Food Network Fans Slam Latest Cancellation: “Hate This New Game Show Network”
After 10 years and 40 seasons, Food Network’s hit series The Kitchen is coming to an end. The round-table-style cooking show starring Katie Lee Biegel, Sunny Anderson, Geoffrey Zakarian, and Jeff Mauro will air its final episode on Saturday, December 13, the cast recently announced. Naturally, fans of the show—which showcases new recipes and cooking instruction along with the cast’s feel-good rapport—are saddened by the news. But they’re also angry at how this feels like the final nail in the coffin for the Food Network as we know it.
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The Kitchen might’ve been the last actual cooking show on Food Network.
Around this time last year, Best Life published a story about how fans of Food Network were disgruntled over the network getting rid of almost all actual cooking shows, replacing them with competition shows.
For example, this week’s primetime lineup is made up of Halloween Baking Championship, Alex vs. America, Guy’s Grocery Games, Beat Bobby Flay, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (not a competition show but also not a cooking show), and
Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking.
The Kitchen, on the other hand, airs every week with a theme—such as Friendsgiving Favorites, Money-Saving Madness, No Carb Left Behind, and Kitchen Cantina—for which the chefs each prepare and demonstrate a recipe that viewers can then obtain on Food Network’s website.
“The food was great, I made so many recipes… the hosts really made you want to cook which I appreciate,” wrote one fan of the show on a Reddit thread.
The hosts seem like they have so much fun on the show. Genuine chemistry and fun recipes,” shared another. A third added, “I’ve gotten more recipes from this show than any other.”
However, soon, fans of the channel will be hard-pressed to find any content that features cooking.
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Fans are calling the channel the “food game show network.”
With The Kitchen soon to be off the air, Food Network fans are growing increasingly frustrated.
“Why dont they just rename it the Guy Fieri channel featuring Bobby Flay. That’s all they show,” said one Redditor, to which another agreed, “If they want to cancel something, we could do with a lot less of Guy.”
“Probably going to be a change in format a la TLC which went from informative shows to the Duggars and Dance Moms. I expect to see things like ‘Mafia Kitchen’ which will be a Real Housewives knockoff about restaurants or ‘Super Mystery Diners’ where ghost hunters go into “haunted” restaurants. Bobby and Guy will still be on for legacy programming. It’s probably going to get real bleak pretty quick,” one viewer lamented.
“And…..Guy is the producer of all the competition shows,” said someone else.
“I hate this new game show network,” a Redditor decried—a sentiment shared by many who say The Kitchen’s cancellation was the last straw for them.
“It’s now nothing more than The Food Game Show network. Last time I watch that channel!” someone wrote.
“What in the world will they replace it with…more reruns of Diners Drive-In’s and Dives!?? I’m so done with this channel!!” shared a viewer.
But others say The Kitchen was on its way out for a while.
Some fans of The Kitchen say that, while they’re disappointed in losing one of the last cooking shows, they saw it coming.
“In [all] fairness, you can’t deny it was becoming pretty obvious the hosts were bored with themselves and half the time didn’t even like the food they were making or tasting,” said one Reddit user.
Someone else shared a similar sentiment in another Reddit thread: “To be super honest, for a while now I could really just feel their boredom with the whole thing. They would talk about “have I made a buffalo such-and-such? I don’t think I did yet, but I made buffalo practically everything else.” That sort of thing. Every week I used to save multiple recipes to try and they were usually good, some I have continued to make over the years. Recently, I realized I save practically nothing. ”
Viewers also feel that The Kitchen chefs have been ramping up for the inevitable cancellation.
“Katie has parlayed into wine , GZ does not need this, Sunny has been on Drew Barrymore show,” wrote a Redditor, while another added, “Jeff saw the writing on the wall – he’s been ramping up his social media content.”
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And some point to larger issues at Warner Bros. Discovery.
Back in 2022, Warner Bros. and Discovery finalized a merger to create a new company called Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. This brought together WarnerMedia’s assets, including HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros. Pictures, and Discovery, Inc.’s networks, such as HGTV, Food Network, and the Discovery Channel.
Now, however, Warner Bros. Discovery plans to split its business into two separate public companies—Streaming & Studios, to house its film and premium television assets (like HBO), and Global Linear Networks, to house its cable networks.
Amid financial pressures, Warner Bros. Discovery is also considering a sale to Paramount Skydance, a media conglomerate owned by billionaire David Ellison.
And Food Network fans think all these top-level shakeups have something to do with the network’s programming.
“Any new program will probably be Warner Brothers cross-promotions or Bobby & Guy since they’re under contract, but probably little else that’s not reruns,” wrote one Redditor. “Probably much like this season’s holiday schedule. Specials from Guy & Bobby, a Harry Potter (parent company) tie-in, a Joanna Gaines crossover, and a scaled down Baking Championship.”
In another Reddit thread about the Food Network cutting back overall, someone surmised, “New orders from the top of WBD/FN wants everything to be TLC/Bravo style manufactured drama/rivalry, esp. with the baking championships the execs are prioritizing the “reality TV” of the shows. Overall executives are demanding innovation with tighter budgets and everyone too insecure with employment to try and push back.”
However, one semi-hopeful viewer concluded, “They are broke and some of these shows cost lots of money as these celebrity chefs are expensive. Maybe they can get back to the cheap to make shows without huge production values and theatrics and over the top celebrities.”