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Corporate Press Release Theater: Ted Allen Returns!

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | November 17, 2008 | +

I was a fan of Ted Allen from the get-go; on Queer Eye, the food writer was the member of the quintet who seemed most to act like a person rather than a media-ready persona. (Or was that his persona? Discuss!) So I was disappointed to see him gone from the judging lineup of Top Chef this season. But Bravo’s loss is Food Network’s gain, as the gastro-channel announces in its lineup of new shows for early next year: 

Passion and expertise rule the kitchen on the fast-paced new series, Chopped. Hosted by Ted Allen (Food Detectives), the series challenges four up-and-coming chefs to turn a selection of everyday ingredients into an extraordinary three-course meal. After each course, a contestant gets “chopped” until the last man or woman left standing claims victory. Each week, a rotating panel of culinary elite judges including Alex Guarnaschelli, Aaron Sanchez, and Geoffrey Zakarian will decide whose dishes shine the brightest and award the winner $10,000.

It sounds like a bigger-money variation on the old, low-budget Food Network pro-am game show Ready Set Cook! (one of the few TV shows I ever went out of my way to go to a taping of, before I was a TV critic). Does TV need another chef competition? Maybe not, but I do.

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  • alekshy

    Sadly, it seems like this show might go unnoticed like Food Network’s other shows with similar concepts – then again it might come out as something unique, fresh, delicious. I was sad as well to hear that Allen wouldn’t be on Top Chef anymore, but at the same time, he didn’t have that big of a role on the show, just as a guest judge. If someone tried to take away our Padma or Tom, that’s another story. I think Anthony Bourdain is a better judge just for the fact that he has a tendency to psyche the contestants out.

  • alekshy

    Sadly, it seems like this show might go unnoticed like Food Network’s other shows with similar concepts – then again it might come out as something unique, fresh, delicious. I was sad as well to hear that Allen wouldn’t be on Top Chef anymore, but at the same time, he didn’t have that big of a role on the show, just as a guest judge. If someone tried to take away our Padma or Tom, that’s another story. I think Anthony Bourdain is a better judge just for the fact that he has a tendency to psyche the contestants out.

  • yogi

    See to me it sounds like the’re combining Iron Chef with one of those cr@ppy dating shows on MTV, let’s go with Next. Why pick a dating show? Because its more fun to picture that hybrid than the simple Iron Chef / Food Network Challenge combo.

  • Tom Shaw

    I too was a big fan of Ted Allen (and Ted Allen alone) – and looking into his biography, with his history at Esquire, I suppose I should not be surprised that he alone was more interested in stylish than fabulous.

    (Disclaimer: Midwestern bias also at work; Allen grew up in Indiana.)

  • jimatl

    Best cooking show I ever regularly watched, courtesy of BBC America, and one that Food Network should adapt (like ready Set Cook, if memory serves): The Best.

    3 chefs in a kitchen face off to cook the best (something)… could be a sandwich, a breakfast or a lamb dish. They slide their offerings to a panel of judges (regular people) on the other side of the wall to judge which was “the best.” Over the course of the season, they kept a tally.

    Maybe it was the chemistry between the chefs, maybe it was the English-ness of the whole operation (no catch phrases, no “bold flavors”), but it was a really great show.

    I’ll watch this show but I expect it to be exactly what it sounds like – ham-handed amalgam of Top Chef and Iron Chef with plenty of recycled celebrity chefs.

  • http://boobsandmore.3blogger.com/2008/11/17/yet-another-food-competition-show-coming-in-january-because-we-need-more-food-competition-shows/ Yet another food competition show coming in January, because we need more food competition shows | Boobs and More

    [...] Food competition shows! 27 just isn’t enough, we need a 28th.”Then I saw the preview for Food Network’s new show Chopped, which debuts in January and will be hosted by Queer Eye For The Straight Guy star Ted Allen. [...]

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