I'll just get my box sets of the I Love Lucy show and watch and have some good laughs!
@beautyqueen26 (16030)
• United States
31 Dec 10
Cupcake wars?
I have not seen that show yet.
I will have to look it up on Netflix
to see if it's available for online streaming.
As for the drama of cooking/baking shows,
that's why they are so much fun to watch.
I used to watch Hell's kitchen the tv show
on a regular basis.
But, it just got too dramatic and blown
out of proportion.
Even the decorating shows are so fake
cause of all the tense fake drama
that they put on.
How tense could the decorator
actually get, right?
These competition shows are fun, but very
easy to get dragged into, especially
when they set the huge stakes like
baking 1000 cupcakes in a hour
for a $10,000 cash prize.
Who can live up to that?
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
1 Jan 11
yeah, drama is definately emphasized and encouraged. I don't like that and will eventually get tired of watching them.
@megamatt (14291)
• United States
31 Dec 10
Yeah I used to watch them a lot of the time. The problem is that I think that I watched so many that I got tired of. You can only see someone cook something so many times before it gets old. So I think that the market is in fact oversatured to that extent. I think there are a lot of times where they are just more interested in slapping something togethern and putting it on screen then any redeeming value.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
1 Jan 11
I only watch a few and since they are on only twice a year, I don't mind them...Survivor and few of the cooking/baking/design ones. But they used to be fun. I don't do or make anything they ever do, but it is fun to watch. I think that htey have just overly energized the shows for ratings. Make it next to impossible and people will watch. Seems they don't care much if they enjoy the watching, so long as they watch and since it is only twice a year...by the time the next one comes up, we will have forgotten all about how exhausted and stressed we were from watching them before! Seeing the contestants get so stressed and exhausted and all is not why I tune in, but they seem to think it is!
@cazkins (72)
•
28 Dec 10
I live in the UK and we have a lot of cookery shows, but they're mostly 'how tos' with a few 'challenges', though nothing sounds as interesting as the Cake Challenge and Cupcake Wars! These shows sound quite fun, but I think anything can become quite irritating after a while, and although they're not something I would watch frequently or rush to record incase I miss an episode, they're good for occasional viewing. At least such shows encourage more interest in cooking, which I guess is needed given the huge levels of consumerism and reliance on ready-made, pre-packed foods.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 10
That's how it started here in the USA. A few fun interesting cooking shows. THen the challenges began and then they multiplied the challenge and then boosted the challenge and now it has just gotten, I think, out of hand. It is so much more about the competition and challenge than it is about the cooking/baking....that it is almost like the cooking/baking is neglected... and to a point it is. THey have crammbed so much into such a small time frame...they dont' show the "how's", they just show the finished parts.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I have never enjoyed watching that sort of thing, not even the professional chefs. I remember one series where guys with hairy arms were dipping into the chocolate with their unwashed hands up almost to the elbow to make fancy desserts and I went "Ewwww!" It was gross and I didn't want to eat out for a long time after seeing that. But you know me, I'm not a tv type anyhow. Haven't had the thing turned on in well over a year and no plans to do it anytime soon.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 10
Well, that's kind of another thing I have a problem with. All the contestants's outer appearance looks trashy, unkept and downright dirty! I mean, okay, they don't have to wear suits and ties and dressy stuff and I figure they had a shower that morning,but most of the men have hair that looks like it hasn't seen a brush since high school or they have "doo" rags around their heads that only insinuates "gang" wear. They wear flip flops in the kitchen with bare feet hanging out, sloppy clothes....
The women aren't as bad in appearance, but they still have sloppy looking clothes and they are the ones with the hair hanging in their face and constantly pulling/pushing it back. Get a barrett!!!! how hard is that! SO yeah, that grosses me out to. That one guy - Guy Fieri or however you spell it..he won the first or second "Next FoodNetwork Star" and he is just so gross looking! He has dark hair, bleached white white and spiked while his little beard thingy is dark! Earrings and rings and bands around his arms and sunglasses always hanging around his head and always in shorts and flipflops...he just looks gross and unkept and even unclean. Whether he is or not..he just looks like he is trashy. I can't stand to look at anything he does, even his show Diners, Driveins and Dives...there he is in the kitchen dressed so sloppy and trashy looking with flipflops and tasting the food as it is being cooked to be served. Just to gross for me!
@thedaddym (1731)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I love cooking shows and cooking show competitions. I am not that fond of the baking ones, but I do enjoy the shows like Bravo's Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, The Next Food Network star, Chopped, the Recipe Challenge, Iron Chef, The Next Iron Chef. Shows like that where they cook stuff and I can learn things. I can't really learn that much from those baking shows. I am never going to make a 10 foot wedding cake. I may make some cupcakes in my life but probably never any that they make. 
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 10
I know what you are saying. I don't watch any of them intending to do what they do. I just like watching them do what I can't do, don't really want to learn to do, but just watch for the fun and entertainment.
@my_name_is_coco (4333)
• Philippines
28 Dec 10
I don't think some cooking shows go overboard.as long as they don't go overboard on the challenges,that is ok with me.I can't go through a whole baking/cooking reality shows without being hungry myself.I admire people who can cook well.I love food,and tasting good food.
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 10
I do to. That is how the cooking/baking shows used to be! They were so enjoyable towatch and fun and interesting. THen they get so hyped up and start making things harder and more about the challenge than the cooking/baking and it gets overboard... that's how many are now. I would rather see them spend time making the things so that I can watch how they create and bake that to see the speed at which they have to move in order to meet the time limit!
@aleic27 (161)
• Philippines
28 Dec 10
If you are watching these often, then there is a tendency that you will get tired of watching these. The problem with these is that at first, you will love the look of the foods being presented to the judges. Later on, you would just guess what it is with no basic idea how it is done...
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
28 Dec 10
I do enjoy watching how they bake and create things using fondant and chocolate paste. I can't imagen eating all that sugar and chocolate and most of the time, there is little cake and more rice krispie structure and fondant stuff...seems often very little cake. But still.. I like watching the techniques. And I always choose who I think should win, and sometimes they do, some don't.
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
29 Dec 10
It is. It didn't start off that way. But I think they just get good ratings and think they'll do better so they make it harder for the contestants. Thing is, they have them do so much in such a small amount of time, that they can't show all they do so they show bits and pieces of everything which turns into a jumbled mess of constant "doing" and you don't get to see the "how's" that they did. They cram to much into to small a time frame. It is stressful to a viewer...and the bakers as you can see it in their movements and actions...then they get stressed and the viewer is stressed....sorry...just to much work for me to watch for fuN!
