Have y'all seen the ads for Sandra Lee's new show. It starts next week and is called Sandra Lee's Money Saving Meals.

Say what? By definition, Sandra's cooking style is expensive. Processed and convenience foods always are. So the idea that she's expert at saving us money is, at best, ludicrous.

Oh, wait. Maybe this means she'll only change her kitchen once a month instead of for every show? And that her "tablescapes" will involve stuff you already own?

Nah! I don't think so. I think it's just another typical Food Network shuck, pretending that a show is something that it's not.

I saw those adds. I do not care for Sandra Lee's recipes at all.

NO MORE SANDRA LEE! In fact the whole food network can dissapear as far as I'm concerned.

I like the food network ok. I love to watch Ina Garten.

Every one of FN's celebrities is favored by some people. Some people love Ina, some hate her; some think Alton Brown is the cherries, others (like me) that he's the pits. Some think Bobby Flay is the throwdown king, others that he needs to be thrown down.

But lately they seem bound and determined to feature shows and people (that is, when they're not constantly airing repeats of shows that are two, and three, and six years old) with no rhyme or reason.

Shall we look at some of them:

1. Cooking For Real. Here's a show with a "star" who was promoted as being "a real Air Force vet; a real DJ; a real food lover." Oh yeah, those are soild credentials for having a cooking show. Turns out if you watch her, her credentials are that she's a black version of Racheal Ray---only not as creative.

2. Five Ingredient Fix. The premise here is that you can make simple but elegant meals using "only" five ingredients. Problem with this one is that the "star" doesn't count things like salt and pepper as ingredients, and counts blended ingredients as one in order to force things into the count. And, of course, the basic premise is BS. Simple or complex in the cooking world is not based on the number of ingredients. It's based on the techniques needed to manipulate those ingredients.
Just for perspective, in case (as is likely) you've never bothered counting ingredients, Mac & Cheese made with just one cheese would not qualify for this show if all the ingredients were counted.
I've also never seen a cooking show host who talked down to her audience more than this one.

3. Quick Fix Meals. This one had potential. The premise is, you can "cook" only one or two days a week, and recycle the protein into a different dish or two. Basically, planned use of left-overs. The show is a take off of the once-a-week and once-a-month cooking trends that were in vogue a few years back. Problem is, with some notable exceptions, if chicken and salmon disappeared from the earth so too would this show. After awhile, everything she does seems samee-same.

And now comes the new Sandra Lee show, whose premise is 180 degrees from the way she prepares food (note I said "prepares." I don't consider what she does to be cooking.)

What amuzes me most is that Food Network keeps *****ing about it's downward slide in viewership. Hmmmmm? Let's see. They can all the people who built the network. Fill the air with about 90% repeat shows. And when they do provide something new, make it either something like the above three or a "reality" show that has nothing to do with reality.

Ya gotta wonder about FN executives who can't figure out the problem.