Chopped 2021: You Could Have Sexed That Up a Little Bit

[xaxat]

I think it was a mistake not running Chopped reruns in its normal slot. Most viewers don't follow Ted on Twitter (I don't) and most people aren't going to check on the status of the show. How many viewers will just assume it has been canceled?

Out of sight, out of mind.

It was impressive how many new episodes they had in the can during the pandemic, but I guess it finally caught up to them.

Edited October 13, 2021 by xaxat

[Rammchick]

On 10/12/2021 at 1:07 PM, nitrofishblue said:

Just read an article that stated that Bobby Flay IS LEAVING. Best news of the day. Will they be replacing his shows with more Guy?

Can't he take Guy with him??  And Giada, while we're at it? 😏

Edited October 14, 2021 by Rammchick

[schnauzergirl]

According to the FN schedule, no new Chopped shows through November 23.  November 30 shows nothing at all.

[pdlinda]

Just now, schnauzergirl said:

According to the FN schedule, no new Chopped shows through November 23.  November 30 shows nothing at all.

I hate to say it, BUT when thinking about all the "new" concepts/visions/themes that we saw prior to the hiatus (all the over-production), I'm more than content loading as many past episodes as I please onto my VCR.  

I'm enjoying those shows from prior years (and iterations) much more than the Martha Stewart/Alton Brown/Charing (grilling) competitions with the judges interrupting the contestants with incessant babble as well as invading the cooking space with inane comments.

Maybe they spent all the $$$ on the new set (another production hype that didn't enhance the show...still only one fryer) on the basis that "new" equals "successful"; however, perhaps there is a dearth of viable contestants??? 

Someone "in the know" posted several months ago that the contestants have to bear the expense of traveling to N.Y. and providing their own hotel accommodations with no $$$ compensation for the runners-up. 

Maybe, in this economy not too many rising chefs are ready, willing and/or able to comply with those requirements.

[Maverick]

On 10/12/2021 at 11:27 PM, xaxat said:

I think it was a mistake not running Chopped reruns in its normal slot. Most viewers don't follow Ted on Twitter (I don't) and most people aren't going to check on the status of the show. How many viewers will just assume it has been canceled?

Out of sight, out of mind.

It was impressive how many new episodes they had in the can during the pandemic, but I guess it finally caught up to them.

 I don't get his post.  Two more weeks?  Does he mean they're going back to film two episodes?   Or film for two weeks, which is about 10 episodes.  Also, that's...not a good pic of Ted.

 I don't know why they didn't show reruns.  They done it for a few weeks on GGG.   Last week they reran one of the at home episodes.

 There were several references to the warehouse set so maybe they'll come back with a new permanent set.   Everything about this show has been weird lately. 

[nitrofishblue]

Wow, the reason Bobby is gone from FN is money. He demanded 100 million dollars for a new contract. 

[mlp]

10 hours ago, nitrofishblue said:

Wow, the reason Bobby is gone from FN is money. He demanded 100 million dollars for a new contract. 

That's an incredible amount for us mortals but Guy Fieri just signed a new contract for 80 million so Bobby's demand doesn't seem unreasonable by comparison.  His shows are popular and he's been around a lot longer than Guy.  I kinda don't blame him for expecting more than Guy.

[Rammchick]

On 10/15/2021 at 11:31 AM, mlp said:

That's an incredible amount for us mortals but Guy Fieri just signed a new contract for 80 million so Bobby's demand doesn't seem unreasonable by comparison.  His shows are popular and he's been around a lot longer than Guy.  I kinda don't blame him for expecting more than Guy.

Except that according to this, it's not exactly equivalent:  

Guy has a three-year deal. The terms of what Bobby was looking for were gravely different than just cash. The terms were longer, the scope of work was different and thus the dollars were different. It’s not just $80 million to $100 million.

[schnauzergirl]

According to the FN schedule Beat Bobby Flay is in the Chopped slot until at least December 28.  Looks as if it will be 2022 until we see new episodes.  

[MerBearHou]

The last thing I would tune into is Beat Bobby Flay.  Love Chopped — bummed no new episodes till 2022.  

[buttersister]

Subtitle for 2022: I watch Chopped. I like Chopped. Bobby Flay, you're no Chopped. 

[Guest]

Just a theory:   Maybe FN wants to air the rest of the new episodes of Beat Bobby Flay by the end of the year, so rearrange the schedule a bit so the usual Thanksgiving primetime programming is holiday competition-related and keep running those episodes on Thursday primetime through the end of the year since, conveniently, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve are also on Thursdays.  Then burn BBF episodes on a night that usually doesn't feature him except when he's made appearances on Chopped, which is especially handy if there aren't any Chopped episodes in the can and he can't complain they aren't in weekday primetime.

After all, there could be worse time slots to air those BBF shows, as can be testified by people involved with shows that get dropped and the remaining episodes get sent to the scheduling equivalent of Siberia.

[schnauzergirl]

I see Bobby and FN have reached an agreement on a new three-year contract.  

[nitrofishblue]

51 minutes ago, schnauzergirl said:

I see Bobby and FN have reached an agreement on a new three-year contract.  

OH barf, I was looking forward to BF being GONE along with butthead Guy. I never watch any show that has either one of them in it.

[Rammchick]

On 11/22/2021 at 8:29 AM, nitrofishblue said:

OH barf, I was looking forward to BF being GONE along with butthead Guy. I never watch any show that has either one of them in it.

Although we joked that we wished Booby would take Guy with him, that was never going to happen, unfortunately.  Fee-eddy is too much of a cash cow for FN.

[schnauzergirl]

According to the FN website, as of December 28, Chopped is back on Tuesdays at 9:00.  The thing is, I can't tell if it's a new episode or a rerun.  Maybe the new tag line should be Choppred 2022: It's Baaack.

[ZoqFotPik]

My DVR recorded an episode last week that was labeled "New". It was a rerun from over a year ago.

[pdlinda]

On 12/13/2021 at 4:30 PM, ZoqFotPik said:

My DVR recorded an episode last week that was labeled "New". It was a rerun from over a year ago.

I view any new episodes as a mixed blessing. 

It's such a pleasure watching old shows that feature inspired chefs, interesting ingredients (without all "kitchy" already assembled items) and lovely back stories without all the manufactured yelling and faux participation in the cooking area by the judges.

[buttersister]

4 hours ago, pdlinda said:

faux participation in the cooking area by the judges.

I'm hoping Covid protocols put an end to that bs.

[sharifa70]

I just saw Tuesday’s pasta episode of Chopped (it was new)! I must say, as over-eager as I’ve occasionally found Nilou in some of her guest appearances, I really appreciated her instinct to not pile on when the other two judges pointed out flaws in the cheftestants’ dishes. She was careful to find positive things even in dishes that clearly didn’t work out as planned. As much as I like Scott and Amanda, Nilou’s contributions were welcome: nice without being completely pointless. I was glad for the winner.

[Grizzly]

I thought Barbara should've been chopped after the second round. She didn't incorporate the cotton candy, just threw it on. And they had other criticisms of that dish.

[libgirl2]

So what did you all think about the whole "casino" theme? While I thought it was a bit hokey, it did make it kind of fun to see what people would get stuck with. 

[Rammchick]

Although I thought the theme was fun, it does remove one of the major hallmarks of Chopped:  all contestants have the same ingredients and they're judged on how well they incorporated them, relative to the other contestants.  If you swap out one of the ingredients and each contestant has the potential to have different components to work with (which would happen if all rolled the dice in a round), you're now on an uneven playing field, and judges are comparing apples to oranges.  Also, the degree of difficulty wildly varies.  While it was really obvious which dish was worthy of being chopped each time, it did make me wonder what they would do if it was close, and one dish had easier ingredients than another one.

What happens if multiple chefs roll the same number on the dice -- were the cloches replaced after each turn?  I didn't notice, but that makes the most sense.

[libgirl2]

9 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

Although I thought the theme was fun, it does remove one of the major hallmarks of Chopped:  all contestants have the same ingredients and they're judged on how well they incorporated them, relative to the other contestants.  If you swap out one of the ingredients and each contestant has the potential to have different components to work with (which would happen if all rolled the dice in a round), you're now on an uneven playing field, and judges are comparing apples to oranges.  Also, the degree of difficulty wildly varies.  While it was really obvious which dish was worthy of being chopped each time, it did make me wonder what they would do if it was close, and one dish had easier ingredients than another one.

What happens if multiple chefs roll the same number on the dice -- were the cloches replaced after each turn?  I didn't notice, but that makes the most sense.

I was wondering the same thing. 

[emmawoodhouse]

Guys, there's a 2022 thread to complain about the casino format. 😁

[libgirl2]

49 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Guys, there's a 2022 thread to complain about the casino format. 😁

Thanks! 

[Rammchick]

2 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

Guys, there's a 2022 thread to complain about the casino format. 😁

Oops, sorry, I thought I did post in that thread!