The Food Network

[hushhush]

Did anybody else watch that Holiday Baking Championship showdown show? I got sucked into it because my mother wanted to watch it when I was home at Thanksgiving. Bill the grouchy pastry chef from Atlanta wuz robbed. Jus' sayin'.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

I only caught bits and pieces of the show, but it did seem like Bill was by far the better baker. The girl who won had a cute gingerbread display. But if I have to choose between visual appeal and taste, I'm going with taste.

[hushhush]

Exactly! All three judges bitched about the taste of her baked goods. The British judge said the scone sucked and the Nancy Dutch farmhouse lady complained about rind getting into the lime zest in one of the cookies and making them taste like soap. I mean WTF?! It was holiday baking not holiday quirky decorating. I don't know why an unfair result on a FN show should come as a surprise anymore because it happens so often, but there ya go.

[Mutagen]

I am addicted to Chopped, I will admit it. But I just CANNOT with the emphasis on the contestants' personal tragedies sometimes. Especially when the transitions are so incredibly awkward, i.e., "My whole family died horrible deaths and I'm a recovering drug addict... so I made a deconstructed Caesar salad for you today." I know a lot of it is editing, but man, it is so awkward sometimes.

[chonies]

OMG. OMG. YES. That's us when we watch Chopped. And I don't even know if it's editing--the judges seem to solicit the information, although in a bored, "Christ, what now?" way.

[Mutagen]

Honestly, sometimes it is so cringeworthy I have to mute the TV until they're talking about the food again. To me it also sometimes crosses into borderline hilarious territory when the competitor shares something horrifically tragic and then the judges are all "That's an amazing story. Unfortunately... your chicken is raw."

Sometimes the human interest side of things is effective (there was an episode with all chefs from New Orleans that I liked) but when it goes wrong, it goes soooo wrong.

[chonies]

Yes! The New Orleans episode was really good, especially with Miss Linda and the Yakamein. I thought that was an incident where everyone spoke well about their personal lives, but, at the risk of stereotyping, most of the competitors on that show were older and were able to talk about their businesses with more of a long view. I think the worst offenders are the younger, freshly whelped from culinary school contestants who have a lot to prove. The older ones are usually more chill.

Now I want to conduct a study on the matter.

[Mutagen]

I loved Miss Linda! I thought she was very sweet with the other guy, her competitor in the dessert round. I think with the New Orleans episode, it was at least a little more natural for the competitors to talk about their backgrounds because that was the theme of the episode.

I haven't paid attention to younger/older, but I have started to notice that sometimes whoever gets the tale of woe treatment in the appetizer round is the one who gets chopped -- like the show is trying to give that person the spotlight before sending them on their way. Not always, of course.

Over on Previously TV there's a lot of hate for the judges, but there honestly aren't any I truly dislike. Some I like better than others, certainly, but I never look at a judging panel and go OH GREAT, THIS PERSON.

[Deleted]

And every female contestant has to say at sometime that she's used to being the only female in the kitchen and she's not intimidated by men.

It seems like every episode lately had been a gimmick. All sandwiches or pizzas or grandmas etc. I can't remember the last time they've had just a regular episode of Chopped. Some of the special episodes are fine but they are getting a little ridiculous. The premise of Chopped is gimmicky enough that they don't need to have an all twins or all food found in the garbage episodes all the time.

[chonies]

I liked the leftover episode, especially because it seems like it would be a big deal in the food industry. I instantly hated the guy who said he doesn't do leftovers. But otherwise, I agree. I want to see a three course show, and I don't need couples or twins or anything, although I do sort of like the episodes where everyone is from the same town. I also liked the one where everyone was a cafeteria worker.