Celebrity Cooking Showdown: Low-Brow

By JULIETTE ROSSANT (To read about the show's cancelation, CLICK HERE: to read a further review comparing the show to TVFN's The Next Food Network Star, CLICK HERE.) In its first episode last night, Celebrity Cooking Showdown proved to be everything you have ever learned to expect from prime-time network television -- and less. Where to start, if you mercifully missed the lead-off for this week's "special" series? Much can be attributed to the tone created by the voice and presence of host Alan Thicke, who immediately brought the show down below any lowest common denominator, passing Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud on the way. Nostalgic, home comfort, however, came not forth. The judges were mercifully brief -- "good" and "bad" formed the gist of their pronouncements -- nothing too high brow for what the producers must have anticipated would be a vast majority of non-Foodie viewers. Colin Cowie (who?) could fall back on a British accent to give a touch of class to his statements (but if he was born in Zambia and grew up in South Africa, whence the accent? Oh, of course, it's put on.) If anyone came off well, it was Gael Greene. Dressed like an MTV chick from one of Prince's earlier, 1980s videos with The Revolution ("When Doves Cry"?), she was the only one who exhibited the proper mood and dress for the show, rolling out her brief comments like a vintage rock-n-roll stoner. How else to get through the show, if not with an additive? Superchefblog is left wondering what is in the deal that Sean "Diddy" Combs & Co. cut with NBC and chefs Wolfgang Puck, Cat Cora, and Govind Armstrong to sign them all up for such a come-down...... To the chefs, they must have made their pitch purely on TV household exposure, that the show is a no-lose. If the show bombs, the chefs were only in the background, so there will be a brain-seepage effect resulting in higher recognition of chef personality brand via face and name. If it flies high, then the chefs share in the glory. Some glory! Stay tuned: four more nights to go. Subsequent articles: Celebrity Cooking Showdown: Shown Off Next Food Network Star Winner 2 Previous articles: Celebrity Cooking Showdown: Online Now Celebrity Cooking Showdown [Chefs & Branding - complete] [Food Television - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, food television, television --> back to superchefblog