rab01

The winner of the June 7, 2015 show (listed as Carne Diem in my guide) was amazing. He was so cool-headed, outcooking everyone else while getting more sabotages than every other contestant combined.

I stopped reading the book about a third of the way in (I cannot skip footnotes but did not vibe with the author's sense of humor about them) and tried episode One hoping for a better entry point into the story but I still find the two main characters a little off-putting (though Norrell is much more charming in this version) so I'm on the fence.

Are you thinking of Adam Gertler? If so, he had professional cooking experience even if he didn't always have the tastiest food in the competition. But, really personality is more important than cooking chops for the role these people are filling. We never get to taste their food and a lot of the recipes are generated in the FN test kitchens so on-camera ability matters more than ability behind the stove. They just have to have enough cooking ability to not damage the FN brand; We can all see that in who's been chosen as winners over the years.

I'm so happy that they got fed up with #douchetag faster than I did. But, I have to admit that casting him was actually a good idea. My kids enjoy watching Cutthroat Kitchen so I mentioned to them that the guy they hated was even more of a jerk on FNS and they immediately (a) didn't believe it was possible, (b) wanted to see it, and © spent most of the time enjoyably yelling at the TV. My 11-year-old didn't know what "mundane" meant but after I explained it to him, he was immediately offended on that lady's behalf. Obviously, I will do my best to avoid spoiling the end of this one for them. I thought Giada's pork soup comment was actually being complimentary and being "present" as a judge - she could feel that this wasn't a dish that the contestant did a lot but the presentation was good and she said in essence that it was better that she could present a spur of the moment dish so comfortably. I like Rue so far but she appears very young to me on camera. I think she would do well if she followed Kelsey's trajectory (i.e. not winning but staying with the network and eventually getting a Cooking Channel show). Anyone else get that kind of vibe from her? I am 100% certain that Dom either (1) was cast by Food Network rather than applying, or (2) is way overplaying his stage fright so that he can show growth. There is no way that he can be terrible in front of crowds, in front of the camera, and in one-on-one (until he makes a connection with the other person) and have decided that television work was his goal in life. I bet he's actually great at front-of-the-house type stuff and interacting with customers and strangers and friends. To the extent he really has stage fright, it's got to be only the 30-second camera work.

He reminded me more of Tom Pizzicca (the runner-up a few years ago who got a show called Outrageous Food), a wholly less threatening mental image so I'm crossing my fingers.

I just read some of her Q&A on the FN site and it's completely irrational but I hate her so much now: "a beauty pageant veteran with a French culinary degree and a wicked sense of humor", "culinary instructor and software company executive", "Win or lose, this is going to make us stronger in everything we do. Even if we don’t get a show, I know it's just going to make me a stronger chef, a better teacher, even a better mom." Every line felt like the equivalent of the boring interview: Q - "what's your biggest weakness" A - "perfectionism."

I think a makeover episode is a great idea but they would totally botch it. It would end up being just a focus for commenting on how the women look and whether Giada has the hots for any of the men (yuch), It's odd though that you picked those four because, other than the pro athlete, they are the prettiest/handsomest people in the competition to me. (Actually, I'm just kinda guessing about the guys but the woman they eliminated and the tall brunette Italian chef are both strikingly pretty to me and I wasn't bothered by their hair.) I guess taste is really idiosyncratic. No, I don't want hair in my food but if they keep it off the plate, I don't need them to wear hair nets.

Matthew has to be intentionally playing a character in the (very reasonable) hope that it keeps him on the air longer BUT I think he has to actually be an asshole to pick that character to play. My real question about him is whether he plans to drop the act and pretend to have been "humbled" to ride a redemption arc to victory or does he already know that he has no shot at this and just wants 5-7 episodes out of it. That said, I don't think they were always just picking him to speak. I think all the contestants gave one word summaries and his were interesting more often than the others so they were shown on camera. Sandwich guy could be shifted over slightly to international street food brought to your home and he could work. Calling that one lady "Stepford", really was right on target. She even proved it when she didn't try to find a way to make a joke about it in her talking head. I like this group and if the network brass doesn't disappear from the show, I could be in for the season. I don't particularly like Tuschman and Fogelson as TV personalities but I like that the heads of the network are personally devoting several hours to this process. Also, since they have to protect the brand, they are invested in asking real questions, calling bullshit occasionally, and preventing useless jerks from winning the entire thing.

After getting two out of three clunkers from audience voting, I don't blame them for scrapping it. (It's also amazing looking back at the Wiki just how terrible Damaris' co-finalists were. Russell and Rodney were barely able to speak, let alone cook and speak at the same time.) Also, eliminating the audience vote lets them air the winner's show immediately after FNS ends, rather than 6 months later when no one cares anymore.

Thanks! Did it seem to anyone else that Volume 22 ("A New Beginning") was a direct response to reactions to the show? In it, we see (It's not that spoilery; I'm just being careful.) It just seemed like a lot of it was expressly responding to the "these people are idiots" commentary that the show has generated ...

Is this the right thread to ask a question connecting Volume 22 of the graphic novels to the TV show?

Until Meghan brought back only Sarah, I'd always assumed that the show just told the finalists who they were singing with. I'm honestly kinda surprised that they really get to choose. I think doing a duet was a great idea. Bringing back a handful of people might "share the wealth" but it makes all the others seem like background singers. Doing a duet makes the former contestant look like a peer, which Sarah was and is. (I was more disappointed when Sarah left than when Kimberly left.)

Stratego, I thought about it and you're right; Borchetta's job there was to pick songs that he thought each idol would be awesome at, not ones that they could change up interestingly or do well if they stretched. In picking songs, he was 2 of 4 with Clark and Jax being hurt by the choices. If each of them had 2-3 weeks to think about the song, I think they would have killed it but with 3 songs to do and only a day or two to prep ... not easy. That said, I think AI assumed that Clark was winning this competition from like week 3. They aren't always right (e.g., Daughtry) but I'm still surprised at Bogo's spoiler.

The "Chef Wanted" shows were pretty bad; I have a vague recollection that multiple contestants complained afterwards that the producers sabotaged their shifts (mainly by withholding tickets) without showing the sabotage on-air, which made them look bad for no reason. Totale, she always does really well on these cooking competitions so I don't think it's fair to call her less accomplished than the other chefs. Well, Mary Sue is probably the most accomplished of the bunch but she isn't as competitive as the other three ...

Wouldn't showing Nick to have a steady girlfriend cut into his potential votes a bit? i've no idea whether or not they are together but it would seem wise not to emphasize something like that in the final stages of voting. Props to Worlebird - "drag king" really nails Borchetta's affect. That said, I like him as a mentor. For all I know he's terrible in real life but on the show he's been present, interested in getting the contestants to perform better, engaged, tailoring his advice to the contestant, and interested in getting them to imagine what it would be like to win - everything I want an idol mentor to be. Also, I think his challenge/sabotage for Clark was totally justified. Clark sings old-fashioned songs and when he does it well, makes them sound even older; when he does it badly, they're just boring or out of tune. If Clark is such a musician, he could have rearranged Beautiful Day to make it work for him.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist kind of guy but Anne Burrell's win didn't fit with the comments they were both getting throughout the meal. When they revealed Hung's plate, I just thought "well, I guess the FN person has to move on." Obviously, we don't taste the food and they edit the show to maintain suspense but they edited out too much of their praise of Burrell for me to get behind that result.

Sheldon is supposed to be baseline the smartest - he almost beat the three of them (along with Sara Gilbert's character) singlehanded -- so he always fails to provide the episode's joke: the paper he showed to Hawking had a basic math error, he had to switch fields of study, Kripke had better work than he did when they had to work together, he thought he'd discovered a new element that Leonard disproved, his monopole project went nowhere, The only time I remember Sheldon got something right was when the Grad student spurred him on. They do it so often that I'd have to say he's not really the smartest. Leonard might be just as smart but crippled by the inferiority complex his mom gave him. I do wish, however, that they'd return to the time when Amy was clearly smarter than everybody else.

I do the same thing but Conant isn't alone about it. Mario Batali said pretty much the same thing back when he had a cooking show on FN - he called breaking the pasta a sin in Italian cooking. For him though, it was about respecting your ingredients. If I remember correctly it went something like --- "Unless you're eating some dreadful box pasta, it's disrespectful to the people who work hours to get long delicate strands of pasta."

I actually have enjoyed this group of AI performers and think they're pretty talented. More importantly, they're varied enough that the broadcast is much more entertaining (for me) than in past years. That said, I always DVR it and start late so I can skip the ads, intro packages and judge blather. I'm amazed by the varied reactions to these singers. Like, I hated Clark's rendition of Moon River and thought he was failing to reach half the notes he attempted without bringing any emotion to it but then I read the write-up and everyone else's reactions and find I'm in a distinct minority. I find Rayvon connecting emotionally about as often as Tyanna but I prefer the tone of her voice ... Anyway, I have no idea who's gonna have a real career in music after this but I admire the hamsters more often than I make fun of them. Now, onto brazen predictions. The twitter save advantages the competent singers over the people with specific fan-bases. Rayvon may not be many people's first choice but there's also nobody who's rooting against him. I predict that he will again be in the bottom two next week and if he's against Quentin or Jax, he will win if he has his usual great performance on his last song. If it's against Nick, Tyanna or Clark, I predict he goes home. I personally enjoy Jax' performances more and think she's a pretty good singer but I think I see some of what people hold against her. Also, if that happens, the show the next week get's a little duller -- the fetus was terrible but he was different from the others, Qasim couldn't sing but he could perform; Joey always changed up the song in quirky ways -- without each of them, the group gets a little more homogenous.

Ryan's jobs are to keep the show running on time, fill for transitions and whenever he sees a chance to help create good TV, go for it. He doesn't have to like or hate any of the contestants to do that. Ryan sensed from Quentin's expression that he might say something interesting and gave it a shot. It worked. It worked really well. At the time, I thought Harry's "you could just go home" comment was rude but it was really a softball compared to what he could have or should have said: "Two People have to be in the bottom two each week. Who do you think should be in Joey and Rayvon's places?" There is no way he could answer that question without being universally condemned as an asshole.

Doesn't Blake explicitly say before some of those battles and knockouts that he only has room for so one old-style female country artists and one modern male country artists and one [fill in the blank]? If he doesn't want his team cannibalizing each other's votes during live voting, it seems fine to me and a large part of why he wins so often (other than his personal "aw shucks" charm)

After bagging on Lee Dewyze earlier in the thread, I googled him out of curiosity and now have an apology to make. I still don't like him as he was on Idol but I have to admit that the song he did for the Walking Dead (Blackbird) was perfect for the scene and sounds great as a song in general. I had no idea it was his song when I watched the show but I noticed the song then and liked it. Hats off to him. IF you haven'theard the song or, like me, didn't know it was his, it's worth a listen.

Nothing can make me wish for Lee Dewyze. Dewyze was a better singer than Daniel or Qassim (though I'd rather watch Qassim if he performs like last week) but he was way worse than anyone else left on this Season's crop and Lee Dewyze was not the worst of his season's performers. I think we all forget just how bad the majority of the performances are every season once it's more than a year or two in the past. I thought the Hoff knew exactly who he was and why he was there so I didn't feel embarassed for him but I still fast-forwarded through it. Boy George's voice, however, made me feel sad. He had such a generous nature with the kids and such on-point comments for them that I felt sorry that his own vocals couldn't even remind us of how he used to be able to sing (and I was definitely not a Culture Club fan back in the day). Jax, Clark and Quentin were all interesting to watch so I figure they're safe. I predict that either Qassim or Rayvon go home next week - they both have been in the bottom and both gave boring performances. Daniel goes home 1 week later if the survivor gives a stunning performance (Rayvon by absolutely kiliing a vocal or Qassim by dancing around like crazy). But lord, I'd be happy to lose Daniel instead.

I never expected Corey to outsing Cody and was surprised that he did it by enough for Blake to pick him because I think Cody has a higher ceiling. On the flipside, Blaze outsang Deanna but I understand Adam keeping the person who can go farther. I also think that's why Adam was so quick, he didn't want to highlight the decision. I kind of liked Christina begging for the continued life of one of her singers. But then I'm a sucker for cheap emotional manipulation. On a production note, how much do we have to bribe the Voice producers to stop spoiling any tension in their show by telling us when the judges will and won't steal?

It's not that unusual. More established people often don't want to relocate so far away. (Assuming of course that she is qaulified for that level job with the company in the first place.)