Food shows (that have been on TV) that I like:
Iron Chef (the Japanese original), Iron Chef America. An original concept for cooking challenges, and fun.
Masterchef Australia - I liked the fact they also had sessions where they brought the students together and TAUGHT them how to cook, on TV. The US version is a bit annoying overall.
If I think of others, I'll add.
The problem with Chopped is the ingredients they use - the challenge idea itself is good, but they typically have one CRUD item that would never end up in my kitchen, that they have to use. I am glad they tend to be creative with it... but. Just annoys me. Pick three interesting ingredients and make them diverse in origin, but skip the Cheetos, please!
You Tube is my preferred way of watching cooking shows. Mainly because I can drop off to sleep with them in bed, and besides having TV isn't something I really need to have.
Favorites currently are:
My Name Is Andong - He's a German vlogger who records in excellent English, and makes a variety of food, often with the history and techniques behind whatever he's making that day. A little humor, but not so much this turns annoyingly slapstick.
Tasting History - about the only good thing to come out of the COVID situation, he found himself with free time on his hands, and started making (and re-creating) foods from various periods in history, along with historical notes to go along side.
Chinese Cooking Demystified - An expatriate and his Chinese wife, cooking authentic recipes in China, mentioning substitutions westerners might more readily find.
I did watch some of the Bon Appetit videos before they imploded - my favorite chef there was indeed Sohla, as she did a good job explaining why she did what she did. I never much cottoned to Brad Leone - he seemed to enjoy derailing what others were doing, and I was more interested in learning about food than the personalities. (Unlike, from the comments section, most of the other viewers.) I was also not fond of most of the Gourmet Makes (Junk Food) segments although I will give that woman (her name temporarily escapes me) credit for showing her process for the vanishing few interesting recipes she ended up creating. I also always wanted to learn more from Rick, the Mexican chef, but the few very brief tantalizing segments with him were just that.. brief.
I do think personality as expressed on the screen DOES matter for watch-ability, but I dislike it when it overwhelms and supersedes food itself.
EmmyMadeInJapan is an example of a relaxing personality. I don't care for many of her recipes - I do like her Food in Hardship Times series, and I enjoyed her Offal series she did in the past - mainly because in the last case I really enjoy offal. But at night I can fall asleep to her voice, should I need to.
Townsends mostly does early American/Colonial food, with forays over the same approximate time periods to Britain and the western European continent. He also has non-food episodes detailing how life was here in early American colonies and society. But most posts are food and recipes, which he makes wearing period garb and using (as far as possible) period cooking methods and ingredients.
OH, PS, I am editing to add: I like many episodes of Bobby Flay's Throwdown. He can be annoying, but I like that he's gracious when he loses a throwdown, which is frequently. And he does throw (ahem) in an idea or two that may work for a home cook along the way.)
Of course this behaviour is deemed rude by western standards. But I spent a lifetime thinking my chinese grandfather was rude until I went to China, many years after he died, and I finally understood he was very well behaved but only by chinese standards.
