"The Frugal Gourmet" with the charismatic Jeff Smith was the original "celebrity chef". His cooking show extremely popular and lasted 14 years, and is still being imitated by the most popular chefs of today.

He had a kindly manner, and was pleasantly soft-spoken compared with celebrity cooking show types today. No "Bam!" He was a minister before he became a cooking show host.

THREE'S COMPANY...
THE SALAD GUY FILIPE RULED
& MR. ANGELINO THE CRAZY OWNER!
PRICELESS

Forgot about that one. And what about Chef in South Park?

Great Chefs series on PBS changed my life I can't believe it's not on this list

Gordon Ramsey's "The F Word" (which airs in the US on BBC America) is far better than any of the Kitchen Nightmares or Hell's Kitchen iterations.

Robert Sietsema

I like Kitchen Nightmares better because it allows you to see the albeit rotten restaurants run by clueless people out in the Styx, it's a wild sociological treatise

Robert Sietsema

I'm not familiar with it. Which chefs were featured, d? Maybe I should take a look.

No love for Good Eats? I'm pretty surprised that Alton didn't at least make the honorable mention list (and that Emeril Live did). His delivery might not be for everyone, but his show is incredibly informative. He's a great educator, and he's more responsible than any other TV presenter for introducing everyday cooks to the basic food science principles of McGee et al. I've become a much better cook from watching his show.

Robert Sietsema

Sorry, really dislike that fellow. I should watch it though, Jeff, and will do so following your recommendation. I'm very into the science behind chefiness. McGee is my bible.

I hear you, he can be grating, and his presence and politics outside the Good Eats show are quite off-putting. But he's quite the McGee embassador, and Shirley Corriher appears on there all the time as well. For his tutorial on steel-cut oatmeal alone, I'll put up with the shenanigans. Thanks for this list, I have to go find that Scandinavian show now.

If Yan can cook, so can you!

No Good Eats or America's Test Kitchen? Come on guys!

Yan had some mad cleaver skillz! He was my hero when I was 9.

Bill, love the America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, but find the show too boring.

I love Alton Brown, and not just because he rides.
And Queer eye was a cooking show???

BBC's Master Chef is better than 95% of the shows listed. Alice???

Robert Sietsema

Not a big fan of Ted Allen in his current incarnations, but in the Queer Eye episodes he invariably gave lively and concise triage-type advice on cooking, and it was one of the highlights of the show, Terri.

I second Great Chefs. When I was a kid, I used to watch that show religiously. The sound of the narrator voice was hypnotic. America's Test Kitchen is great, but I agree that its very boring. But it is actually a where a home cook and learn how to perfect a dish. I am disappointed that Diary of Foodie only got an honorable mention. That show is incredible. And they share the same producers as Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. And what about Nigella Lawson's cooking show. Not the one on Food Network, but the one she had on the BBC. I can't remember what it was called. But I loved that show. I especially loved how sensual the shots were, and her sneaking a bite at the end of each show.

Robert Sietsema

Thanks, and you are not the first to praise Master Chef, Ted. Wish I'd seen it. Alice was a sitcom set in a diner, and though it didn't revolve around food, it captured the atmosphere of a diner perfectly, and also discoursed on the relations of cooks, managers, diners, and owners.

Robert Sietsema

I may have downgraded it because I often work for Gourmet and didn't want to make it seem like I was hyping it for that reason. I love the show, but maybe because I know most of the talking heads :>}

No 'Good Eats'? Blasphemy!

There was a Good Eats ep. on eggs and, in particular, the best scrambled egg method. You wouldn't think that could fill a 1/2 hour much less five minutes but it was a terrific show. Anyone that can do that is worth watching.

Great list! I had forgotten all about Justin Wilson, who deserves credit for acclimating the rest of America with creepy crawly critter feasts, and Food Party and Posh Nosh are so much silly fun!

Robert Sietsema

Thanks, Cathy! Am posting clips of all the shows tomorrow.

Another vote for Great Chefs (http://www.greatchefs.com/about/) and glad to see Justin Wilson on the list too!

Robert Sietsema

Thanks, Dana, I'm adding Great Chefs to the list.

On a more oblique angle, I want to nominate "Fawlty Towers," since so much of the show concerned mishaps in the hotel's dining room. And I second Todd above, in preferring Ramsay's "The F Word" to the other Ramsay shows (though I do enjoy "Kitchen Nightmares"..)

Robert Sietsema

Funny, that series came up in the editorial meeting. Wait, you were at the editorial meeting. I'm putting it on the runner-up list. If Queer Eye qualifies, so does Fawlty (Sawlty?) Towers.

The list and runners-up are seriously flawed for omitting Two Fat Ladies, Yan Can Cook and
Good Eats.

Robert Sietsema

I agree only with your first suggestion, but I'm putting it on the runner-up list. Yan can cook seemed needlesslly supercilious and I've already said I don't like Alton Brown. Thanks for your suggestions, though, Carter.

I cannot believe you left out Martin Yan of "Yan Can cook" fame. He not only had an amazing knowledge of food and cooking but he was charismatic and one of the fastest workers I have ever seen.Once watched him make a huge pile of noodles from a ball of dough in about thirty seconds.

Robert Sietsema

Sorry, nelson, his manner really annoyed me. TV makes the personality of the chef so all-important. Julia Child had a compelling personality, but Jacques Pepin didn't. Accordingly, he soft-peddled his personality and made his cooking show great by staying with the bare-bones elements of brilliant cooking.

there are definitely a few shows that do not belong there but definitely great chefs thats how i heard of most of the famous american and world chefs that was an important show they also had a great chefs of new york (classic) They definitely should of put yan can cook on the list the guy is a genius with the clever and would take you on a tour of all the great asian resturants of the world. The orginal iron chef even though its a competition is classic i first saw it on public access without the english subtitles loved it then #'s 4 and 10 are very questionable

On the Frugal GourmetL "He had a kindly manner, and was pleasantly soft-spoken compared with celebrity cooking show types today. No "Bam!" He was a minister before he became a cooking show host."
But after that, he became a child molester, right?

Robert Sietsema

Jeff Smith was never convicted of a crime. He was charged by two male assistants with "sexual harassment," and taken off the air. It may be that his crime was being gay. Now if you want to accuse some famous cooking figure of pedophilia--pick James Beard. In his case the evidence was much more clear.

Pasquale Carpino was my idol. Does anyone else remember how great he was?

Robert Sietsema

I don't even know who he was. Please enlighten me, Peter.