Good Eats
Good Eats

Good Eats is a television cooking show created and hosted by Alton Brown that airs in North America on Food Network. Likened to television science educators Mr. Wizard and Bill Nye, Brown explores the science and technique behind the cooking, the history of different foods, and the advantages of different kinds of cooking equipment. The show tends to focus on familiar dishes that can easily be made at home, and also features segments on choosing the right appliances, and getting the most out of inexpensive, multi-purpose tools. Each episode of Good Eats has a distinct theme, which is typically an ingredient or a certain cooking technique, but may also be a more general theme such as Thanksgiving, or "man food".

Good Eats was the third top rated show on Food Network, with 20 million viewers per month. It is the only cooking show besides The French Chef to win a Peabody Award. It ended its 249 episode run as a regular series with 'Use Your Noodle V' on May 2, 2011. Various specials are set to air.

Sections[]

Episodes | Related | Themes | Characters | Guests | Cast & Crew | Recipes | IngredientsTools | Techniques | Terminology | Science | Organizations | Culture | Visual Aids | Locations

Behind the scenes[]

Alton usually comes up with episode ideas while cooking or grocery shopping and writes them down. He researches in the idea in one to four years with his three member culinary department, filling a binder. The goal of each episode is to educate about common but poorly understood food and food science.

Good Eats is shot from 7:30am to 1pm with an half an hour for lunch, then more shooting till 6pm. Scenes are shot out of order, and a lot of lines are ad-libbed. Alton works nights and also edits on the weekends. He doesn't have a typical week except during production. [1] Most of the characters on the show are not played by actors, but by members of the staff. They do their own hair and makeup. The entire staff except for DeAnna has appeared on camera. Twenty props are made per day on average, and most are used within ten minutes of creation.

Alton wrote the first Good Eats episode while working the grill at a restaurant in North Carolina. His wife DeAnna came up with the title. Demo episodes were shot at an Atlanta film company with friends. Alton did not know the right people, and nobody at Food Network would look at it. It took over a year to sell the show. A clip was placed on the Kodak website, where programming executive Matthew Stillman noticed it. Production started in 1999 and the first episode aired.

Crew[]

  • DeAnna Brown ... executive producer/producer (season 1, 2)
  • Dana Popoff ... executive producer
  • Marion Laney ... director of photography/assistant director/lighting director (season 1, 2)
  • Brett Soll ... key production assistant/assistant editor
  • Jim Pace ... production coordinator
  • Anna Krantz ... production assistant
  • Cole Cassell ... production assistant
  • Ramon Engle ... steadicam operator/camera operator (season 1, 2)
  • Michael Clark ... key audio
  • David Traylor ... lighting director/best boy electric (season 1)/electrician (season 2)
  • Marshall Millard ... key grip
  • Mike Cosky ... key grip standby
  • Lester Dragstedt ... key rigging grip/crane operator/grip (season 1, 2)
  • Rick Crank ... best boy electric
  • Todd Bailey ... props master/production designer/props (season 2)
  • Paul Merchant ... second propsman/props assistant
  • Leigh Ann Regan ... second props assistant
  • Mandy Kibler ... key wardrobe/wardrobe designer
  • Katherine Steets ... script supervisor
  • Tamie Cook ... culinary director
  • Vanessa Parker ... kitchen production supervisor/lead food stylist
  • Cynthia Wong ... kitchen production assistant
  • Carmi Adams ... research/administrative assistant
  • Ginger Cassell ... editor
  • Patrick Belden ... audio engineer/sound design (season 1, 2)
  • Walter Biscardi ... animation

Season 1[]

  • Susan Page ... coordinator
  • Rob Robinson ... assistant camera
  • Chris Jones ... second assistant camera
  • Dale Fowler ... electrician
  • Linda Spears ... sound
  • Shirley Libby ... sound
  • John Crow ... production assistant
  • Lori Martin ... food assistant
  • Phyllis Cook ... food assistant
  • Cybil Brown ... food assistant volunteer
  • Kelly Andrews ... craft service
  • Adam Boozer ... graphic artist

Season 1 - 2[]

  • Sarah Burmeister ... executive producer
  • Lisa Rooney ... coordinator
  • Jeff Curtis ... grip
  • Tedd Sapp ... grip
  • Susan Boyles ... script supervisor
  • Tracy D'Alesio ... wardrobe
  • Stephanie Boyd ... food assistant volunteer/food assistant (season 2)
  • Paula Reid ... craft service
  • Larry Krantz ... editor
  • Steve Cox ... editor
  • Joel Brand ... assistant editor
  • Tiffany Parker ... accounting

Season 2[]

  • Bobby Earnhardt ... gaffer/camera operator
  • Stan Fyfe ... electrician
  • Allison Singer ... production assistant
  • Steve Rooney ... chef consultant
  • Sara Salter ... food assistant

References[]

  1. Food Network Chat, September 26, 2010 http://www.foodnetwork.com