Food Network's 'Chopped': TiVo worthy?

 

It's a TV cooking competition with a knife for a logo. A celebrity host. Guest judges. Mystery ingredients. A sleek industrialized kitchen. Men and women in chef's jackets racing to plate their dishes. A cash prize for the winner. And, of course, a somber parting line for those who didn't make the cut: "You've been chopped."

What? You were expecting "Please pack your knives and go"?

Long before "Chopped" premiered Tuesday night on Food Network, the blogosphere had summarily labeled it a ripoff of Bravo's Emmy-winning TV show and pop culture phenomenon, "Top Chef." Exhibit A? Ted Allen, a popular guest judge on "Top Chef," is the host of "Chopped."

In fact, viewers who give "Chopped" a chance may be pleasantly surprised to find that its stripped-down style relates to the everyday cook in a way that other cooking competitions don't.

Read more here.

Photo credit: Food Network

Comments

[John]

Hmm.. lets see. 4 chefs from New York in the opening show. Way to go outside of your comfort level food network. No thanks.

[p]

Love to cook, love Top Chef, Iron Chef, and mostly all cooking shows... I couldn't stomach Chopped to be honest. It was a total letdown. I thought Ted Allen was really flat and the judges were bland...sadly it just lacked flavor all the way across the board.

[Jim Kosmicki]

The first episode actually reminded me more of the british show Masterchef -- BBC America ran one season of this a few years back, but hasn't kept up with the others. if the winning chef was carried over into a "championship" round, it would be even more like Masterchef.

But having said even that, it was a decent variation on the cooking challenge show. At least it is about the cooking, and not the personal stories/soap opera of a long-term competition show like Hell's Kitchen or Top Chef.

[bumbahead]

Chopped has in one episode sent out a urinary track infection thru the tv spectrum to anyone silly enough believe that any show will match Top Chef.
Ted should give this up. His media/speaking coach should be fired, tied to spit and roasted for the last episode, which by the way should've been it's premiere. Ted sounds like a Japanese guy dubbing an American movie for a Burmese audience.
I give this a big Hoofa Toofa.

[Michelin Man]

This show has gotten much better as it progresses. It is not an attempt to be top chef - totally different format. they give the chef's crazy ingredient combinations, which is actually interesting. it is very "real world", and a fun concept.

[wingsabre]

The sucks. The chefs wouldn't even qualify on Top Chef. The pantry's poorly stocked, they need a producer like Lee Anne Wong on their staff to actually prepare a proper pantry. This is a cheap knock off of Top Chef's Quickfire. It's essentially 3 quickfires with the bottom chef eliminated. Instead of rewarding a winner, for the most part it's just who sucks less.

I'm ok with some of the guest judges, and their snark. It seems like that's the only entertaining value of the show. Ted Allen is essentially stiff and useless, especially compared to his previous role on Top Chef. This is a step back for him, and he should seriously talk to his agent about quitting this show because his credibility is waning as each episode airs.

Some of the ingredients are not hard to work with, some of them are, but seriously, they go out of their way to create combination that would be hard to fine in the real world. I would think that they'd at least give them a good pantry, but instead they limit their ingredients and sometimes takes away a necessary ingredient like sugar to make it extra hard for the chefs. It's very obvious that the winners are not the best chefs but instead the ones that are the least bad. Top Chef on the other hand rewards chefs for good food, this show does not.

[Lo chef]

I find Chopped very bland for a cooking challenge show. The judges are not interesting and commentary is petty. Ted Allen sounds robotic and as boring as the challenges themselves. Overall, I give it a 1 out of 4 stars and definitely not TiVo worthy.

[xxxx xxxx]

Chopped has too many negatives to be called a successful show. First, the ingredients are ridiculous. Who could do anything with gummy bears with any food ingredient? To top it off, they limit what is stocked in the pantry. Secondly is the judges. One in particular. Alex Guarnishelly is a nasty, condescending judge. Is she getting back from all those years she was judged in contests on Food Network? I'd like to see her get up there and cook with those ridiculous ingredients and in that amount of time. She is the reason I won't watch the show. I don't mind Ted Allen, although he is kind of robotic. I just can't watch this show.

[Konditor]

Agree with above comments. Ridiculous ingredients, and even when the contestants do miracles with these, the judges act like the flaws in the final dish are the chef's fault. Like, "The salsify harissa salad was an interesting texture, but the gummy bear vinaigrette was lumpy and cloying." Duh. The whole thing is a practical joke on the contestants, played like a straight test of cooking skill.

But I am so tired of cooking competition shows, of any caliber. Why must everything be turned into a sporting competition? Why does this boring trend in television gain universal, unquestioning acceptance? Can't the sports people get their jollies with bats and balls, and leave food (and foreign vacations, shared living arrangements, and losing weight, etc. ad infinitum) alone?