Over the last couple years reality shows have grown to popularity. We have had The Real World, Survivor, Big Brother and many others. Normally I am not too interested (file American Idol and Dancing with the stars in this category) but I have been interested in the cooking variety of reality shows.
From my TV Guide knowledge I believe we have three (correct me if you know of more) to chose from currently. All of which are starting new seasons this summer
The Next Food Network Star
The Next Food Network Star is a reality television series produced by and aired on the Food Network in the United States. The cooking contest pits eight finalists against each other, with the winner being awarded a six-show Food Network series. Season three premiere’s June 3, 2007.
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show airing on the Bravo cable television network in which chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants eliminated each week. The winning chef receives $100,000 in seed money to encourage his or her culinary career and is featured in Food & Wine magazine. Bravo recently announced that a third installment of the series is to be released in the summer of 2007.
Hell’s Kitchen
Hell’s Kitchen is based on the original Hell’s Kitchen, broadcast in the UK on ITV1 in 2004, featuring chef Gordon Ramsay. The first American season aired in the United States on FOX in 2005, while the second season started with two back-to-back episodes on June 12, 2006. The third season of the US version is scheduled to premiere on June 4, 2007.
The first two are great examples of how reality shows can be good family entertainment. The latter is a guilty pleasure, that doesn’t bring much substance. Gordon Ramsay is the epicurean version of Simon Cowell. This show needs less screaming and more cooking in my opinion, but like a train wreck I am drawn to watching it each week.
During a recent trip to Miami, we ran into the last five standing from the first season of Top Chef. At first it was much like a celebrity sighting for my girlfriend and I. However, when we got back to the D.C. area we realized that not many people even knew what the show was? Am I alone in this, are Top Chef and the others just a guilty pleasure that only I enjoy. Is Nielsen lying to me with his (or her) ratings?
So what’s your favorite? Who should have won last year? Does Chef Ramsay just putting us on with all that commotion?
With all this talking of cooking shows you’re probably getting hungry. No better way to figure out what you are eating tonight than Snacksby, see how I did that? All kidding aside, there have been many updates to Snacksby as of late. Check them out, let us know what you think. If you find any issues, please let us know, we don’t want to ruin any meals.
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