The Best of the Cooking Shows on Cable TV

Today the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers ) offers a handy, capsulated look at the leading Cooking Shows on cable television. We will do our best to let you know which are good shows and worth your time and which shows are not good shows (and why this is true).

[Quick reminder: The Wakefield Doctrine maintains that all people fall into one of three personality types. Each of the three personality types view the world from a different perspective. The Wakefield Doctrine also maintains that all people are all born with the qualities (as a potential) of all three but, at some point in early life we become mostly...clarks or scotts or rogers. Lastly, the Doctrine says that if you know which of the three a person is, you are well on your way to knowing how they will act/react in any situation!]

So lets look at the Leading Cooking Shows (in no particular order):

America's Test Kitchen ( http://www.americastestkitchen.com/ )
ATK's Host, Chris 'somebody or other' is a clark of the first order. The fact that, even though I am a fan of the show and the creator (of the Wakefield Doctrine) and I can't remember the guy's name speaks volumes about what it means to be a clark .
Chris clearly is driven by a need to learn and share what he has learned. The show is almost entirely information-driven. Example: the first time I watched the show, the majority of the 30 minute episode was devoted to finding the recipe for perfect mashed potatoes. Really! And it was not, "Hey! Here is the recipe to perfect mashed potatoes". The Test Kitchen cast went through all permutations on the recipe, trying a series of variations on ingrediants all the while explaining why some approaches were discarded and why the best was, in fact, the best. (Now the entire 30 minute episode did not focus just on the mashed potato, the cooks devoted at least 10 minutes in a, sometimes heated, discussion on what was the best potato masher. )
Great show.

Good Eats ( http://www.foodnetwork.com/good-eats/index.html )
Alton Brown (a clark ) is the Host of another information-driven cooking show. More aware of the entertainment potential of Cooking Shows, Good Eats has raised the laugh factor of the kitchen-drama significantly. If Chris over at the Test Kitchen were Conway Twitty, then Alton Brown would surely be Garth Brooks. What Brown has succeeded in doing is making the show and all 'information/research involved in cooking' fun. And his secret is simply that he does not take himself too seriously.
You would not be blamed if you said, "Yeah, Mr Doctrine guy, of course he doesn't take himself too serious". It is that fact that both of these two Cable cooks are clarks and clarks are nearly always described as being, serious, dull, intense, eccentric and....well, odd. But fun is never the first descriptors. clarks will totally have fun, but for reasons beyond the scope of this hublett, they are waiting for permission to have fun .

Emeril ( http://www.emerils.com/ )
A scott ...even his fans will say, "maybe not the most sophisticated of chefs, but he is such a showman"!,
Don't get me wrong, if asked, PT Barnum would have been more than happy to whip up a nice bouillabaisse and maybe some crepes for desert. BAM! Cut to freaks and clowns.

Paula Deen Country Cooking ( http://www.pauladeen.com/ )
Great fake accent. There are not a huge number of rogerian females in the cable TV Cooking Shows ranks, but in Paula, we so have one. The eyes...the eyes of roger have a very peculiar glint to them. Almost a gelatinous focus. Where a scott will gaze with a laser-like intensity, the eyes of a roger (male or female) is distinguished by the lack of focus. In fact, if you look closely Ms. Deen, you will see that her eyes are not 'parallel', she appears to be trying to watch two directions at the same time! This derives, of course from the herd mentality, the scottian predator could come in for the kill from any direction.

Sandra Lee ( http://www.semihomemade.com/ )
scottian female , hey we don't need to tenderize that side of beef, just let our Hostess have a little alone time with the food group and we can get this party started!! Anyone see the case of gin that we had behind the counter?

Giada At Home ( http://www.giadadelaurentiis.com/ )
what?! no, nothing like that at all...GIada has mad cookin skills...she will slap that beef stew with a sassy port reduction gravy...until there is no one standing.....Giada...why god invented scottian females... ( hey Adam yo,come here...does this awareness of my nakedness make me look fat ?")
How nice of you to say... I know!...lets invent sex!! I don't know, but Alton thinks he has a recipe for apples and fig leaves!!...

There you have it, the cable Cooking Shows that make the basic-no-premium-movies-$39.95-a-month cable plan worthwhile.

The future of the Cooking Shows? I have the answer in one word: Bitchin Kitchin. It is such a good show that I have included an episode bellow. Watch and be impressed.