Valerie Bertinelli’s greatest media love was the Food network. Until it unceremoniously dropped her over a contract dispute. Now she’s speaking out publicly about the decline in quality of the network’s programming in recent years…
Valerie Bertinelli: In happier times, on Valerie’s Home Cooking…
Most folks my age remember Valerie Bertinelli as the wife of the late, great heavy-metal guitarist Eddie Van Halen. (See photo, top of page.) Before that, when she was just a kid, she co-starred in the family sit-com One Day At A Time. Younger folks will know her from Hot In Cleveland. But she was also a star on the Food Network – until they fired her over ‘budget issues’.
Irreconcilable differences
Bertinelli started off at The Food Network with her own show – Valerie’s Home Cooking. It was fun, and got good ratings. And she got the gig at least partly because she was a known ‘name’ in the entertainment world. But given the chance, she proved she knew her way around the kitchen.
Such was her fan appeal that the network offered a chance to branch out as co-host of Kids Baking Championship with star cake builder Duff Goldman. It quickly became clear that she had a real chemistry with the kid competitors. And a hit was born.
But it appears that Bertinelli and the Food network couldn’t find common ground on her pay demands for Home Cooking. And her contract was not renewed. Then, FN also let her go from Kids Baking. The latter being more a political thing, by all accounts. After Bertinelli expressed her disappointment over Home Cooking publicly.
Abiding bitterness
Bertinelli left FN under a cloud, of sorts. And she might be forgiven for harbouring some abiding bitterness over the circumstances surrounding the split. But she’s come out recently with an observation on the state of the Food Network’s programming – specifically, how it’s declined in quality and variety in recent years.
“I fell in love with Food Network two decades ago because of all the amazing ITK [in the kitchen] shows,” she wrote on social media platform Threads. “30 Minute Meals, Ina [Garten], Giada [de Laurentis]… the list goes on. I learned so much. It’s sad it’s not about cooking and learning any longer. Oh well, that’s just business, folks.”
A poignant point
Setting aside her assumed bias (over being fired), Bertinelli makes a good point. I remember when the Food network first appeared. It was exclusively about cooking and culinary education. And I was enchanted by icons such as the late, great ‘King of Cajun’, Justin Wilson, and Paula Deen, the ‘Queen of Southern Cuisine’. Not to mention the legendary Julia Child.
Over the decades, FN also introduced its audience to younger chefs such as Jamie Oliver, Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, Rachel Ray, and ‘Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond. And that generation has since been succeeded by even-newer talents.
But a glance at the collective cadré of FN stars also betrays a slow but steady shift from cooking and education to contest and game shows. That ‘evolution’ started in earnest back in the 90s, and has accelerated steadily every since.
They lost me
I have to admit, the game and contest shows got old for me really fast. But the fact that they have taken over FN is proof that they must have strong and persistent appeal among the masses.
There’s an old proverb: “Times change and we change with the times.” ‘Tempora manatur‘ goes back at least as far as the year 855 AD, when it first appears in the written record. But there’s also a proverb that insists, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
It’s my considered opinion that FN has left behind many more original, once-stalwart fans than just me. Take notice, Food Network: “I am Grandma! Hear me roar! In (Boomer) numbers too big to ignore!”
Call me old. Call me brittle. But don’t call me a dog, just because I refuse to go along with your crass, commercialized, formulaic game and contest shows…
~ Maggie J.