Finally got around to reading the thread start to finish. Was curious how the thread was going to evolve after what seemed to be a barrage of one line posts saying the same thing over and over. Was also curious why this 6yr old thread was brought alive again.

Kudos to ksandness and missydarlin for describing who his target audience is and what to realistically expect from his info.

Personally, I generally like Rick Steves' and his travel resources. We had the opportunity twice to meet & hear him talk in Vancouver and he seems to be like you'd expect him to be from his tv shows: friendly, nerdy, etc. He gets a bit too preachy on stuff which I suppose can help make you like him more or hate him. I just generally like his travel philosophy of exploring, meeting people, and experiencing different cultures. Some of his info is really basic but I think it serves as a good base for initial trip planning on which to build additional research.

TV Shows
I like his shows as they are what got me to check out his books in the first place. Again, the shows are pretty simple but they have to be to appeal to the demographic that watches PBS . The shows aren't supposed to be as detailed as "rocket surgery" but more to give an easy sampling of what Europe has to offer.

Books
I've used his books three out of my five trips to Europe and have also used Frommers and Lonely Planet. I just like the writing style & familiarity in his books as well as finding them entertaining. There's seems to be more consistency in his books' writing styles (even though it's a collaborative effort) than other travel books "brands" that have different writers per region.
The drawings/maps are simplistic but I agree with his philosophy that for a guide book you just need something basic that will get you in the right direction and for the more complex routes, you're better off buying a local map or something. The historical info in the books may not be exactly accurate but personally, I just want the general gist of things and to be entertained. YMMV.
You can't rely on travel books being completely up to date because of the time it takes to research and put it to press. But at least he goes to Europe yearly, has his tours/guides network that can assist with the research, and publishes an updated edition every year.
I don't rely solely on his hotel and restaurant recommendations unless in a last minute bind. Some of his restaurant recommendations we've been to have been dogs IMO. (You got to suspect hotels and restaurants up it a notch when they know he or his tours are around to ensure they get a decent review in his books.) We'll use his hotel and restaurant recommendations for initial research but will cross reference recommendations with other sources to compile a list of options before leaving.

Tours
I haven't fully researched or have been on a Rick Steves' tours so I can't really say how good a value they are. But, during his "mini commercials" at his lectures, he tried to justify his tour costs based on him paying his guides decent wages (you don't have to tip them) and his tour sizes are smaller.
Comparatively, I've only been on a guided tour once in my life (to Beijing). The base cost was flipping cheap. But we had to stop for an hour each at multiple tourist traps so the guides could get kickbacks from people buying crap (and subsidizing our trip ). Plus, we had to tip the guides at the end.