Chopped and Will Work For Food

[Jenise]

I was up in the middle of the night the other day and watched an episode of a program called Chopped on the Food Network, hoping it would put me to sleep. I presume it's not a new show if it's airing at 3 a.m., but I hadn't heard of it before. It features Ted Allen who is often a judge on Iron Chef hosting what is kind of a hybrid of Iron Chef and that old Ready Set Cook show. Four chefs are given baskets of the same ingredients and given 30 minutes to prepare an appetizer. Three judges taste the results, and one chef gets 'chopped'. The remaining three make an entree, another gets chopped, then two do desserts and the winner of that contest gets $10,000. Not exactly nail-biting entertainment, but not bad for killing time in the middle of the night.

What followed was an episode of the new show Will Work For Food by that guy who some thought should have won the Next Food Network Star. His show is actually a food-related version of that show on the Discovery Channel where the host spends a day doing some really awful job. On this one, he went lobster trapping (surprisingly to me, it's just about identical to the crabbing we do here) and bee keeping. His personality's a good fit for the show, though it lacks the testosterone-based wisecracking and double-entendres that makes its Discovery Channel forebear so much fun.

Hey Jenise,

I actually taped the first episode of Chopped and watched it yesterday. I believe it is a new series. ITA, I thought it was almost identical to Ready Set Cook. I enjoyed it. I have seen the ads for Will Work for Food, but didn't TiVo it...but I think I will now. Looks interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

Hope you and your husband have recovered, and you weren't up because you were sick again!

Ooh, I would probably like that since I used to enjoy Ready, Set, Cook when it was on. I'm going to set my DVR right now.

These sound surprisingly good for FN shows these days. I love Dirty Jobs, so I guess I ought to check out Will Work For Food.

These sound surprisingly good for FN shows these days. I love Dirty Jobs, so I guess I ought to check out Will Work For Food.

I really liked Dirty Jobs for a couple of seasons. For some reason he began to fade on me.

I've come around to the notion that there should be term limits on television shows - two years or six years, depending on the writing staff.

[Jenise]

Ooh, I would probably like that since I used to enjoy Ready, Set, Cook when it was on. I'm going to set my DVR right now.

I think you'll enjoy this. The good part is that the ingredients, at least on the episode I watched, were not dead easy/intuitive combinations so it was actually interesting to see what they were able to make with them.

[Jenise]

I've come around to the notion that there should be term limits on television shows - two years or six years, depending on the writing staff.

Except for Johnny Carson. He never got 'old', not in the way you mean.

I set the DVR to record the series Chopped, so now have a bunch of them. I've watched three or four of them and actually really like it. Sort of a poor man's Top Chef with near instant gratification (since you only have to watch an hour--less without the commercials!--to find out who ultimately wins.)

One of the things I like about it is it shows a lot more of the prep and cooking process than Top Chef and I also enjoy the judges running commentary as they watch the chefs prepare. Such as "Ooh, he does a lot of "double dipping"--that's inappropriate." Or, "Wow, it doesn't seem like she cooked that long enough."

I'm not at all a fan of Ted Allen's overly dramatic delivery though. He needs to relax a little. For me, it detracts from the show.

Of the two we prefer Will Word for Food. Actually should say I prefer it. Other half likes both.

Just heard about Chopped about 2 weeks ago. Never heard of Will work for Food. Will look for an episode of both. Thx for the heads up.

Came across Chopped tonight flipping channels and stayed for the first two courses. Interesting-ish, but thought it lacked the spark of similar shows and I also didn't like Ted Allen's over-dramatic presentation that made him look and sound like a pompous petty tyrant. The judges appeared to be nit-picking for the sake of it, perhaps infected with the Simon Cowell syndrome.
Wonder if this will get past one season.

Chopped sounds like something I would like to watch but unfortunately I can't stand Ted Allen. I tried watching his other show (I cannot recall the name of it but it revolves around proving/disproving food myths) and there is something about him that really annoys me. I supose I am not alone in thinking this otherwise the show would not be airing at 3:00 AM.

I want the Will Work for Food job! Can't we get a woman in that role????
I would try anything. I swear.

I think.
b

[Jenise]

I want the Will Work for Food job! Can't we get a woman in that role????

Me too! Food TV programming is amazingly chauvinistic, isn't it? Every time I turn it on, it seems to be another diner/dive/roadie program oriented to the male audience. When they create shows for women, we get Sandra Lee. YUCK.

You gals have Bobby Flay. What more could you ask for?

[Jenise]

One of the things I like about it is it shows a lot more of the prep and cooking process than Top Chef and I also enjoy the judges running commentary as they watch the chefs prepare. Such as "Ooh, he does a lot of "double dipping"--that's inappropriate." Or, "Wow, it doesn't seem like she cooked that long enough."

I'm not at all a fan of Ted Allen's overly dramatic delivery though. He needs to relax a little. For me, it detracts from the show.

Since posting this thread, I've seen a second episode and pretty much agree with what you said. At the very least, it seems to be a real contest, without any of the suspected fixes or obvious sleight of hand involved in Iron Chef, say.

The judges appeared to be nit-picking for the sake of it, perhaps infected with the Simon Cowell syndrome.

This was my main complaint as well (saw one episode while on the elliptical machine at the gym). The contest itself was fun but some of the judges were hateful.