I'm being facetious of course, but that Flay guy does not impress me. His on-air persona at least is kind of superior and unapproachable, however skilled and talented a cook he may be.
Alton Brown, on the other hand, is charismatic, likeable, knowledgeable and self-effacing. His show isn't just entertaining, it's educational.
George Duran? Duran's awesome, too. Good sense of humor, sense of culinary adventure.
Sandra Lee? Tits on a stick. Sorry, but she's so very dull and fake to me, I can't watch her. Good recipes, but that's it.
I think people rather overstate Flay's attitude. He's really not a bad guy at all, he's just got a touch of that New York attitude in him. Throwdown, his new show, is a pretty good example of what he's like I think. He challenges all these random people to these cookoffs, and he does talk a little friendly smack, but he's also a very gracious loser, and says himself on countless occasions that his real motivation for the show is just giving the folks he challenges a chance to show off their skills.
And George Duran is good fun too. Apparently they've got him replacing the boring guy who used to host Secret Life Of on Food Network, so I might actually watch that show now.
Mario Batali's a really cool guy too, it's just that you really only see him on Iron Chef anymore, unless you get up at 10am on Monday mornings to watch Molto Mario. Which is a shame, because his show is pretty good, in that you learn a lot about Italy and Italian cuisine, plus he actually gets some surprising guests on the show. One time he had the entire Gyllenhaal family on there, and another time I think he had half the supporting cast of the Sopranos.