Eleven Food Network Shows Worth Remembering

The Food Networkis celebrating its 25th Anniversary celebration this week and as you might expect, most of the attention is focused on the stars of today. But let's take a moment to remember the Food Network stars from its earliest years.

Here are eleven early Food Network shows that deserve to be remembered:

Cooking Live With Sara Moulton
There's a pretty good argument to be made that along with Emeril Lagasse, the soft-spoken Moulton was the one of the first "stars" of the Food Network. This series might be her best known and in it she cooked a meal while fielding live calls from viewers. She was thoughtful and helpful and the show is a textbook example of a show that is entertaining and great television while not being especially flashy. She was also very popular with male viewers, who saw her as approachable and a bit sexy. She did more than 1,200 episodes of her live show, along with more than 300 episodes of "Sara's Secrets." But when she was pushed out in 2005 after nine years on the network, some executives famously didn't even bother to show up for her farewell dinner.



A Cook's Tour (2001-2002)
Before he moved to the Travel Channel to do the similar-themed "No Reservations," Anthony Bourdain did two seasons of this show for the Food Network. It's essentially the same show that Bourdain continued to do for CNN until his death: he traveled to some exotic location to sample the local cuisine and meet a few of the locals. 



Food News And Views
When the Food Network premiered, one of its flagship shows was this program that was meant to be a reasonably serious mix of food trend news and opinions on what was hot and what was SO last week. What they got was a quirky, less-than-serious show that nonetheless helped set the creative tone for the early years of the network. Starring Chef David Rosengarten and New York City first lady Donna Hanover, every episode was a mix of near-disaster and actual moments of food-related content. But it was also fun to watch and a popular fixture on the network until 2000, when the show was suddenly canceled to make room for the newest wave of celebrity chefs.



Gordon Elliott's Door-Knock Dinner (1999-?)
While he's currently a producer of food shows (most recently the ABC daytime series "The Chew"), Elliott began on the Food Network as a host. This was his best known project, a show in which he would show up at someone's door with a chef in tow. He would offer to create a fabulous dinner, based strictly on the items already in the house.



Dweezil & Lisa (2004)
This show was arguably one of the Food Network's first attempts to amp up their star power in primetime. Rock musicians (and at the time, a couple) Dweezil Zappa and Lisa Loeb traveled around America, sampling local cuisine and music. They were surprisingly good in the show, although the format of the episodes often felt a bit clunky.

Food 911 (1999- ?)
While Tyler Florence still works for the Food Network, his first show is still a favorite. In this series, Florence visited homes across the U.S. and helped them to overcome some cooking dilemma. He typically offered three different dishes as a way of solving the problem.



Kitchen Accomplished(2004)
As much an HGTV show as one you'd expect to see on the Food Network, this series invited viewers to send in video of their kitchen, which they believed needed a serious makeover. Chef Cat Cora, contractor Pete Marr and design expert Wolfgang Schaber would then completely makeover the kitchen in three days.



Ready...Set...Cook! (1995-2001)
Based on the UK series entitled "Ready, Steady, Cook," the series teamed two well-known chefs with a member of the studio audience and pitted them against each other to complete the best possible meal in 18 minutes. The series was hosted by Robin Young (1995), Sissy Biggers (1995-2000) and Ainsley Hariott (2000-2001).



Too Hot Tamales (1995-1999)
Like many other future Food Network stars, L.A.-based chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger were offered their own show after making a couple of guest appearances on other Food Network programs. The duo sizzled on camera, with a fun and passionate chemistry that appealed to viewers. But after more than 400 episodes and a name change to "Tamales World Tour," they were cut from the network in 2000 when it made a move away from programs considered to be "instructional" shows.



Grillin' And Chillin' (1996)
For many viewers, this series is the first Food Network show they remember seeing on the network. Bobby Flay and Jack McDavid filmed the show on the back lot of the Home Shopping Network in Florida, with a budget of $1,800 an episode. The duo received $200 apiece for each of the 42 episodes they produced in a span of seven days. One of the things that made the show compelling was that it was almost impossible to figure out if Flay and McDavid got along. Sometimes they laughed and seemed to be best friends. Other times, Flay seemed dismissive of McDavid's rural-based persona and corny jokes.



Hot Off The Grill (1999-2000)
From the beginning, the executives at the Food Network believed Bobby Flay was a star. They just weren't sure if he could carry a show by himself. So they created this hybrid talk/dinner party show, which took place in a set that looked like a large living room. A celebrity guest, along with a room full of young, attractive people sat around on couches and chairs while Flay cooked. His co-host was comedienne Jacqui Malouf, who was tasked with keeping the conversation flowing. Flay often looked clunky and uncomfortable, but he also illustrated the charm and drive that made him one of the network's biggest stars.