« Life Without Music, I Can’t Go No, No… | Home | 2008 - - Critically Important »
And The Next Food Network Star is…
By oceanguy | July 23, 2007
Well it depends on how you define “Star” I guess. Looking at the first two seasons, I doubt anyone but their relatives and close friends would consider the Hearty Boys from season 1 as Stars. On the other hand, Guy Fieri, from Season 2 is probably considered by most viewers to be a real star… a 2 show, one in prime time star. So how will it play out for this season’s winner Amy Finley? It’s anyone’s guess.
Congratulations Amy. I still think Paul would have been the better TV personality, but he’ll just be watching, along with the rest of us, to see if The Gourmet Next Door becomes a star. Also watching will be Rory. By the way, I’m giving Rory a new nickname that college football and basketball fans might appreciate. After finishing second in both of her reality TV show appearances… finishing as runner up in both The Next Food Network Star 3 and Popularity Contest, Rory is now known as Buckeye… and no I won’t call Amy, “Gator,” Mommy is her nickname, and the new show is hers.
Given that Amy wasn’t really in the final two and that a couple of weeks ago she cried and told us she didn’t want the job, I have to say that it is a bit of a surprise that she won. She does have the food “Chops,” though and it looks like the voters prefer the Chops over the Rack. I’m sure she’ll do fine, and as she becomes more confident and experienced with the camera she may turn into a real star. She’s definitely a step up from the Hearty Boys and Sandra Lee.
The Food Network needs to make a couple of adjustments for Season 4 to protect their star to be. The way the challenges played out this season we got a Survivor instead of a star. The competition quickly became a game of who was not going to screw up instead of who was the best. They spent the whole series tearing down the competitors and then want us all to welcome the new “Star.” I’m not sure that formula works to introduce a star. So, I’ve got a few changes I’d like to see for next season, but first about the Finale episode…
What a disappointment the finale was. The reunion part was lame, asking Nikki about the spilled cobblertini, and the bag left behind, basically putting her on the spot on live TV… and what was up with Paul and JAG? They couldn’t keep their hands off each other, it was creepy. Paul won the Line of the Night, though by answering a question about the new friendship between he and JAG. “We’re in love,” he joked said before he started a frantic backstroke to say he was just kidding… It was just odd, almost like they really are… Luckily for Buckeye the dropping celebration balloons covered her reaction to Emeril’s announcement of the winner. I can’t imagine the disappointment at finishing second AGAIN in a reality show… settled by a vote. I thought the camera choice by the director was pretty good given the situation, where they didn’t make Buckeye the center of the show and focused on Amy instead.
Overall I thought the Finale show really sucked. A much more dramatic and satisfying ending would have been realized through a head to head competition instead of a hokey internet vote. They could easily include the final 3 or 4 contestants and make it much more interesting. I don’t think dividing viewers into the “Go Amy,” and “Go Buckeye” camps was the best way to promote your brand, but that’s what they decided. A pretty satisfying season closed by a hokey show thrown together to fill the 58 minutes before announcing the winner… As I said I’d like to see a few changes… changing the end is not the only correction I’d like to see for next season.
First of all, I’d like to see one season long mentor who assigns the challenges and follows them through all of the kitchen and prep work.. ala Tim Gunn from Project Runway. Watching this season of NFNS and the way they used the guest judges put some of the judges in poor light. Giada came across as a snooty bitch and Alton Brown looked like a grumpy prima donna… some of the shine off of their stars was lost with their appearance as guest judges. If the judges see less of the preparation and are focused more on the “finished” product, I think they might be a little less critical. It’s a shame that one of the most memorable moments of the series was Alton Brown’s exasperated whine, “Can’t we just send them all home and start over!” When that line is more heartfelt than Bob Tuschman’s “You are all so talented,” then something is wrong.
As I mentioned I don’t like the voting. I’d like to see it removed from the show. I just don’t trust internet and phone voting… and I’d rather not see the contestants campaign for votes. My guess is that “voter turn-out” was really pretty low, with most viewers not making the effort to provide any input. I’d rather see the final three or four contestants have a couple of weeks to prepare a final exam… a two hour finale with each finalist given a 15 minute segment to preview their show, would be much more interesting than a manufactured, “May I Have the Envelope Please,” moment… speaking of which, Emeril is ‘Uge with a capital U… he can barely breathe. He definitely needs a bit more Bam and a little less pork fat… Anyway, we were talking about voting… If they have to have it, then vote for the fan favorite, not for the winner.
Generally, I enjoyed the challenges. I know I read a few complaints that perhaps they had copied too much of Top Chef, but I didn’t really think it was a problem. Bringing the current line-up of shows into the challenges is a good idea… Iron Chef, Dinner Impossible, Ace of Cakes… it was fun to see, except for the role of the guest judges. In my mind the underlying problem was with the overly contentious judging they engineered by placing the guest judge in the dual role as mentor and critic. I don’t think that worked.
Again, I think it would help the development of the eventual winner and make the show more interesting by introducing a full time mentor figure into the mix… someone who could coach a little and provide a bit of guidance who is NEVER involved in the judging. If not an advocate for the contestants, at least someone neutral. Then the guest judges can come in and judge the final product and not have opinions tainted with too much behind the scenes drama. Anyway, that’s my two cents.
I don’t think those changes would have made any difference at all to the choice of the final four in this series. It may have changed the final outcome though. But it doesn’t matter, Amy is the winner of the new show and gets her chance at becoming a star. I know I’ll be watching to see how she does. All of the other three: JAG, Paul and Buckeye could have done well with their own shows too, but their chance on Food TV is probably gone.
Paul will likely succeed in anything he does, he’s a genuinely warm and funny guy. Buckeye too will continue to shine running her own Boot Hill Saloon, I wish her all the best in her new Texas Panhandle life. Surely one of the many Food Network stars on the road will stop in and do a show there at some point. JAG will likely be back in the public eye at some point. If he can deal with the skeletons in his closet and grow up a bit, the sky’s the limit for him. He was terrific when he was acting in front of a live audience, but his downfall was being himself… He’ll grow out of that. So once again, Congratulations Amy, and to The Food Network.
Both Amy and The Network will get better with time and I’ll be watching out for Amy’s show to see if she capitalizes on her chance to be a star… and I’m already looking forward to season 4, maybe they’ll take some of my suggestions.
Other bloggers commenting:
Foodie Obsessed
Yum Sugar
Fuse This
Random Reality Thoughts
DuckyxDale
Super Chef
Insufferable Know-it-All
Second Helpings
Ruhlman
Route 66 News
Reality Cooking
Ashtyn Evans
Topics: Next Food Network Star |
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
I thought I was the only one!!! I didn’t watch the whole season although I did catch the marathon yesterday afternoon but the finale show was a bunch of filler. The last two should have to challenge each other in the end at least. It was a boring one hour. And I, too, was surprised that Amy won. I like her but I would’ve liked to see someone more entertaining win.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:12 pm
I agree with Paula, except having a challenge when the votes have been cast would have been a waste of time.
They also allowed very little time for voting. On Monday night the network announced “voting ends Tuesday.” When I tried to vote Tuesday morning I learned the voting had ended at 9am EDT. It should have gone longer so folks could have had time to submit a vote!
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Yes, I agree with Paula too and Lynn I think we all agree the voting should be eliminated. There was no time to vote and when I voted I just texted Amy. I got a very nice text back saying to reply with A or B BUT THEY DIDN’T TELL ME WHICH WAS WHICH!!!! Stupid me picked “b” well because she was brought back after loosing already. So I voted for Rory even though I thought I was voting for Amy.. A for Amy and B for??? Boobs? The voting was stupid all around, they should of made them do a challenge to win.
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
There was a challange in the origanal ending . It took place in Miami between JAG and Rory. I wonder why we did not get to see that. why didn’t Amy have to do and extra challange like Jag and Rory. I think this is all kinda bull.
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:40 pm
did anyone else notice that Amy kept talking about missing her husband and children during the competition… but on the finale… no more wedding ring? i guess the marriage got the boot with her chance to have a show… kinda strange…. but it happens i guess.
and did anyone else get the impression that rory already was told she wasnt the winner during the finale? she looked unusual… and when the host guy was interviewing amy, she said something about how “she has her own cooking show, and all she is buying from the market is gummi bears”… seemed like they were already told prior to taping… just an observation…
July 24th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I’m glad Amy won, she seems so much nicer than Rroy and she cooks better too.
July 24th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Look at there culinary school and experience, Rory has way more “chops” than Amy. Amy got eliminated once, she shouldn’t have had a secon chance. She did not even want to win. The voters got it wrong. Either that or the foodtv suits just gave it to Amy. What a load of BS.
July 25th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Thank god it’s over. This season was a horror show.
July 25th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I want to start off by saying I will never watch this show ever again!!. I am highly upset that JAG “had to remove his self” from the competition. Yeah, right. That was BS. Anyone who watched knew good and well he would win or should have won. If he had had a show I would have watched every episode. He was exciting, fresh, new, different, cute, talented, and the list goes on and on… I think he was removed mainly because he would be too much competition for some of the bigger names, i.e, Emeril, Guy, etc. They could have looked over the little white lies because he had done the things but just twisted the details of them. It would have been nice to see a *younger male* with or without his ethnicity on the show because every dish he made (even though I didn’t know what it was) I wanted to make it because he made it look and sound good. That’s how you get viewers. It isn’t one single thing Rory or Amy ever did or made that made me take any interest in either of them. Both of them are boring, simple, plain, bland, and a waste of my satellite dish channel. They made a bad move because after all this was not the voters move, but Food Networks’.
July 25th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
AMY FINLEY KNEW THAT SHE WAS GOING TO WIN THE NFNS BEFORE THE VOTING WAS COMPLETE! FOOD NETWORK RIGGED THE COMPETITION IN LIGHT OF JAG’s RESIGNATION!
The text messege votes were also rigged! Amy’s went through when Rory’s were denied!!!
Check out this link!!!
http://www.fox6.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoID=337422
July 25th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
I watched the show regularly and thought the whole thing was so orchestrated the second half to get viewer interest. At some point, early in the show, the producers knew JAG had falsified comments about himself, but didn’t confront him right away. They left him in to create the drama at the end with Amy. And was she really thinking about quitting because she missed her family????? Amy was clearly the most qualified candidate in the final competitions, yet she got the boot…. and then came back …. oh my gosh, what could possibly happen next … oh yea - she won! Food TV, I am a real foodie, and love most of your shows, but this one was pretty bad — glad I wasn’t available to watch the finale, based on the majority of the comments I’ve read. I know you can and will do better next time
July 26th, 2007 at 12:14 am
I agree with jt above. JAG was definitely destined to win. He had great personality in front of the TV. I believe the network wanted to rig the voting by not looking past JAG’s white lies. Who cares if he told a white lie or two?! Everybody does (look at Martha Stewart — and she’s still on TV!) big whoop
I suspect Amy knew she was selected before the airing. She seemed too calm and collective. I don’t think Rory had a clue, however. You could see from her immediate expression after the announcement. It was as if her world had crumbled in front of her. She was visibly disturbed and not just crying, but probably bawling.
I will refuse to watch the following season of this show. It was just “ok” and once is enough for me. I’d look forward to seeing a TV cooking show by JAG if/when it happens!
July 28th, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Rory was cheated. Amy was eliminated. That left JAG and Rory as the two finalists. After JAG was disqualified. Rory should have won by default. The JAG and Paul show is a good idea. Now |That would be Interesting. Perhaps They could even Visit Ina Garten and cook up something with her. Amy seems like a Giada wannabe.
July 29th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
personally I am glad Amy won. I could not stand Rory. she jsut bugged me all the time. I think That Amy was the better of the two.
I do think that JAG would have been great. But he did make a mistake.
I did see Rory turn away and the camera man turn away from her. I was happy about that. I thought that was respectful.
July 30th, 2007 at 4:22 am
I DID’NT even bother to watch the last episode after JAG was booted off. WHY? well becuase if anything I feel Jag should have won. To think he got this Far with out ever graduating culinary school and still came out on top. Another thing that pissed me off was how AMY already knew she won. When emril announced who the winner was, he right away turned to AMY before he annonced it. Then at the end it was Amy who had all her family there and Rory was stuck hugging the other contestants. Anther thing that really pissed me off, was How JAG said that the Food Network doesnt represent latin chefs or the foods. So what does the food network do? they kicked him off (even though they said he resigned-Bull shit)and took his advice and hired some new Hot Latin chick to host a new LAtin culinary show. Im starting to hate the food network each and every day.
July 30th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I agree with Spence comments about JAG, I felt that JAG even though he didn’t go to culinary school or was an Afganistan veteran didn’t really help him to become a good chef, he did have also a nice tv personality. I think JAG shouldn’t have lied in his resume he didn’t need to but that shouldn’t have affected the outcome of the competition. Also, it wasn’t until recently and probably after JAG said on the XM interview that the Food Network got a new “latin” chef show. They used to have the Calorie Commando that was latino but that wasn’t cooking latin style food and they also had a show way back with a guy and a girl but those two shows are long gone.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Perhaps I am simple but I go for genuine, honest, personable and talented. Amy fit the bill on all counts. I am so glad she won. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I think all the other contestants were also very talented. Kudos to them all and Kudos to footnetwork! I’ll definitely keep watching!
October 29th, 2007 at 10:58 am
[…] Next Food Network Star is… foodtv July 23rd. 2007, 8:14am Joseph Luster wrote an interesting post today […]
July 20th, 2009 at 11:03 am
SO WHO HAVE BEEN THE LAST TWO PEOPLE ELIMINTED?