A Television Review?

I'm always looking for more helpful items to offer consumers, to balance out the industry-centric content of this blog.

So it was with great interest that I recorded and watched "Good Deal with Dave Lieberman" on the Food Network last week.

The premise is a good one: a cooking show where the chef keeps his viewers' budget in mind when he teaches you a recipe. I think the time has come for a show like that, and it's not redundant of anything else on Food network. I was really hoping this show would have something to offer the kind of people who read my book, who need all the good deals they can get if they're going to conquer their debt.

Unfortunately, I'm unimpressed so far. It seems Dave Lieberman is another good looking young chef who wanted a show, and the "Good Deal" part is nowhere to be seen.

It’s probably unfair to be judging the show like this so soon, and I’ll give it a few more chances before I give up altogether. But just looking at the first episode I watched, there were a lot of ingredients that aren’t available at my local grocer, and if I could find them, they’d be more expensive than I would consider a “good deal.”

And besides just the cost of the ingredients, there’s the time and complexity of the menus. People who are struggling to stay above water with their debt don’t have time to concoct elaborate meals, and they resort too often to quick but unhealthy (and costly) fast food alternatives. It’s a sad fact in this country that the less money you have, the more likely you are to be overweight. Eating a nutritious meal on a tight budget and with a busy schedule is very difficult in our society. I’m looking for help with that from this TV show, but it hasn’t delivered the goods yet.

Check out his recipes at the show’s web site and see if you think his meals are good deals.

Update: I finally re-visited this show and had a much better opinion of it the second time around. See the follow-up post Here.