Posted Aug 18th 2008 12:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, Game Show, Reality-Free
Perhaps it's unfair to prejudge, but I am really, really disappointed in the Food Network. The announcement that they are planning
a new series that involves competitive eating called Eat the Clock sounds like a sell-out.
It sounds like Food Network is following in the footsteps of classy shows like
Hurl and
Fear Factor. I expect better from the network that espouses to be about the best in food and cooking, not how fast you can jam it down your throat.
The same company that's behind
Rachael Ray's Tasty Travels, Pie Town Productions, has cooked up
Eat the Clock. They're comparing it to
The Amazing Race, but with eating contests thrown up -- I mean, in. There will be travel involved, which relates to Rachael's travel show. Maybe they'll have Rachael try her gullet at consuming mass quantities. (Oh wait, that's the Coneheads.)
Continue reading Food Network cooks up competitive eating show
Posted Aug 15th 2008 11:02AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, Programming, Celebrities, Documentary, Reality-Free
Over the last two years Food Network's Alton Brown has taken to America's roads less traveled in the Feasting on Asphalt series in order to find the little known jewels that were left behind as the Interstates began to rule the country. Along the way, Alton and his crew dined on alligator, various pieces of pig that are not normally consumed by the general public, sweet bread sandwiches, and lots and lots of doughnuts. Now, filled with fried dough and cow brains, Alton has decided to get off of his motorcycle and see what other delicacies are out there in warm waters of the Caribbean.
Continue reading Alton Brown jumps off the asphalt and into the water in new series
Posted Aug 14th 2008 6:06PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, Video, Celebrities, Reality-Free
What's more entertaining than seeing acclaimed British chef Gordon Ramsay go ballistic on
Hell's Kitchen contestants and inept restaurant managers? Seeing a 9 year-old Gordon Ramsay go ballistic on inept restaurant managers and his own mom.
That's the gist of these two videos (after the jump) from
Caterer.com, a hospitality job site. The first one shows a little Gordon Ramsay (great hair) getting ticked off at the "anemic" school lunch his mom has packed for him. The second clip shows him out at an anniversary dinner with his parents, where he freaks out on a waitress and her boss when the food doesn't arrive on time, even though the restaurant is completely empty.
I know these were made as promotion for Caterer.com, but they should include them as extras on any Ramsay DVDs and show them on his TV shows as well. He even has
his own web site.
Continue reading The Adventures of Little Gordon Ramsay - VIDEOS
Posted Aug 14th 2008 9:38AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Programming, OpEd, Celebrities
Oh, boy! Another opportunity to watch the rich and famous doing rich-and-famous stuff! Well, you know what? I talk to enough celebs to know that most of them are a lot like us. Only with more money, more problems, and way less privacy.
But I digress ... The object of my thoughts is a new celebreality show from
NBC and Granada America. Each episode of
Celebrity Come Dine With Me (working title, subject to change)
will feature a big star hosting a dinner party for four of their fabulous friends. At the end of the evening, the party will be judged by its presentation, food, and entertainment value.
The show is based on a format owned by Granada and has aired in 16 countries, including the U.K., where it's aired for four seasons since 2005. But most of those shows have featured non-famous contestants. What fun is that? It'd be like eating dinner at your neighbor's house.
Continue reading Dinner with a celeb! Ok, not really, but you can watch it on TV
Posted Aug 12th 2008 5:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Hell's Kitchen
You know why
Rachael Ray is smiling all the time? She's the richest food star in the world. According to the latest
Forbes list of top-earning celebrity chefs, Rachael Ray leads the pack. In fact, of the top 10 names, all but two are TV stars.
Therefore, you better believe that all that exposure on Food Network, Bravo, Travel Channel, Fine Living, BBC America, and Fox -- not to mention syndication and appearances on talk shows and demonstrations on the
Today Show -- makes a big difference.
Continue reading TV stars dominate Forbes's list of top-earning celeb chefs
Posted Aug 7th 2008 9:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Casting
Food Network is either creating a new reality food competition program that sounds remarkably like a miniature version of
Top Chef or this is the biggest coincidence in the world of cable television.
Food Network has put out a
casting notice that calls for professional chefs who are interested in testing their skills in the kitchen against other chefs by having their food judged on taste, creativity and presentation by experts.
They're looking for four contestants; each week one will be eliminated till a winner remains. The winner will then be -- wait for it -- top food maker. No, that part I made up. They're not saying what the winner will be called or even what the best chef will win. The details aren't spelled out in the casting notice.
Continue reading Food Network plotting a Top Chef rip-off
Posted Aug 4th 2008 8:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Casting
Even though
Food Network has had a few hiccups lately especially on The Next Food Network Star, I'm happy to see that the execs still can spot talent when it crosses their path. I watched the finale of
The Next Food Network Star and saw Aaron McCargo Jr. win the title and then caught his new show
Big Daddy's House. He was excellent and far more relaxed and appealing than he was on the competition show.
In fact, in the finale episode, I was more impressed with one of the two contestants that didn't win, Adam Gertler.
Now Food Network is giving Gertler his own show. The program is called
Will Work for Food and it's going to be premiering on September 30 on Food Network.
Continue reading The Next Food Network Star runner up gets a show, too
Posted Aug 3rd 2008 9:02AM by Kristin Sample
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Programming, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals
TLC is adding to their real estate reality slate once again with
Hope for Your Home. The show, hosted by Kristen Kemp Becker (
Property Ladder) will feature families who are trying unsuccessfully to sell their homes. Each half-hour episode will showcase one family facing tough financial circumstances. Kemp Becker will advise the family as to what improvements they can make, a contractor will help them make said improvements, and a real estate agent will come in after and assess the home's value and how quickly it could sell.
While
Hope for Your Home sounds informative (especially for families looking to make cost-efficient changes to their properties), it sounds really boring. I find
Extreme Home Makeover annoying but at least we get a bunch of quirky personalities ("quirky" is probably the most generous adjective I could think of) and we get "extreme" changes to the homes. It's interesting to see how the team does a complete overhaul on the house. This show? I'm not so sure. What do you think?
Hope for Your Home premieres on Saturday August 9th, at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT.
Posted Jul 30th 2008 1:43PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY
A couple of week's ago, I noticed -- and ranted here -- about the
Food Network showing a promo for the penultimate (or nearly penultimate) episode of
The Next Food Network Star which revealed who would be eliminated in the show that I was viewing. It seemed like bad form to me, but some people defended FN and advised me to get a DVR and use it. Just to be clear, I have two and use them extensively. This was a case where I was watching a rebroadcast a day after the airing, commercials and all. My point was that FN should know better than to schedule a promo for that reveals so much about the show you're watching even on a rebroadcast.
Anyway, now it turns out that Food Network has made yet another flub that's spoiled the surprise of
The Next Food Network Star reveal. This one occurred on their web site. D Magazine reported that a week before the finale of the competition reality show, video interviews with the three finalists were broadcast on the web site
and the winner was clearly indicated. In case you have the finale on your DVR and haven't watched it yet,
The Next Food Network Star will be shown after the jump.
Continue reading The Food Network flubs again
Posted Jul 30th 2008 8:02AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, Celebrities
Prickly, acerbic TV chef
Gordon Ramsay has probably racked up his share of enemies. However, I doubt that even he would have guessed that the one that would nearly lead to his demise would be the great and powerful ... uh, puffin. That is exactly what happened however, as Ramsay had a very close call while in Iceland shooting scenes for his British series,
The F Word.
Ramsay was out hunting puffins when he fell into icy water as he was making a 280 foot descent. His crew threw in a line after he failed to surface after 45 seconds. The experience had Ramsay thinking he was a "goner," saying,
"My boots and my waterproofs were dragging me down. I'm an extremely good swimmer, but I couldn't get to the surface. I was panicking and my lungs were filling with water. When I got to the top after getting my boots off I was dazed and my head was totally numb."Continue reading Puffin: 1 Gordon Ramsay: 0
Posted Jul 18th 2008 9:31AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Programming
The Food Network is one of my favorite channels, I admit it. I can tune in just about anytime and enjoy
Ace of Cakes or
Good Eats or
Boy Meets Grill or Paula Deen, whatever. Generally speaking, they seem to have a good, consistent and enjoyable programming package.
Okay, that's what's good about FN. Now for the sour to go with the sweet. Last night I was catching up with
The Next Food Network Star, watching the second showing of the reality competition show because I wasn't able to watch the original broadcast. No big deal, right? Wrong!
Continue reading The Next Food Network flub
Posted Jul 9th 2008 6:00PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Video
The makeover/lifestyle program has a unique niche in the Reality Revolution. Where other reality programs abide by the phrase "Only the Strong Survive," makeover shows are normally an individual or group effort. It comes from the shows themselves, of course, as they are intent in making life just a little bit better for the participants.
It may be redesigning a room in a neighbor's home, making over one's wardrobe, losing weight, controlling one's family or even turning someone from an ugly duckling into a swan. Granted, the hosts of these shows may show a bit of arrogance toward those trying to make a better life for themselves or others, but that just makes those wanting the makeover or lifestyle change even more interesting to the viewer. Plus, it doesn't hurt the star status of the hosts themselves.
The other interesting thing about this genre of reality program is, save for a handful of shows on the five major networks, the bulk of these programs are broadcast over the cable airwaves. Perhaps that's done to counteract some of the more sleazy reality programming that the cable networks produce. Or, maybe it's the fact that many of the channels that cater to the self-improvement set are on cable themselves. Either way, it is a genre that is quite popular and continues to grow year after year.
Continue reading A history of reality television (part six): Makeovers from body to home
Posted Jul 9th 2008 1:01PM by Keith McDuffee
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Industry, American Idol, Site Announcements, Watercooler Talk, Celebreality
Since the early days of TV Squad, we've covered realty programming in some capacity; we published news, episode reviews and commentary on whatever had viewers talking. I think back then we were covering
Survivor, American Idol and perhaps
The Amazing Race. We had a decent balance of reality and non-reality posts, and everyone seemed happy.
As the years went on, that balance shifted. The reality shows we were covering were only increasing in popularity, and more shows came in to ride the wave. As we sat back and watched some of the newer shows break onto the scene with little posting from us, the readers demanded our take. The monstrosity of Reality TV was something we couldn't ignore, so we provided.
Then we reached the breaking point.
Continue reading Reality TV: What it is, who watches it and why it exists
Posted Jul 4th 2008 8:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, Industry
Bravo's top-rated and highly acclaimed reality food show,
Top Chef, has big plans for the fifth season. Like real estate, it's all about location, location, location and
Top Chef has chosen a most unique place, somewhere you might not guess in a game of 20 questions. I'm not going to reveal the place until after the jump, because there may be some of you out there that want to be surprised.
Just to recap,
Top Chef has already spent seasons in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago. They've also had special episodes and finales in Napa Valley, Las Vegas, Hawaii and Aspen and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Traveling to interesting and even exotic locales is part of the fun, giving the contestants a chance to incorporate the regional foods and the style of that part of the world.
Okay, if the suspense is getting to you -- I know it is -- go to the jump and see where season five of
Top Chef is going to be...
Continue reading Top Chef's exciting new location
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 8:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free
According to that journalist without peer, Ted Casablanca -- yeah, I'm sure that's his real name -- Food Network diva and
Emmy-winning talk show hostess Rachael Ray is working on a new project.
No, it's not a new cookbook or anything about food or travel, her two specialties on FN.
Rachael Ray is writing her memoirs, the story of a kid from upstate New York who's made in big on TV.
Rachael, who turns 40 on August 25, has had a meteoric rise on TV, and as I wrote last week, she's one of
five TV stars I think have exceeded expectations. In a very short time, she's become a force with which to be reckoned.
Continue reading What's next for Rachael Ray? Her memoirs
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