Food Network is not particularly known for its innovation. Iron Chef America is a version of Japan’s Iron Chef. Jeff Corwin has a show that directly echoes Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods. Meanwhile, Will Work for Food is essentially Dirty Jobs with a more annoying, somehow whiter host with food-related jobs. Now we have Chopped, which is meant to combat Bravo’s Top Chef by condensing the show into a rotating cast of chefs and judges. It’s terrifying in its sameness, and adds up to zero tension, zero gravitas and zero fun.
Premise: Four chefs of varying backgrounds (head, sous, nutritionist, amateur) battle..to not…get chopped. They create a 3-course meal, and after every course someone get eliminated. For every 30 minute round, disparate foods and food products are placed in a basket, and the chefs are asked to incorporate all of the items into the course. The judges then decide whose is terrible and who isn’t. Whoever doesn’t get chopped wins a smooth 10,000 dollars. Did you notice how long it took me to explain the premise. It takes them twice as long to do it on the show. Woof.
Tagline: “You have been chopped.” Ugh. UGH. At least we don’t get bad punnery with Top Chef.
Ted Allen as host: Sorry, I don’t buy it. For some reason, he comes off as…well…strange. While trying to inject some kind of tension into the show, his voice takes on a stern, automaton-like rhythm. He falls prey to the Food Network Syndrome championing wholesome over interesting. Sad thing is, I used to really like him on Top Chef and QEFTSG (don’t make me break down that acronym).
Judges: This is where Top Chef and Chopped begin to differ. For every single episode of Chopped, there is a new panel of celebrity chef judges. The episode I watched featured chef/internet talking head/Top Chef guest judge Scott Conant, chef Amanda Freitag, and NYC chef Geoffrey Zakarian. Not a bad cast of characters whatsoever (although I could do without the “I’m listening to myself speak on TV” Conant), but the fact that they are immediately rotated out after this show is disappointing. Who am I supposed to get to know? The only thing that draws one to competition-based reality TV are the relationships between viewer and cast. You’re with these people for weeks, and you feel their pain/experience the joy vicariously. How else could anyone explain this behavior?
Contestants: This is the kind of show that makes me wonder how many times the show will reference itself. How many times will a contestant turn to the camera and say, “Only 30 minutes? This is impossible!” We know it’s impossible, hence the “challenge” set-up. Couldn’t the producers/editors find anything compelling? I heard this twice last night: “I don’t want to be chopped!” We know, that’s the whole point of the show. Like the judges, there is little to no connection to these contestants. You get to know them and *BOOM* they get CHOPPED. POW!!! Say goodbye, guy who couldn’t find a way to incorporate bananas with bacon and wontons. Boo yah guy who put salt in a plum cake instead of sugar (WTF?!)! Without any kind of formed relationships, this show is just an exercise in sucker-punching.
Baffling Network Incest: When watching my episode of Chopped, I noticed that one of the contestants was Einat Admony. Which is strange. Because she was featured on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown recently. Why is she suddenly back in a contest for 10,000 dollars? She beat Flay in a Throwdown, so isn’t it a given that she’ll murder her opponents and win the money? Sounds fishy to me.
Music: Definitely stock material, can’t hold a candle to Top Chef’s drum n’ bass bubble. Not to say they don’t try to emulate (or even directly copy) the style though. Any reality competition show on Bravo uses cymbal and percussion strikes to enhance tension. Once again, Food Network cribs those very flourishes. Not. Cool.
The Verdict: F is for FAIL. The show’s utter lack of originality hurts it. Making the contestants stand in the back room while the judges confer is just embarrassing. It follows Top Chef’s formula shot-for-shot at times, and makes me wonder what Food Network’s future holds. I’ll watch Ace of Cakes and Alton Brown material, but most of their new programming comes off as cloying or a direct rip-off. It’s been a strange chain: Jacques Pepin and Julia Child begat the Food Network. The Food Network begat Bravo’s and Travel Channel’s food shows, and now…well, we have Chopped and Ultimate Recipe Showdown. Chopped just doesn’t measure up. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Chopped is the margerine to Top Chef’s butter. Alright, that’s about as much terrible retributive word play I can dole out on a given day.
19 responses so far ↓
1 怎么理解:Please provide the following information? » Blog Archive » Top Chef Open Thread // Feb 19, 2009 at 8:31 am
[...] It’s terrifying in its sameness, and adds up to zero tension, zero gravitas and zero fun. Read More|||Top Chef: New York becomes Top Chef: New Orleans, and the Big Easy is a lot more difficult than [...]
2 Baking and Mistaking // Feb 19, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Ok, I’ll admit, chopped is a pretty bad show.
However, Top Chef is a lot closer in nature to Next Food Network Star, which, premiered before Top Chef did. So who’s ripping off who now?
3 Cary // Feb 19, 2009 at 7:01 pm
As I said, it’s a confusing chain. Although I did present the fact that Food Network used the template set by Julia Child/Jacques Pepin, which Bravo in turn perfected. What was I talking about again?
Oh yeah, Chopped is terrible.
4 Alex // Mar 7, 2009 at 1:13 am
Chopped is a terrible show. I’ve watched several episodes and really tried to give it a chance, but Bravo’s Top Chef is far more entertaining. Top Chef has better editing, photography, and directing. It feels like a high quality production. Chopped, on the other hand, feels like a lower budget, hastily produced show that has terrible scripts and an overall week concept. How many times do we need to hear the instructions? How many times to we need to see Ted Allen’s terrible performance? Chopped is almost as annoying as Iron Chef America and Bobby Flay.
Food Network needs something new and innovative in order to survive. Maybe Alton Brown should go over to Bravo.
5 Alex // Mar 7, 2009 at 1:15 am
Er.. “weak” concept.
6 Your page is now on StumbleUpon! // Mar 10, 2009 at 11:43 am
7 Angel Elf // Mar 11, 2009 at 2:25 am
Ted Allen is dull as dishwater and his monotone delivery sounds like a robot on Valium. Judge Alex Guarnaschelli is a total bitch with a piss poor attitude. I’ve eaten in her East Village spot and the food is nothing to write home about. Notice how her show The Cooking Loft is no longer on Food Network.
8 Barbara // Mar 11, 2009 at 11:36 am
I’ve watched several episodes of Chopped! and though I agree with the idea that the show doesn’t have enough substance to make a viewer attached to the cooks, I’m surprised so little has been said about the judges. The judges, in my estimation, are simply awful in their analysis and appraisal of the food put in front of them. Amanda Freitag, especially, constantly makes faces about the food she is tasting and seems to have something against too much “spice” in every food imaginable. A reality food show, and especially a reality competition food show, is held together by the judges themselves. We love Top Chef because not only do we learn about the contestants, but we learn about the judges. Who are these judges on Chopped! anyway? They watch cooks struggle to put together a decent meal in 20 to 30 minutes and then they sit there in an imperious, haughty (I am god’s gift to cooking) way and make snide comments about plating – as if, AS IF, they could do better in 20 minutes themselves. This is the part that I find unbelievable and in many ways a real letdown about this show. Like the viewers, the judges don’t really know the chefs/cooks that they’re watching. I guess we’re supposed to see this as all about the food – but would the judges put themselves out there and say “hey, don’t think about me, think only about my food” – probably not. Something in this show needs to be developed so that viewers invest their interest in the show. And that “something” could be the judges – bring back the same judges (or at least two of the same) consistently over the course of the show and then at the very least we could hate them with real gusto – instead of just sheer annoyance.
9 Donna // Mar 13, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I gave this show a chance in the beginning, but stopped watching it after the episode where the contestant DROPPED THE FOOD ON THE FLOOR and then served it to the judges — and the judges knew and let him continue! Totally disgusting! I won’t be tuning in again.
10 CJS // May 6, 2009 at 1:40 am
Maybe if they replace judges Amanda and Alex, will give this show another shot. Also was “floored” they let the guy who dropped the food continue. Not pleasant to watch; finally gave up.
11 Michelle Almager // May 12, 2009 at 3:57 pm
wth is chopped?
12 hugh // May 27, 2009 at 1:55 am
The show is ok. I do not care for the host much, but the judging really sets me off. The judges are very cultural incompetent when it comes to food. They always eliminate contestants who are proud of their ethnic cuisines and try to present to them. They also let contestants with nasty-looking food to win the show. How bizzare.
13 Joe // Jul 16, 2009 at 4:21 am
this show has a good concept but the judges are just so miserable and awful. i mean alex “whatever that bitch’s last name is” is sexist, rude, and just a major debbie downer. that other douchebag “rock star” chef who i cant remember his name is a pompous jerkoff. ted allen has a dick up his ass (which he probably likes). i mean the show just tries too hard to be good like the way they try to make it dramatic when they find a piece of shell or something in their food (queue scary music). lame
14 Greg // Aug 10, 2009 at 4:18 am
Y0u would watch Ace of Cakes? Why? Is there a more fraudulent food show on TV? It’s not a cooking show! It’s all about marzapan sculting … so what? We know nothing about the cakes … indeed, we don’t know if they cakes are purchased from somewhere else! We certainly have no indication what they taste like.
15 Dawit Haile // Aug 12, 2009 at 1:56 am
Dear Choppers,
I am tired of watching the judges bias over the contestants. I do not need to give specific examples how your judging skills is unfair towards foreigners or non-whites. You guys can roll the tapes back- but the were times clearly the lady judge (which I can’t stand her) favorites this dude who didn’t respect the time to finish his dish not once, not twice but three times- If you present your dish unfinished, you are chopped. Period. You are supposed to judge the food not the race or ethnicity.
16 Scott // Sep 7, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Just watched the episode where Alex “whatever her name is” found a hair in the contestant’s crepe dish. What do they expect when no one wears head covering. I’ve worked for 20 years in the food industry and I always wear a cap. The judges suck! All to busy greeting their celebrity guests or judging the hard work of others while forgetting where they came from.
17 Spike // Sep 14, 2009 at 1:25 am
Alex Guarnaschelli. What a total incompetent self centered person (polite). I would like to see this total fake earn a living from square one rather than relying on her parents. Her knowledge of food is so meagre it leaves me stunned.
18 KPW // Sep 30, 2009 at 12:38 am
i love the look on the judges faces when a contestant runs out of time or makes any other “mistake”. you would have thought someone just killed their kid!
19 CaddieO // Oct 11, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Amanda Freibitch on Iron Chef? Rude to contestants on Chopped (nice face Amanda), how would she treat a unhappy patron in one of her poorly run establishments…I spoon full of sugar, goes a long way, and she’s not that good, just has a food network contract in place,
Has no business being on Iron Chef…..Please
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