Chopped All Stars (?)

[RWells]

Well the Food Network has finally come up with a show that doesn't involve (hair) mousse, tattoos or edgy guys who can't cook. Actually it does involve them, it just puts them in an the uncomfortable light that they belong in. Chopped All Stars premieres tonight. The premise of this show is to take some of the people from the Food Network pantheon and put them in totally time constrained cook offs using absolutely absurd ingredient baskets. The further twist for a lot of these "chefs" is that they have been featured on this show as judges being being snarky and inappropriate with regular contestants. The Food Network unfortunately did not take this to its logical end, providing judges that were chefs that these "food industry professionals" abused on the regular show. No the judges are some of the same snarky "food industry professionals" who have been judging all along and some of whom have apparently refused to participate as contestants.

[hathor]

I watched Chopped last night and decided I don't like combining cruelty, cooking and competition. I also lose the whole thread when there are so many commercials...I kept forgetting what I was supposed to be watching.

[karlos]

I'm embarrassed to admit I'm excited for this show. I hope the chefs don't know what's in the baskets beforehand.

[Tri2Cook]

I usually watch Chopped if I'm home when it's on. The judges are what usually annoy me with this show. A few of them have very definite ideas about food that they don't seem to have the ability to think outside of if the person cooking doesn't subscribe to their same food views. It seems like their personal views on how something should be done or what size the portion should be completely shove aside being able to judge the dish for what it is instead of what they think it should be. So what if you think an app should be this size, for me it should be that size... so what if you cook yours by this method, I cook mine by that method... how does it look/how does it taste based on the way I chose to do it? Of course that's regarding the regular Chopped, I'll have to read about the All Stars version.

[RWells]

I always get the impression that no matter what 2/3s of the line cooks they have on this show would mop the floor with the majority of the judges. My favorite are the "restauranteurs". In my day anyone dumb enough to put up the money for a restaurant has no business commenting on the quality of someone else's cooking skills. I know that the majority of the stuff that inflames the audience is the result of editing and hype induced by the production staff. We've been all over the good and bad character editing.

[DanM]

I watched this partially out of curiosity and partly to entertain my wife. It's an interesting concept, but it started off in the wrong direction. Excuse my language, but I am not sure who the mental midget is at the Food Network that let the first episode be flunkies from the Next Food Network Star. The talent they showed is no greater than the normal shlubs they drag onto this show. If I want people to continue to watch the series, I would not have shown this first. I would have buried this as episode 3 and let the series start of strong with actual chefs cooking.

Dan

[heidih]

There are so many shows I get confused. Is this the one that recently (Saturday night?) had a final (but not the grand finale) pitting Robert Irvine in the end against Anne Burrell? I found the food quite interesting and imaginative, and the competitive spirit was in full push mode.

[AaronM]

I have a certain schadenfreude complex regarding this show.

I also play a game with my wife where I have to come up with a plan before any contestants.

[kalypso]

The 2nd episode was miles better than the first one. I think what Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine turned out with their baskets - canned haggis anyone - was great. I though Anne's haggis flatbread was brilliant and Roberts stuffed venison pretty amazine given the time constraint. I know I couldn't have turned out something as creative in that time.

It seems like the skill level of the cheftestants gets ratcheted up a notch each week. This was easily one of the best episodes of Chopped.

[ckamom]

ITA that this is one of the better episodes of Chopped. I do wonder, however, if the judges have a bit more respect for the "famous" chefs. That being said, the food looked much, much better than usual. Maybe the usual format should either be better chefs or less snark from the judges, because this is very enjoyable television.

[Kat Tanaka Okopnik]

Has Alex Guarnaschelli always looked so...discomfited, judging this show? I liked this episode better than the first, but the first was just horrendous as far as judging went.

[IndyRob]

I was sitting there watching the second episode and realized that the Food Network could never allow their professional competition celebrities get beaten by Duff. I felt I knew exactly how it would go down at that point. I expected some funny feigned outrage by Duff, but instead, it was "Cool. See ya'...."

Then Ann makes a comment about the fennel and ladyfingers - "I don't know if these were chosen for me, but...."

Hmmm....