How many chef shows can we stomach?

[Food Network Fan]

How many chef shows can we stomach?

March 10, 2009 10:35 PM
Can it really be eight years since NBC gave cable chef Emeril Lagasse his own sitcom? Sure, "Emeril" was a bomb, but at least they rolled the dice. In the time-honored tradition of TV development, somebody took a notion and threw it against the wall to see if it stuck. It didn't. But neither do most new ideas. Now, TV-development types seem to be afraid of new ideas. NBC has all but banished them.
As if to make us yearn for the brazen originality of "Emeril" or even "Knight Rider," NBC offers the 4 millionth variation on the cooking competition series, "The Chopping Block" (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG).
Master chef Marco Pierre White is the star of sorts. We're told that he's a very big deal in Europe and that he was the host of the British version of "Hell's Kitchen." He avoids the profane rage of Gordon Ramsay. Instead, he projects the world-weary concern of an aging professor and sports an unruly hairdo that makes him look like a brooding composer. Seriously, he looks a little like Philip Glass.

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[Pluff Mudder]

I'm planning on watching the first episode tonight, then I'll decide if I'll keep on watching the rest of the series or not.

[BerryBaby]

If he isn't as 'mean spirited and vulgar' I may be able to watch this show. However, American Idol is on tonight and if they are on at the same time, Idol wins.

[Food Network Fan]

Life on Mars is my TV time tonight.

[BerryBaby]

Is that a movie or TV show?

[Pluff Mudder]

If he isn't as 'mean spirited and vulgar' I may be able to watch this show. However, American Idol is on tonight and if they are on at the same time, Idol wins.

He wasn't "mean spirited and vulgar" tonight. He wasn't beeped, but some of the contestants sure were! Compare to Gordon Ramsey, Chef White was a pussycat in the kitchen.

“Originality is only original if you’re first. And I’ve seen nothing original about (Fox’s) ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ ” said the host of the United Kingdom version of that series.

The chaos and fighting on that show and in real-life kitchens, he said, represents a breakdown of discipline.

“I will not tolerate bad language,” he said from London. “I will not tolerate anybody raising their voice unnecessarily.”

‘Hell’ freezes over: Gordon Ramsay’s chef mentor plays it cool in TV kitchen competition - BostonHerald.com