Something smells fishy at Food Network

Food Network is rolling out a new batch of shows, and they look very . . . familiar. Seems they've been bitten by the copycat bug. Don't believe me? Check these out:

There's a lot of hype for Chopped. Ted Allen's new show looks remarkably similar to Bravo's Top Chef, which -- coincidentally I'm sure -- he helped judge until last year. The premise looks like a mix of Top Chef -- putting up-and-coming chefs in pressure situations -- meets Iron Chef -- where they make a surprise dish. I liked Allen in his Top Chef role, but his first Food Network show, Food Detectives, is overly simplistic and uninteresting. Not to mention a rip-off of equal parts Alton Brown's Good Eats and Discovery Channel's Mythbusters. Well, minus the fun and interesting parts.

Then there's the new Will Work for Food, starring Next Food Network Star (now there's a self-fulfilling prophecy) Adam Gertler. Every week Gertler will go behind the scenes and risk life, limb and dignity at countless food jobs that the average person takes for granted -- from gathering honey from bees to digging a wine cave. Sounds like a great idea and a fun show. Too bad Mike Rowe has already been doing that for years on Discovery's Dirty Jobs.

New York Magazine illustration

Ultimate Recipe Showdown is back for a second season and hey, newest Iron Chef Michael Symon is on the judging panel! Oh wait, no, that's . . . Michael Psilakis. You can understand the confusion though, as Psilakis could be Symon's doppleganger. They're both tall, bald, have hip facial hair, archy eyebrowns, Greek . . . Here's the giveway -- Symon has the soul patch on the front of his chin. Psilakis' soul patch is on the bottom of his chin. It's enough to sucker in viewers who are casual Symon fans who don't know any better. The show, meanwhile, is more or less Top Chef with amateurs.

Come on, Food Network, is this really the best you can do? Pretty sad state of affairs for a once fairly interesting network. I suppose it could be worse -- we could be subjected to 24 hours of all-Guy Fieri.