The TV Thread

[Glathannus]

When Dish customers were getting some premium channels for free (sometimes Starz), I put together a 2 TB external USB drive for $100 (just before the flooding in Thailand which raised HDD prices), and I archived somewhere around 300 commercial-free recordings of different films (most of them high definition). I can legally continue playing those recordings even after I've lost access to the channels they came from. It doesn't matter anymore how many channels I've still got, because I already have more material than I know what to do with.

[Osiris12345]

Originally Posted by Nimh

Mystery Diner feels like Restaurant Stakeout's sleazy cousin. People who behave badly on camera and don't have their faces blurred are almost 100% of the time professional actors or coached amateurs.

Food Network is such a mixed bag. My absolute favorite TV show is Chopped. Part of the reason is I actually believe that the contestants have no idea what the mystery ingredients are before they are revealed. Unlike Iron Chef, which is also a great show but you know for a fact that the chefs were clued in on the "secret ingredient" well in advance. No one could improvise Iron Chef menus on the spot.

Yeah, Iron Chef was awesome but there's noooo way they did all of those dishes on the fly. Forget being Iron Chefs, they'd be God Chefs.

I actually really enjoy Food Network, especially when I'm having dinner. I mostly watch $24 in 24, Food Network Challenge, and Chopped. Chopped is a great show. Did you see the recent one where they had the teenagers go head to head? There was a 13 year-old girl there who already had her own food blog and everything. Pretty crazy stuff.

[Nimh]

Originally Posted by Osiris12345

Yeah, Iron Chef was awesome but there's noooo way they did all of those dishes on the fly. Forget being Iron Chefs, they'd be God Chefs.

I actually really enjoy Food Network, especially when I'm having dinner. I mostly watch $24 in 24, Food Network Challenge, and Chopped. Chopped is a great show. Did you see the recent one where they had the teenagers go head to head? There was a 13 year-old girl there who already had her own food blog and everything. Pretty crazy stuff.

I think the point of Iron Chef isn't to be instantly inventive but to show finesse under pressure. They don't have to dream up dishes on the fly, but in the 1-hour timeslot (which I do believe is legit) they have to execute their dishes perfectly. The production values are awesome and the judges are fun.

My fiancee worked a bit on Iron Chef Vietnam, and they are in awe of the way the Japanese and Americans pull off the show. The "Alton" of the Vietnam version is this buffoon who knows nothing about food, and the narration is horrendous. Just lacking that one element brings down the whole show.

I missed that teenage episode of Chopped, but with so many reruns I should catch up with it eventually. They are doing "unsung heroes" now which is pretty cool, seeing all these non-restaurant chefs kicking ass in the kitchen.

The guy on $24 in 24 is a little annoying....maybe he'll grow on me, like the guy on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives.

And speaking of DDD, I love that show for the way they edit the cooks slapping together their meals. The ingredients always get THROWN in the big mixing bowls rapid-fire, like the cooks are just flinging everything together without measuring anything. They always look like they're having the time of their lives and it makes you want to open up a little restaurant, or at least see what's in the kitchen and whip up some marinade or steak rub.

God I'm getting hungry......

[Maou]

Originally Posted by Nimh

I think the point of Iron Chef isn't to be instantly inventive but to show finesse under pressure. They don't have to dream up dishes on the fly, but in the 1-hour timeslot (which I do believe is legit) they have to execute their dishes perfectly. The production values are awesome and the judges are fun.

Kinda...? On the American version of the show they pre-plan the menu, work it all out with the sous chefs and do all the cooking in one hour. However, those dishes they prepare during that hour broadcast on TV are not the dishes served to the judges. That would hardly be fair, especially to the chef who goes second in the judging. Instead, the sous chefs (not the Iron Chef or the Challenger) prepare new dishes for judging after the battle is taped.

My favorite judge on the Japanese Iron Chef was Keiko Saito. I wonder if she'll be back for the new series?

[Tokyo Jihad]

I recognize no Iron Chefs crowned later than Masahiko Kobe :hipster:

[Nimh]

Originally Posted by Maou

However, those dishes they prepare during that hour broadcast on TV are not the dishes served to the judges. That would hardly be fair, especially to the chef who goes second in the judging. Instead, the sous chefs (not the Iron Chef or the Challenger) prepare new dishes for judging after the battle is taped.

I've always wondered how the judging worked on these shows. Especially with hot or cold dishes. Someone makes an ice cream......okay, but if it's just sitting there waiting to be judged, it's melting....and hot dishes are cooling. And do the judges really eat all the meals, one after another? How can they even taste anything after the third dish?

I assume they work around those issues and fix it all in the editing room.

One thing Chopped seems to do is reward sentimentality. If some contestant is battling a disease or has a sick spouse or recently deceased parent, the whole competition is about "doing it for [insert name of loved one]." Those contestants may not win the whole thing, but they definitely get softer judging in early rounds. When I watch these shows with my gal, she gets so annoyed about it. "God!" she says, "Just do it for yourself!"

[TurtleFu]

I never really got Iron Chef. I like cooking shows, but it felt like a cooking show mixed with professional wrestling. I get that most cooking shows are partially scripted, but if it's so up-front about it, what's the appeal?

[Tokyo Jihad]

The japanese one is hella fun to watch! Everything is taken comically serious. It's fun to watch the chefs proficency. You watch people eat squid ink ice cream and say "yummm!" Its great!

The American one is okay, but I find it last resort material.

[Nimh]

Mmmm, squid. Ever have a tapas plate of a squid cooked in its own ink? Taste the irony!

[TurtleFu]

Isn't there a new Japanese iron chef? I remember reading some controversy because they hired an actor to play a chef instead of an actual chef.

(That being said, are the chefs on Iron Chef Japan actual chefs?)