The Next Food Network Star is CASTING in Chicago!

The Next Food Network Star is NOW CASTING Season 6 in Chicago!

Do you think you have what it takes to host your own show on the Food Network?

Calling all Chefs, Line Cooks, Home Cooks, Caterers and Culinary Enthusiasts!!


WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

Strong Culinary Skills
Personality that Pops
Passion for Cooking
Food Knowledge
Lots of Energy and Enthusiasm

Chicago Open Casting Call
Sunday, July 12, 2009
10am-4pm
Affinia Chicago Hotel
166 East Superior Street
Chicago, IL 60611


What to Bring:
1. Two recent photos
2. A copy of your resume
3. A filled out application (found at http://www.FoodNetwork.com/star)

For more information or questions please e-mail us at nfns6chicago@yahoo.com.

Make sure to bring a doctor's note confirming that you are certifiably insipid. Having watched a bit of FN recently, that seems like a pre-requisite. If you're skilled in pandering, all the better.

=R=

Except Guy Fieri -- he's a lot of fun, and he won one of these contests. Maybe lightning will strike twice.

Aw, Ronnie, don't be so negative. I like Food Network.

I would try to audition with my newest creation, a watercress-mayonnaise-and-tuna-fish sandwich creation, but how do I know this isn't a ruse for a Bobby Flay throwdown?

Y'know, it's funny - I actually made up an audition tape for the one that Guy Fieri eventually won, but never had the time to edit it and send it in...and I'm grateful. What was I thinking? It's like a reverse lottery: you "win" and then you're punished unmercifully for the next several months - sometimes to the point where you wind up crying on national television, and then when you "win" that (of course, this is making the huge leap that I'd win either) I'd get stuck with a job that would take me away from my family and prevent me from doing all the things I love to do!

Thanks, I'll just keep posting on LTHForum, where I'm either read or ignored as people see fit, where I'm grateful to be able to do it on my own time and in my own way...

Well, Mhays, maybe you can just be a local star. Post videos to YouTube, do appearances at the restaurant show, become famous here in Chicago, but still stay at home with your family.

I'm sayin'! I'm just as famous as I want to be!

Mhays wrote:I'm sayin'! I'm just as famous as I want to be!

Okay. I thought it was just being away from your family you didn't want. But it's having your dinners interrupted by mobs of eager fans that doesn't appeal to you.

Cynthia wrote:Except Guy Fieri -- he's a lot of fun, and he won one of these contests. Maybe lightning will strike twice.

Now see, while I enjoy DD&D; the restaurants they choose, the production values, etc., I find Guy Fieri to be the weakest link on the show. I think he's got a limited vocabulary and an abbreviated list of stock phrases that gets obnoxiously repetitive over a short period of time. If I hear him lavish praise on another dish by referring to it as a "bad boy", as in "Take a look at that bad boy!," or "How am I going to fit that bad boy in my mouth?," I think I will throw a shoe at the screen.

Buddy

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:

Cynthia wrote:Except Guy Fieri -- he's a lot of fun, and he won one of these contests. Maybe lightning will strike twice.

Now see, while I enjoy DD&D; the restaurants they choose, the production values, etc., I find Guy Fieri to be the weakest link on the show. I think he's got a limited vocabulary and an abbreviated list of stock phrases that gets obnoxiously repetitive over a short period of time. If I hear him lavish praise on another dish by referring to it as a "bad boy", as in "Take a look at that bad boy!," or "How am I going to fit that bad boy in my mouth?," I think I will throw a shoe at the screen.

Buddy

agree. I watched the guy maybe 3 times and decided he was unwatchable after that.

Kennyz wrote:

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:

Cynthia wrote:Except Guy Fieri -- he's a lot of fun, and he won one of these contests. Maybe lightning will strike twice.

Now see, while I enjoy DD&D; the restaurants they choose, the production values, etc., I find Guy Fieri to be the weakest link on the show. I think he's got a limited vocabulary and an abbreviated list of stock phrases that gets obnoxiously repetitive over a short period of time. If I hear him lavish praise on another dish by referring to it as a "bad boy", as in "Take a look at that bad boy!," or "How am I going to fit that bad boy in my mouth?," I think I will throw a shoe at the screen.

Buddy

agree. I watched the guy maybe 3 times and decided he was unwatchable after that.

You mean you guys don't think he's "off the hook"? Come on, saying "bad boy" is SO "money"! Seriously, it's "the bomb"!

Oh I would love to do this!!!! I'm tired of my job...its soooooo hard. This sounds like fun. But I'm not skinny like Sandra Lee and I don't have fake b@@bs. I wonder if I could make it.

Kennyz wrote:

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:Now see, while I enjoy DD&D; the restaurants they choose, the production values, etc., I find Guy Fieri to be the weakest link on the show. I think he's got a limited vocabulary and an abbreviated list of stock phrases that gets obnoxiously repetitive over a short period of time. If I hear him lavish praise on another dish by referring to it as a "bad boy", as in "Take a look at that bad boy!," or "How am I going to fit that bad boy in my mouth?," I think I will throw a shoe at the screen.

Buddy

agree. I watched the guy maybe 3 times and decided he was unwatchable after that.

Well, everything depends on everything else. I have a couple of serious, big-brain computer-geek friends who refer to everything as "that bad boy," and have done so for years if not decades, so I didn't even notice Fieri saying it.

Maybe there is a limit to how many times one can watch him that I haven't reached. I don't have cable (and as of June 12, I don't have TV), so I only see the Food Network when I visit my mom in Michigan. So I probably haven't seen D, D and D more than three or four times over a few years. So not enough to wear me down.

I don't think it's art, but I don't think he's insipid, which is the word used to describe all who applied for Food Network stardom. I think there's a genuine sense of fun -- and he sure makes it look like he's enjoying the food. But again, if you only see it twice a year, it's probably more entertaining.

And who knows -- maybe if they got some people from Chicago to apply for the job, it would elevate the quality of the entire network.

Yeah, it's one of the shows I enjoy, in small doses.

In large doses, it quickly blurs together. That's what bugs me about so many of their food-travel shows-- no sense of place. They make everything seem the same, San Diego, Tallahassee or Woonsocket. Kind of defeats the point of a travel show, to me.

Mike G wrote:Yeah, it's one of the shows I enjoy, in small doses.

In large doses, it quickly blurs together. That's what bugs me about so many of their food-travel shows-- no sense of place. They make everything seem the same, San Diego, Tallahassee or Woonsocket. Kind of defeats the point of a travel show, to me.

Agreed. There needs to be something that falls between the blur and the Bourdain "you probably couldn't do this" sense of place.

Cynthia wrote:

Mike G wrote:Yeah, it's one of the shows I enjoy, in small doses.

In large doses, it quickly blurs together. That's what bugs me about so many of their food-travel shows-- no sense of place. They make everything seem the same, San Diego, Tallahassee or Woonsocket. Kind of defeats the point of a travel show, to me.

Agreed. There needs to be something that falls between the blur and the Bourdain "you probably couldn't do this" sense of place.

Agree totally, and both of your insightful comments finally helped me put a finger on what bugs me so about both DDD and NR, which really are two ends of the spectrum.

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:

Cynthia wrote:Except Guy Fieri -- he's a lot of fun, and he won one of these contests. Maybe lightning will strike twice.

Now see, while I enjoy DD&D; the restaurants they choose, the production values, etc., I find Guy Fieri to be the weakest link on the show. I think he's got a limited vocabulary and an abbreviated list of stock phrases that gets obnoxiously repetitive over a short period of time. If I hear him lavish praise on another dish by referring to it as a "bad boy", as in "Take a look at that bad boy!," or "How am I going to fit that bad boy in my mouth?," I think I will throw a shoe at the screen.

Buddy

Ha ha ha. Every time I see that guy he reminds me of Poochie, the manufactured, "hip" surfer dog from the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons on the Simpsons. The show's not bad, in general, but that guy is a little annoying for my tastes...

tyrus wrote:[Ha ha ha. Every time I see that guy he reminds me of Poochie, the manufactured, "hip" surfer dog from the Itchy and Scratchy cartoons on the Simpsons. The show's not bad, in general, but that guy is a little annoying for my tastes...

I think Anthony Bourdain wrote an article in which he called Guy the Poochie of the Food Network.

I can tolerate the show until he starts mugging for the camera(and repeating the catch phrases)...then it get iritating.

I also submitted a tape for the first season (then asked to resubmit it for the second season). I always wanted to do a cooking show, even going as far as taking the Public Access Producers class that Comcast does.
But that was before the youtube craze. Now people can do shows and put them online instead of going through the whole public access process.
Now that I look back, Im glad I didnt get a chance to go on TNFNS.

I really wish surfinsapo would come out of the woodwork for this. Except I think he lives in TX. Among other things.

other than the possible $$$ incentive from winning TNFS, I cant see much of an upside to being associated with Food Network.

Most of the shows, and talent on the FN I find unwatchable. With the exception of an occasional Iron Chef episode(when they are doing an ingredient that interests me), a Bobby Flay grilling show(the guy can be kind of a cocky jag sometimes, but then again so can I, but he can cook imho), or an interesting DDD.

My husband and I call the show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Douchebags", because we find Guy so obnoxious (but watch the show for the restaurants).

I think it's frustrating that he's the only winner who's ever gotten more than two or three shows out of the deal. I tried to watch both the Hearty Boys show and Amy Finley's show, and they were never, ever on. Both were pretty good concepts and I was kinda disappointed to see it work out that way. This season, though, I wouldn't mind- I've only seen a few snippets, but wow, those are some obnoxious people.

I think it's frustrating that he's the only winner who's ever gotten more than two or three shows out of the deal. I tried to watch both the Hearty Boys show and Amy Finley's show, and they were never, ever on.

Last year's winner, Aaron McArdell (?) got a pretty good late morning Sunday slot for his show and I think I read that it was being renewed. I thought the Hearty Boys got about half a season. Amy Finley disappeared really fast, although supposedly she decided not to renew her deal - maybe that was face saving on FN's part.

sweetsalty wrote:My husband and I call the show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Douchebags", because we find Guy so obnoxious (but watch the show for the restaurants).

LMAO! I'd like to buy your husband a drink.

=R=

sweetsalty wrote:My husband and I call the show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Douchebags", because we find Guy so obnoxious (but watch the show for the restaurants).

Laughed so hard at that quote, I have to explain to our IT department why coffee that shot out of my mouth caused the keyboard to stop work.

(For the record...typing this on a different computer)

Guy F. is no rocket scientist. Some of his unique "discoveries" (mofongo, for example) turn out to be well-known by millions of people. However, for me as a frequent traveler, DDD is far and away the most useful show on the network. Many of the stripmall and boardwalk places have been written up here or there, but it's hard to beat the information you get from a camera in the kitchen showing the chef/owner preparing signature dishes. Some of the storefronts are doing remarkable things; many are generic "red sauce joints" in a Phoenix suburb using mixes, powders and frozen junk. It helps to know what to seek out or write off. Guy seems to approach all of them with good cheer, an open mind, and an appetite. He doesn't tell people their business (a la Flay and many other chefs). I forgive the Italo-American douchebaggery. He could be my cousin. Maybe the truth is DDD has excellent researchers; I usually find myself thinking, if I'm ever 30 miles west of Wichita, I've got to try that place.

"However, for me as a frequent traveler, DDD is far and away the most useful show on the network. "

I'll second that argument.

I am happy to see that the network is actually requiring culinary skill for this season.

I say we put Wiv in it and just let him kick everybody's ass with his smoker.

I don't suppose we could all band together and create a really good show that we'd actually want to watch -- something that combines a bit of the Bourdain sense of place, the Guy Fieri usable information about places to eat, and elements of food history, culture, and how to actually prepare something mentioned in the show. In other words, a program that shows you what to do if you can travel, suggest places you might like to travel, and gives you something to enjoy even if you can't travel.

Cynthia wrote:I don't suppose we could all band together and create a really good show that we'd actually want to watch -- something that combines a bit of the Bourdain sense of place, the Guy Fieri usable information about places to eat, and elements of food history, culture, and how to actually prepare something mentioned in the show. In other words, a program that shows you what to do if you can travel, suggest places you might like to travel, and gives you something to enjoy even if you can't travel.

Isn't that, essentially, Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie? Dopey name, though...

Fieri's steering foodies to Cemitas Pueblas - that's gotta count as a feather in his cap, no matter how aggravating his persona is.

Cynthia wrote:I don't suppose we could all band together and create a really good show that we'd actually want to watch -- something that combines a bit of the Bourdain sense of place, the Guy Fieri usable information about places to eat, and elements of food history, culture, and how to actually prepare something mentioned in the show. In other words, a program that shows you what to do if you can travel, suggest places you might like to travel, and gives you something to enjoy even if you can't travel.

Rick Stein's BBC show was very similar to this. But it isn't played on BBC America anymore. And it focused on the UK, so the travel destinations weren't that useful to me.