Earlier this week, Guy Fieri's newest venture in Times Square was reviewed by the New York Times. My reaction was "scathing, but piss your pants funny." Don't get me wrong. I've watched countless hours of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I sat through more than a couple episodes of Guy's Big Bite.
I've even, in my travels, sought out some of Guy's recommendations. There were a few hits, but a lot of misses.
But Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar was lambasted in the Times. Brouhaha ensued. Charges of elitism on the part of the Times were lodged. It took over the Twittersphere.
Then today, an opinion piece in AdAge was sent to me. Read here. Short version: Scripps needs to control the talent's off air endeavors in order to have a better chance at retaining their audience, and by extension, the advertisers who keep them in butter, salt, and bacon.
It's interesting to see the fallout from the brouhaha over the review. Let's be honest: The people going to Guy's restaurant in NYC are generally not the same people who read the Times, and they will very likely continue to seek out his restaurant, and all the places he visits on Diners Drive ins and Dives, because of him and his outsize personality.
Why?
Think back to the 2004 election, it was all about "who would you want to have a beer with?" and George W. Bush came out on top in that contest(and the election). It's all about the personality now, in the election or in TV programming. People want to connect with a person, people want to be able to travel to Nashville or Tuscon or Tacoma and say "Guy ate here, so it should be good!" Those are the same people who will, when in New York, seek out Guy's American Kitchen & Bar instead of Esca or Le Bernardin, or even Wo Hop. Moreover, that's OK. It's what makes the world go 'round. If we all enjoyed the same menu all the time, life would be horribly boring.
Think also of this: just like MTV no longer shows music(as far as I can tell), Food Network is more and more getting away from recipe driven cooking shows. It's all Triple D, $40/day, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, or competition shows like Chopped, Iron Chef, or Cupcake wars. In fact, there's so little actual cooking on there anymore that a new channel, the Cooking Channel(also owned by Scripps), has stepped in to take its place.
So I can see where the AdAge column makes sense, that Scripps needs to hold the reins a bit tighter, at the same time, I don't think that the average viewer will be all that dissuaded by this type of publicity(not ignoring the "any publicity is good publicity" argument), nor will they be dissuaded from seeking out Guy's American Kitchen & Bar when they are hungry in New York.
I've even, in my travels, sought out some of Guy's recommendations. There were a few hits, but a lot of misses.
But Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar was lambasted in the Times. Brouhaha ensued. Charges of elitism on the part of the Times were lodged. It took over the Twittersphere.
Then today, an opinion piece in AdAge was sent to me. Read here. Short version: Scripps needs to control the talent's off air endeavors in order to have a better chance at retaining their audience, and by extension, the advertisers who keep them in butter, salt, and bacon.
It's interesting to see the fallout from the brouhaha over the review. Let's be honest: The people going to Guy's restaurant in NYC are generally not the same people who read the Times, and they will very likely continue to seek out his restaurant, and all the places he visits on Diners Drive ins and Dives, because of him and his outsize personality.
Why?
Think back to the 2004 election, it was all about "who would you want to have a beer with?" and George W. Bush came out on top in that contest(and the election). It's all about the personality now, in the election or in TV programming. People want to connect with a person, people want to be able to travel to Nashville or Tuscon or Tacoma and say "Guy ate here, so it should be good!" Those are the same people who will, when in New York, seek out Guy's American Kitchen & Bar instead of Esca or Le Bernardin, or even Wo Hop. Moreover, that's OK. It's what makes the world go 'round. If we all enjoyed the same menu all the time, life would be horribly boring.
Think also of this: just like MTV no longer shows music(as far as I can tell), Food Network is more and more getting away from recipe driven cooking shows. It's all Triple D, $40/day, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, or competition shows like Chopped, Iron Chef, or Cupcake wars. In fact, there's so little actual cooking on there anymore that a new channel, the Cooking Channel(also owned by Scripps), has stepped in to take its place.
So I can see where the AdAge column makes sense, that Scripps needs to hold the reins a bit tighter, at the same time, I don't think that the average viewer will be all that dissuaded by this type of publicity(not ignoring the "any publicity is good publicity" argument), nor will they be dissuaded from seeking out Guy's American Kitchen & Bar when they are hungry in New York.
Why MTV no longer plays music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ysyZF-DZFY (NSFW)
ReplyDelete