My boss Ron recently debuted his new television show on the Food Network, called “Sweet Genius”. We premiered the first episode with a huge party that was thrown for him at the school he teaches at, The International Culinary Institute. (Pictures to come when we get them from the photographer!) We sat in the culinary theater and for the first time along with all of his friends watched the show together. Ron had done all of the filming in July and the production team has been editing each show since then.
I enjoyed watching the first episode, I thought Ron was a good judge and host, and he played his “character” very well. That is right, I said character. This is television and we watch television to be entertained. First and foremost this man runs a business, he is a baker, an artist and a boss. He has started his company from scratch, taught himself accounting, how to manage a staff and put a product out in the market place that no one can come close to matching. How many people can claim that?
I understand people are going to either love something or hate something. But what I never understand is how mean people can be with their words. When Sweet Genius aired, people started throwing out their opinions. Of course everything I read was from loving the show to not loving the show. But the things that people say are just down right mean. I find it interesting that all of a sudden everyone is an expert because they have been watching food shows on television. Ron is a man who has been in the industry of baking for more than 15 years, and has a very refined palette. He has mastered techniques that others in our profession struggle with. In my book that makes him an expert just like any one of his other colleagues.
But there is also the other part of the show, the competitors. What happens if they are not good on television, or they are not creative enough? How is the host/judge supposed to interact with contestants if they themselves can’t perform or produce food that tastes good?
When he was initially approached about doing a television show, he did not want to appear mean in anyway. There is a process to filming that 95% of the population watching television is unaware of. When you see one of these competition shows there is over 8 hours of film being recorded. You see 45 minutes of it. When finished filming, the production company starts the editing process and turns over snippets to the network. The network has final say as to how they want the show to be perceived. Not the artist, Ron had no say as to how he would appear to other people. We had to leave that in the good faith of the network.
SO enjoy the show for what it is – ENTERTAINMENT. What other show are you going to watch where you have to turn a frozen waffle into a couture dessert? Those out there saying the mean things actually might learn a thing or two about how to “throw” together a dessert from the ingredients they only have in their house. They also might figure out just how hard it really is to cook something (anything) for other people to enjoy.
NYC Cake Girl 