Good Eats

Good Eats
Created by	Alton Brown
Starring	Alton Brown
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	142 (as of December 1, 2005)
Production
Running time	21 – 23 minutes
Original release
Network	Food Network
Release	July 71999 – Present

Good Eats is a television cooking show created and hosted by Alton Brown that airs in North America on the Food Network. Likened to television science educator Bill Nye, Alton explores the science 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 generic theme such as Thanksgiving, or "man food."

Format

The show has a distinctive visual style involving dutch angles and shots from cameras placed inside and on various items in the kitchen, including the ovens, refrigerator, and microwave oven. In some episodes, Alton and other actors play various characters to tell the story of the food. For example, in the episode "The Big Chili", Alton played a cowboy trying to rustle up the ideal pot of chili. In other episodes Alton is simply himself, but is surrounded by fictional characters such as his eggplant-wielding neighbor Mr. McGregor, or a city councilman that refuses to eat fudge. He also uses various makeshift teaching aids to demonstrate scientific concepts.

Episodes of Good Eats typically begin with an introductory monologue that always either ends with or leads into the phrase "good eats". The show often closes with the phrase as well. For the first several seasons, Brown himself would say the words "good eats". More recently, however, Alton avoids saying "good eats" at the end of the introduction, stopping just short and letting the theme music fill in the phrase.

Incidental music during the show is typically a variation of the show's theme. There are literally dozens of variations of the theme played throughout, crossing all genres of music. New music is composed for each episode by Patrick Belden of Belden Music and Sound.

Cast and Crew

There are several characters that are supposedly part of Brown's family, though most are actors. The most frequently appearing family members are Brown's sister Marsha, played by actress Merrilyn Crouch, and Marsha's son Elton, played by John Herina. Alton is occasionally plagued by his alter-ego brother B. A., who is played by Alton himself.

Steve Rooney was the show's Executive chef in the first seasons, and has had the most varied characters. His more famous appearances include Aunt Verna, Cousin Ray, and the Mad French Chef — a character who continually appears to show Alton his opinion of how cooking should "really" be done.

Playing the character known as "W", Vickie Eng (a chiropractor/actress in Atlanta, Georgia) spoofs James Bond's "Q" as Alton's "Equipment Specialist". Their personalities often grate on each other, but her practical advice keeps Alton coming back. Contrary to popular belief, "W" is not played by Alton's wife, DeAnna Brown. Mrs. Brown has never appeared on an episode. However, she is the show's Executive Producer.

Alton's real-life family has also appeared on the show. His actual mother had a walk-on part, his daughter Zoey has appeared in several episodes, and his late[1] grandmother, "Ma" Mae Skelton, co-hosted the biscuit episode titled "The Dough Also Rises".

Specialists who hold real-life positions commonly appear as themselves to provide Brown with useful information on the topic at hand. Debra Duchon works in the Anthropology Department at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA, and shows up often unexpectedly as Alton's Nutritional Anthropologist, to relate the history and cultural significance of a food item. Shirley Corriher is an author, chef and food scientist, and often joins Alton to explain the chemical reactions of food. And Caroline Connell appeared in the first seasons as nutritionist and dietitian.

Recurring Characters

Fictional

• Marsha Brown- Alton Brown's fictional older sister. Marsha is a constant source of annoyance to Alton, often tricking him in some mysterious way into cooking for her, which usually initiates the topic of some episodes. For instance, in "Circle of Life," Marsha manages to talk Alton into making dozens of doughnuts for her girl scout troop's bake sale, and then also manages to get him to buy them all back. Both Alton and the viewer cannot recall how she does this. She also might be divorced, as Alton mentions, "Having driven away one husband..." In the episode "Behind the Bird," her name is listed as Marsha Brown-Brady. Marsha is played by Marrilyn Crouch.

• Elton Brown- Marsha Brown's son and Alton Brown's fictional nephew. Elton looks strikingly similar to Alton, and he is often featured as Alton's assistant, learning the ways of cooking in the process. Alton treats Elton almost like his own son, despite his and Marsha's constant feuding. Elton is played by John Herina. Note that Mr. Herina also plays a young Alton Brown, such as in the intro to the roulade-centered episode "Fit to be Tied".

• B.A. Brown- Alton Brown's evil twin of sorts. Alton uses camera techniques to put himself on one side of the screen and his brother (played by Alton, as he has no twin in reality) on the other. B.A. Brown is often used in a manner similar to Goofus and Gallant to compare Alton's cooking techniques to B.A.'s techniques, which often fail or are inferior to Alton's. In "American Pickle", however, B.A. contrasts Alton's sweet pickled fruit with a recipe for extremely hot "Firecracker" carrots.

• Cousin Ray- Alton Brown's fictitious cousin, who seems to be a bit of a redneck. Ray also appears to be either a con man or simply uneducated when it comes to food. In "Crustacean Nation," Ray claims that the shrimp that he is selling are turning pink because they are happy to see Alton, when actually they were cooking in their shells due to the heat, as Alton explains. Steve Rooney plays Cousin Ray, as well as Aunt Verna who is seen at Alton's Thanksgiving dinner and looks strikingly similar to Ray.

• "W"- In a play off the James Bond films, "W" is Alton's provider of kitchen gadgetry. Both of them seem to hold a grudge against one another, "W" finding Alton and his ways quite annoying. Alton realizes this, and intentionally fools with gadgets to get a rise out of her. Even so, she is the most reliable source for Alton and knows everything about kitchen appliances, from the practicality and usefulness right down to the wattage used. She is played by Vicki Eng, and is accompanied by a distinct theme that sounds similar to those heard in James Bond movies. Eng's character's full name is revealed as "Vicki Wong" in one episode.

• Thing- Named after Thing from The Addams Family, Thing is a hand that appears from random locations to hand Alton ingredients, who then replies, "Thank you Thing."

• Paul the Intern- Named after the man who plays him, Paul Merchant, Paul acts as Alton's assistant from time to time. He also takes on other roles, but most of the time he plays himself. Paul is generally incompetent and seems to stress out over food related issues quite often. Alton relies on him often, but usually because he is the only one available.

• The Mad French Chef- Alton's worst nemesis, the Mad French Chef appears often to berate Alton's cooking and show him the proper (often French) way of doing things. He can be defined as the sterotypical French chef, who berates all forms of cooking not following the French ways. Throughout episodes, the Mad French Chef seems to become more angry, as his title in different episodes changes to "Really Mad French Chef," and beyond. Played by Steve Rooney, who also plays a number of occurring and non-occurring fictional characters on the show.

• Cocoa Carl- Another nemesis of Alton, Carl is the symbol for the conglomerate chocolate manufactuerers like Hershey and their chocolate syrup. He is often seen peddling his products to people on the streets and does his best to force them down people's throats. Alton eventually walks by and becomes fed up with Carl's inferior products and then sets out to produce homemade versions of his own. Usually by the end of the episode, Carl ends up in jail for his ways, which Alton reads from a newspaper or on television. One of the many characters Steve Rooney plays on the show.

• Lactose Man- While appearing to be a superhero, he is in fact a nemesis to Alton Brown who, like many people, is lactose intolerant. Lactose Man usually appears in dairy product-based episodes. A variation of the Lactose Man character, Lever Man (albeit in the same costume,) appeared in the episode Shell Game, which is dedicated to oysters.

• "USDA Agents"- Characters pretend to be USDA agents and often claim that the food doesn't meet USDA standards. Sometimes, Alton's evil twin (mentioned earlier) acts as a single USDA agent; other times, they are often a group of three, two men and one woman (played by seemingly random people, most likely members of the production crew).

• Stuffing is evil sign- Whenever Alton mentions the word "stuffing", someone holds up a sign that says: "STUFFING IS EVIL". This is in reference to the Thanksgiving special, wherein Alton denigrated stuffing as increasing cooking time, being a harbinger of food poisoning, and not being good eats. However, he later recanted in Season 8 and agreed that stuffing, when done properly, is, in fact, good eats.

Real

• Shirley Corriher- Shirley often appears on Good Eats as an aid to Alton, and plays herself to explain the scientific processes behind cooking. She is the author of CookWise, the Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking, which won the 1998 James Beard Award for Food Reference and Technique. Whereas Alton tends to use comedy around the other experts, particularly Nutritional Anthropologist Deborah Duchon, he seems to hold back when speaking with Shirley, which may mean he holds respect for her as an established food scientist.

• Deborah Duchon- A real anthropologist at the Department of Antropology and Geography at Georgia State University, she often appears on the show when Alton is exploring the history of a topic. Duchon tends to appear out of nowhere, leading Alton to almost predict her presence as soon as he mentions "nutritional antropologist". She is probably the most featured expert on Good Eats, appearing in many episodes since part of the show is normally dedicated to exploring the history of a food. Generally, Alton ends his scenes with Duchon by asking her, "how do you like your (food of the day)?"

• Caroline Connell- Caroline serves as a nutritionist and dietitian. Experts like her tend to appear on episodes where Alton features a food that has positive health effects, and uses nutritionist's data as evidence. She appears many times in the first seasons, but now it seems that Alton retrieves his information from many specialists that only come on the show once or twice.

Alton also plays other roles from time to time, which usually consist of him explaining something close to the camera while another Alton performs the information that is being presented behind him (similar to the technique used to present B.A. Brown). At the same time, he also acts out alone or with others on camera while providing a narrative quite often (to re-enact such topics as cavemen discovering cooking techniques). There are also scenes where Alton talks to a character played by himself, cutting away to the other after each one has said their line. This is mostly used when Alton talks about government regulation on foods, where he and usually two other USDA agents quarrel with the real Alton over the USDA grades and regulations placed on meats and dairy products.

History

The pilot for Good Eats first aired on the Chicago, Illinois PBS affiliate WTTW in July 1998. The show was picked up in July 1999 by the Food Network, which now owns exclusive rights to the show. As of 2006, new episodes continue to air on that network. Currently, the show airs at 10:00 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday nights.

Trivia

• In seasons 1 through 4, the episodes were shot in an actual home kitchen in the Atlanta, Georgia area, though the home was not Brown's.

• In season 5, filming moved to the new home of the show's Line Producer (Dana Popoff) and Director of Photography (Marion Laney), in which they built a much larger and more versatile kitchen for filming. A 7-foot section of the island was built for the show and placed on wheels, so it can be moved (or removed) for various shots, and a 12-square-foot grid of pipe was hung from the ceiling, for easier placement of cameras and microphones. The house was featured in a Home Magazine article in February of 2003.

• Starting with season 7, the show moved yet again, this time to an exact replica of the previous kitchen and surrounding areas of the home, built on a sound stage. The stove top and the sink are the only functioning pieces in this kitchen. Many of the other appliances have even had part of their backs removed, so shots of Alton can be taken from inside cabinets, ovens, and refrigerators. This change was generally not known until the house used in season 5-6 was put on EBay for sale. It was then revealed that they had moved. It is generally thought that in the "Q" episode on Barbeque that was filmed in Alton's Airstream trailer, when Alton says that they are "building the set for Good Eats: The Movie" this is in reailty a reference to the new house set. The set was not officially unveiled on the show as a set until the Avocado Experiment show.

• Alton starred in Food Network's "All Star Kitchen Makeover" specials, a series which premiered in August of 2005 and included other Food Network chefs Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen, and Bobby Flay. The winner of the kitchen Alton was to design later went on to play one of the three federal USDA agents seen in "Churn Baby Churn, 2."

• Good Eats is also a small chain of restaurants in Dallas, Houston, and Denton, TX, specializing in southwestern cuisine. It is unaffiliated with the television show.

External links

• Food Network: Good Eats
• Alton Brown's Official Site
• Good Eats at IMDb
• Good Eats Fan Page: Contains extensive info about the show
• Home Magazine article featuring the home used in seasons 5 and 6