Hell's Kitchen: Unlike Top Chef, this show is decidedly NOT about the food. It's about Gordon Ramsay. And Gordon Ramsay's temper. Theoretically this should not be enough to carry a show, and I know that for a lot of people it isn't, but for some reason I find it all endlessly amusing. It amazes me how many hapless, crazy contestants they find every year, and how no one really learns. I mean, it's pretty much the same menu every year, every night, and yet they all find new and spectacular ways to screw up. Don't get me wrong, I'd be supremely nervous in front of Gordon Ramsay too, but uh, they signed up for this. But by the end, there really are some competent chefs that don't make me fear that they could be running a multi-million-dollar restaurant. Although I do wonder what that job really entails...
The Next Food Network Star: This show completes the trio of food-reality shows airing this summer. And truthfully, it might be the most interesting. Top Chef is really all about the art, evidenced by the fact that the winner still has to go off and make his or her career. And Hell's Kitchen is all business, the winner gets a restaurant. But here, it's about food AND personality AND money. The judges really have stake in the results: they have to give this person a show and of course they need this show to be successful, so they're extremely honest and there's no producer manipulation here: they ARE the producers. Plus it's really fun to see all the Food Network stars come and host challenges and give advice. They really are good at what they do, and it's nice to see their toned-down off-camera personalities. (Well, actually they're still on camera, but you know what I mean.) Rachael Ray especially cuts down on the bubbliness and becomes a much more normal person. It also gives a nice behind-the-scenes look at cooking TV shows in general...it's way harder than you would think. I mean, talk about multi-tasking! So no, the show's not as wild as Hell's Kitchen or as glamorous as Top Chef, but it's a nice little show.
On a side note, one of the contestants this year was a former child actress: Colombe Jacobsen. I had thought she looked familiar and when I looked her up it turns out that she had been in the Mighty Ducks movies!! I can't be the only dork who liked those...
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