'Gourmet next door' moves in

As you may have gathered from those horrendously cheesy moving truck promos...Amy Finley's new Food Network show debuted over the weekend.

You may remember Finley emerging as the victor in the crazy "Next Food Network Star" saga, where she beat out Saddle River native Rory Schepisi even after crying about missing her kids and threatening to drop out of the competition.

The show, "The Gourmet Next Door," most of which I watched on Sunday while doing laundry, isn't bad, certainly better than its silly commercials. Finley is cast kind of like a ground-level Giada. The judges often seemed concerned that Finley's frequent "I lived in France" talk would come off as too snobby, and the show seems to be taking great pains to glam her hair and makeup down, to the point of being unflattering.

Personally, I find Finley's travel talk more interesting than her food, and have to wonder whether she'd be better as the host of a travel show (kind of like how previous "Star" winner Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" is infinitely more watchable than his cooking show).

Comments

[PieCrust]

Amy Finley sucks, Her food looks wilted and pale, Her hair looks like a wet dog, she chops messily and leaves all kinds of mess on her chopping board.

Plus, She doesnt have much in the way of screen presence, And she looks like a skeleton.

Oh and her food reminds me of those gross 70s weight loss food cards:

http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards/czarina.html

God, She just made a ham wrapped endive and it looks like severed leg, I think im gonna hurl...

[Allan]

Amy Finley does not belong on Food Network and does not deserve her own show. She was terrible and boring after watching a couple of episodes of Gourmet Next Door. Oh and her teeth are too much of a distraction too.

[Allan]

Amy Finley does not belong on Food Network and does not deserve her own show. She was terrible and boring after watching a couple of episodes of Gourmet Next Door. Oh and her teeth are too much of a distraction too.

[danielle]

i didnt care for her show either. very boring.

[Leo Bogee]

Amy Finley deserves to be in the FN, she has personality and she is realistic in making meals for a family on the go. I agree Amy will never be a Rachael Ray (thank god) but will probably be a great travel chef.

[Laura]

My husband and I just watched her episode on Demand where she makes chicken breasts, beet salad, and ice cream terrine, and we were horrified at Amy's total oblivion to basic food safety. First, she used her chopping block to dice the garlic, shallot and herbs, then she brought out a plastic cutting board to work with the chicken - which is the right thing to do. However, after she places the chicken breasts in the baking dish which is sitting next to the chicken-juice soaked board, she moves the dish onto the board, rubbing the bottom all over the contaminated surface. Then she puts the dish into the fridge to marinate - meaning the contaminated dish is now in contact with the fridge shelf. And, in the meantime, while she is absent-mindedly creating this potential for disease, she is giving a lecture about how important it is to wash your hands thoroughly when you've been handling raw chicken!

Aside from this obvious oversight, we are bothered by her nervousness, her sloppiness (especially when leaving ingredients on the chopping block), and the complete lack of flow to her shows. If she isn't able to cook and talk at the same time, the food network should have structured her show so that she could do more explaining and less demonstrating - for example, she could start chopping and then say "when you're done and you have it all in the bowl, it will look like this," at which point she could swap out an already prepared version. It's not quite as impressive a format, but at least she wouldn't seem so frantic.

It is actually stressing me out to watch her. Horrid!

[glenda]

I have been looking @ AF every Sunday,hoping against hope,that she would improve,but.alas,she cannot be saved.She is sloppy & unsanitary.She does not wash or wipe her hands between preperation of different foods,or anything else for that matter.I would simply be afraid to eat her cooking.Cooks like her cause food poisoning.She speaks with her mouth full,spitting over everything.She puts dirty hands into her spices & she's thourougly sickening.Please use clean & serving spoons for each dish.DO something with that God awful hair & please fix your teeth,they are most distracting.last but not least,change the show's name.There is nothing gourmet in her dishes,adding afew capers to afish sauce does not make it gourmet.FoodNetwork you made abig booboo on this one.Have you guys forgotten the HardyBoys-partyline flop.

[Ann]

Food Network needs to help polish Amy. I have nothing against her but here are my reactions to her show Sunday/yesterday. Presentation of food was bad; food was greasy, unappealing and sloppy looking; she slaughters the French language as do other cooks on Food Network; please teach her how to properly pronounce words like "endive". She supposedly took cooking lessons in France. Why can't she master a few simple French terms? It immediately turns me off to hear her mispronounce French words. She needs a lot more grooming and Food Network needs to give it to her. While it was very entertaining watching her win her place on Food Network, I think Food Network needs to come up with better screening techniques to select their show hosts if she is the kind of cook we end up with. Find people with an established track record.

[Ann]

Food Network needs to help polish Amy. I have nothing against her but here are my reactions to her show 12/23/07. Presentation of food was bad; food was greasy, unappealing and sloppy looking; she slaughters the French language as do other cooks on Food Network; please teach her how to properly pronounce words like "endive". She supposedly took cooking lessons in France. Why can't she master a few simple French terms? It immediately turns me off to hear her mispronounce French words. She needs a lot more grooming and Food Network needs to give it to her. While it was very entertaining watching her win her place on Food Network, I think Food Network needs to come up with better screening techniques to select their show hosts if she is the kind of cook we end up with. Find people with an established and very versatile track record.

[Mike]

I watched and actually was rooting for Amy during the contest. I am rethinking that after seeing a few episodes of her show. So far none of the dishes have appealed to me. Most of all the 70's low buget PORN music has to be changed.

[Bonnir]

I must agree. This show is NOT so "freaky good". And the theme music could be the soundtrack of one of those cheesy porno movies!

[Richard]

My girl and I watched every episode of the contest, and after seeing the "freaky" tart episode of Gourmet with the horrible music, we are wondering where Rory is or the gay guy, hell even the dishonest military fellow would be more entertaining...

[Ann]

Amy's December 30 show was excellent. I'd still like to hear her pronounce "endive" correctly. Food Network could even spell it on the screen for viewers to teach them its proper pronunciation as well.

[Mr. Williams]

Alton was right when during the competition he asked if they could just send everybody home and start over. I couldn't get past five minutes of GND. My eyes glazed over and passing out became a favorable option to continuing watching the show.

[mtv]

I just watched The Gourmet Next Door. My only concern is that I do not ever want to be a guest in her home or on her show. Why in the world would you taste soup and then put the spoon you used back into the pot you were then going to dish up for guests? ICK!!!

[rex]

I saw Amy at the grocery store in Del Mar, CA a few weeks back and honestly she is much more 'presentable' in person than on the show. Kind of cute even. But, yeah, the show is a disappointment. Totally sucks. BTW, I thought she was great as a floor reporter during the Iron Chef competition. Hopefully Food Network is trying to find something else for her like that.

[Ann]

Has Amy's show been dropped from the Food Network?

[dara]

She is just hard to look at. Her hair is plain crazy and she looks tired and old for her age. She needs a makeover badly and I'm surprised the food network didnt do that for her. Her nervousness makes is very hard to watch and her trembling voice along with the crazy hair makes me uncomfortable. She does not have the presence to be ontv. I think they should give Reggie a show. I just loved him and was happy to see him as a guest on sandra lee's show.Give Reggie a show!!

[richard v.]

amy&amy's show sucks!!!!!!!!! she doesn't deserve to have her own show-remember she was voted off by the judges once. same stupid hairdo-same stupid looking clothes-disgusting!!!!! the contest was totally unfair-she needs to go home and stay home!!!!!!

[Rama]

I am just amazed at the ugly comments that people seem to throw out there so freely. Her Hair? Her teeth? Her clothes? Jeez who cares. Amy Finley seemed to not digest the limelight to well and nervousness got to her. Some of her dishes were great and I just used my common sense to cook sanitary. Some of them not so great but same thing with all of the rest of the food network stars . And talk about unsanitary have you ever watched Paula's party while she makes a mud pie with her hands licking her fingers all the while then feeds it to everyone. It is a common practice on every show but Paula Dean is still one of the food networks most loved stars even after she has everyone in the audience eat off of the same spoon she just slobbered all over. Give Amy a break and try out for the show yourself and see how you fare. I would hate to see what you all look like and how you act in front of a camera with a million people.

Good luck to Amy Finely and all of the people who have the guts to give something amazing a try.

[Amy Finley]

ey,
Did I tell you about the time I went to Paris? In Paris, where I went, I had fabulous gourmet food and a fantastic time being there, in Paris. Paris is so great and I've been there, to Paris. You all should really go, to Paris, where I've been. Oh, and come see my new show this fall. Its all about Paris, where I've been. Have you?
--Amy Finley
amyfinley@sandiego.com

[deb]

I agree w/everyone. Her show is bad. She has the personality of an egg plant. Sure it's hard being on camera in front of millions of people, but she did take the plunge. She's just not cut out for Food Network.

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Finley is cast kind of like a ground-level Giada.