Shark Bytes

This show was like the fall of the Roman Empire 1969...but in a good way!

A bacchanalia of frightfully rich foods, copious amounts of alcohol, and lot's of sexual innuendo, this show took TV cooking to new heights of excess.

Graham Kerr exhibited an almost frat-boy zest for life and all the things that make it great, and he was one of the great pioneers of TV cooking shows.

The show didn't jump the shark when he found God, but when he lost Butter.

i watched graham kerr cooking show with my mother when i was about 12years old it was funny and the show was good. i would like to see him on tv again

Swilling wine like it's water and mincing his way thru every show, he was annoying beyond belief.
He probably died of liver failure!

It really was a ground breaking show.

Graham Kerr was a typical wine-swilling, womanizing, boorish Brit when this show first came on. It was like 'Carry On Cooking,' and he'd occasionally have a verbal 'butt-pinch' for trophy wife Treena. There was an underlying sexual element about the show which attracted female viewers, the majority of the late-sixties daytime audience, when this show was big. Something about gourmet food, intoxicating spirits and rich desserts touched a chord in the 'do-you-own-thing' generation. Then Graham and Treena had a spiritual revelation, which changed their lives. The Galloping Gourmet concept became 'Eat Well and Live Eternally,' which never caught on as well. Like all of us in the sixties, Graham and Treena lost their eternal youth and are now trying to unclogging their arteries, by taking prune juice over beaujolais and rice cakes over Beef Wellington. Its the story of all our lives, which have jumped the shark at one point, or another.

Never jumped, just changed direction. Graham lives up here in Mt. Vernon. Washington. He is a really nice guy and very down-to-earth, very approachable. I have talked with him several times and he is not a typical T.V. snot.

The Galloping Gourmet never jumped the shark. Circumstances in Graham Kerr's life changed - some people get upset because he is a real person and not an actor 'playing' Graham Kerr. He seems happy, sober and can still cook. I also argue that he has not lost his sense of whimsy. Personally, I grew up loving The Galloping Gourmet. As a kid it fascinated me that this eccentric, enthusiastic guy could blast out such cool food...I watched it all the time (growing up in Canada, this was easy). I was glad to see him on air again in later years and I wish him all the best.

The Galloping Gourmet, part of ITV's daytime tv revolution in the early seventies, used to make me laugh. Graham Kerr had a series much later called Graham Kerr which was quite different (ie more restrained) than his old shows. BBC2 recently repeated editions of The Galloping Gourmet but they were very clumsily edited

You can't beat Graham getting drunk as a skunk & setting things on fire! Growing up, we had a spatula with "The Galloping Gourmet" printed on it, & Moms was bummed when she destroyed it in a cooking mishap. Perhaps she followed Graham's example too closely!

The Galloping Gourmet, the show NEVER jumped the shark. Now GG the person (Graham Kerr) sure did...several times. They did a chef week on Biography and he was one of the featured chefs. He grew up in a hotel (his parents ran it) and he often found himself in the kitchen a lot. Thus on to chef school, the army where he served as a cook in New Zealand and eventually settled down for awhile. Ended up with a cooking show in Australia and commuted. Somehow during all this he found time to have an affair. Apologised profusely to his wife and ended up doing a show for the CBC in Canada. This is what we know as the Galloping Gourmet series. The contract was for an incredible 600 or so shows over a 1year period so as entertaining as it was (I was about 10 when I was watching and remember there was only one dish I MIGHT have liked but I WAS only 10 and didn't like a lot of things that I do now) there were signs of burn out. So he took the show on the road and around show 590 had the aforementioned traffic accident. After recovering from that, His wife, Trena, found religion and told him it was up to him whether to find it or not, she would still love him. (What a find she was!) Anyway eventually he did too. He eventually made it back to TV but without an audience, he was pretty dull. Then Trena had a heart attack and needed to cut out the high fat stuff so he created Mini-Max - minimum fat, maximum flavor and did a show on that with an audience. I thought it was quite good, he was the Galloping Gourmet again even without heavy cream and clarified butter. (BTW clarified butter is no mystery. Take 2 (or more) cubes of butter put into a sauce pan and melt over low, lower, lowest heat. Eventually you get the clear oily stuff at the top and the yellowish solids on the bottom. He was using the clear oily stuff.) Also gone was the alcoholic wine but he left that up to the viewer. "4 oz of a dry white wine. This is non alcoholic but that is my choice." So he didn't preach. I feel the Mini-Max version was a reverse jump. So for those of you who put down "He found religion" as a shark jump, THAT had nothing to do with his shows. Graham Kerr, if you are out there, you ROCK and have been influential to me in my kitchen. Thanks. Now if you will excuse me, I think I will have a nip of white wine. Alcoholic but that is MY choice.

This show never really jumped, because it went off the air by the time Graham and Treena found God. It would have jumped had he ever given the recipe for clarified butter.

when the Galloping Gourmet became a recovering alcoholic and started cooking with non-alcoholic beverages.

this show whoops every other cooking shows ass! it's the abfab of cooking. when graham used to tipple from the bottle of wine throughout the show, start fires, and concoct outrageously unhealthy dishes that he'd share with some squealing hausfrau from the audience....classic. i was very little when this show was on initially but when i heard it was on the food network i made sure to catch it a couple times & it didn't disappoint. emeril lagasse should take lessons.

The show Graham Kerr jumped the chair as usual, but missed a tad and spilled his wine...never been done before. He disappeared shortly thereafter, never to be seen for a few years. During those years he found religion and new suspenders.