NBC's "Celebrity Cooking Showdown"

[Pontormo]

If you're not familiar with the names involved, here's a handy link: Celebrity Profiles.

Note the ad for Country Crock to the right: "Spend more time at the table than at the stove."

[srhcb]

If you're not familiar with the names involved, here's a handy link: Celebrity Profiles.

And if you are familiar with the names involved, (or more than any two of them), Get a ****ing Life!

SB (or mercifully put an end to the life you have)

[lesfen]

Ick... ICK... ICK!!

A few thoughts :

1... Alan Thicke is a maroon. What? Bob Saget wasn't available?

2... Who the hell is this Gail person? I don't feel like putting forth the effort to look it up but I trust that, despite the snazzy outfit, she is not a Captain?

3... If these are the "celebrities" that they put out there on the maiden voyage, I see no point in ever tuning in again. Not even for Tom Arnold.

Oh lord, it was bad. Bad bad. So, so bad. Watching it through the afghan bad.

[angrykoala]

I couldn't bring myself to watch it. I've got more intelligent cinematic experiences to partake in this evening -- like WWE Raw. Thanks for taking one for the team, though! You're a brave solider.

[MissAmy]

I caught the tail end of this after "24" was over... no way I'd betray Jack Bauer for this dreck!

What I don't understand is how/why cooking and food have become pop entertainment. And America votes? Based on what? The taste of the food coming through the TV screen?

[cathrynapple]

oh, cheez, i totally watched it. how could i resist?

the soap star pulled her lobster out before all its parts were red.

all of their stuff was prepped and in cabinets.

the stuff was already planned and probably gone through a hundred times with their partner chefs. all they did was act out their cooking part.

"look how he uses a cookie cutter to get perfect tomato circles!"

"he can't find his mozzarella curd! this will hurt him!"

(while watching an actress MUSH ice cream with her bare fingers into a loaf pan) "her fingers are cold! so she puts her hair up!" (no idea)

"she is stuffing HUGE amounts of BLUE CHEESE into the tenderloin!"

i left this show so confused.

[S_tran]

HmmmMmmMmm im not really sure how to describe this show...it's interesting to put it modestly but entertaining i guess. They should have had a seperate category for sanitation, i cringed when i saw that lady dunno her name handle shicken then turns to her scooping icecream with her hands and then after that putting her hair up. She probably washed her hands but still... I'm not familiar with those judges though, maybe if they found judges who were more relevant to this industry it would have made the show more credible? (sp?)

...just my two cents

[I_call_the_duck]

Was Sgt. Pepper Gael Green?

This show was disturbing on so many levels. Who the heck cooks in high heels and low cut halter tops? Yes, it's television, so I guess the two women had to show off their fake boobies. And the guy took a swig of hazelnut liquer and then proceeded to pour some into his dessert. ew!

[Jean Blanchard]

Ick... ICK... ICK!! 

A few thoughts :

1... Alan Thicke is a maroon.  What?  Bob Saget wasn't available?

2... Who the hell is this Gail person?  I don't feel like putting forth the effort to look it up but I trust that, despite the snazzy outfit, she is not a Captain?

3... If these are the "celebrities" that they put out there on the maiden voyage, I see no point in ever tuning in again.  Not even for Tom Arnold.

Oh lord, it was bad.  Bad bad.  So, so bad.  Watching it through the afghan bad.

←

Gael Greene has a book out now called Insatiable. You might want to check that out. She's a pretty interesting character. The 10 minutes I watched of the show were excrutiating.

[Badiane]

1... Alan Thicke is a maroon.  What?  Bob Saget wasn't available?

←

Funny...when it first came on, my husband said "is that the guy from that video show?" Nope...too bad...it's just Alan Thicke.

I couldn't watch it after I saw Cindy Margolis. I don't want to watch anyone who has touched any part of Ron Jeremy touching food of any kind. Porn stars, hasbeens and those who never were. Not a recipe for entertaining TV.

[Philanthrophobe]

I initially thought Gael Greene was Mo Gaffney--well, why not? Giant breasts of Cindy Margolis, Alan Thicke, Colin Cowie... Although once I figured out it was Gael Greene, I couldn't figure out WHY she was there.

[SheenaGreena]

This isn't food related but did you notice how low cut that one woman's dress was? I couldn't stop staring at her chest!!!! I thought they were going to catch on fire when she was frying up that szechaun beef.

Anywho....just an observation

[angrykoala]

What's with NBC and it's infatuation with creating shit food-based programming? No other network has tried so many times, and failed so miserably. Don't they know when to cut their losses and move on?

Emeril sitcom.

The Restaurant.

Celebrity Cooking Showdown.

... I mean, ffs, let it go.

[Philanthrophobe]

This isn't food related but did you notice how low cut that one woman's dress was?  I couldn't stop staring at her chest!!!!  I thought they were going to catch on fire when she was frying up that szechaun beef.

←

And did you see them just about fall out of her dress when she leaned over to peer into the freezer??! Holy cats....

[Megan Blocker]

Who the heck cooks in high heels and low cut halter tops?

←

You don't?

I do.

Or not.

[Megan Blocker]

2... Who the hell is this Gail person?  I don't feel like putting forth the effort to look it up but I trust that, despite the snazzy outfit, she is not a Captain?

←

Gael Greene is a NYC food critic! Here's a link to her New York Magazine archive. Click!

[tino27]

Can you imagine how different the original Iron Chef would have been if the audience had "boo'd" the judges when their comments weren't favorable?

IMHO, Iron Chef USA with Shatner had to have been the WORST cooking related show I've ever seen ... however, this one came in a close 2nd. As for sanitation, while I agree with what everone has said in this thread, I do recall several of the Iron Chefs (original ones) having the nasty habit of tasting sauces with dipped fingers.

[cathrynapple]

um. i like alan thicke.

i just thought i'd say that.

[joiei]

WIth any luck, NBC will kill it before someone gets hurt. I could only watch about 5 minutes of it, the smooshing ice cream and then tying the hair up, I just couldn't go any further. So sad, such a bad use of hasbeen actors and the chefs they picked.

[foodie52]

I tuned in because The Apprentice was supposed to be in that slot. Turned it off after 5 minutes. It appeared to be kind of degrading. To food, that is.

[ghostrider]

And if you are familiar with the names involved, (or more than any two of them), Get a ****ing Life!

SB (or mercifully put an end to the life you have)

←

Fortunately, I was familiar with precisely two of these "celebs," so I guess my life just ducks under the wire.

This show was appallingly pointless (I had it on in the background whilst doing some real cooking of my own). I mean, what is the supposed attraction in seeing what a group of morons can absorb from "real" chefs? (Who are the two who aren't Puck anyway?) The whole thing reeks of being pitched to the network execs because "it'll be really really cheap," from Thicke on down.

What a sad waste of lobster & gelato.

[Allen]

After a few minutes I was just hoping to see some blood spilled. You know just a common kitchen accident… like a nipple in a mandoline.

[Allen]

Another thought... why does that one judge have a bag on his head.

[johnder]

This was the most ridiculous thing I have seen on tv as long as I can remember. Luckily I don't really like Gale Greene, and don't really know anything about Colin --otherwise I would have worried about the food posioning they are most definatley going to experience after tasting all that food.

The hygiene and food safety on that show was non-existant. I think the only reason I watched as much as I did of the first show is I was amazed by the tensile strenght in Cindy Margolis' dress straps. They must have been made of kevlar. This is getting banished from tivo's memory as we speak.

john

[Philanthrophobe]

This boobtastic example of network flatulence is going to be on all week?? The hell?? I can't believe they're preempting "The Office" on Thursday. It's seventy shades of wrong.