Despite Adam Richman being kicked off the Travel Channel for some insanely inappropriate Instagram comments, he has bounced back with Food Fighters. The program is a hybrid game show/cooking battle that is equal parts Iron Chef, Throwdown (with Bobby Flay), and Chopped (arguments are to be made if concepts are ripped off).
Contestants who dominate their home kitchens with delicious treats go against professional chefs. The non pros can pick five of their most favorite culinary crafts and decide which ones they, along with their opponents, need to make. Choices can either fumble or favor those who have been cooking for financial purposes. Each time a pro cook loses a round, the contestant gets a chunk of cash, banking up to a possible $100,000. Hopeful entrants who lose a round can keep playing, but being defeated results in less money.
There is not a lot of excitement coming from the competition. Since there are five cook offs, none of them are allowed to build tension before they are over, and you are supposed to root for this home bred cook who really draws no personal interest. They give a story about their home life, but it’s quickly cut off in order to focus on the battles. It lacks any real personality. Richman’s presence adds a bit of humor and excitement but he’s wasted as a host. He’s better off having his own show, despite his social media mistakes.
In addition, why do the pro cooks only have to cook once while the “novice” needs to go five times in a row? That seems kind of unfair, but whatever, I didn’t make up the rules.
Also, I feel that the program’s placement on NBC is kind of weird. Yes, I get that it is a game show, which has a home on the major networks, but food has no place in prime time like this. Food Fighters would be better suited to Food Network, not just because of the shared titular connection, but also the resemblance it has to other shows on the channel.
We will see how long NBC hangs onto the show. For right now, it seems to be a mid-season replacement, so maybe it’s just a onetime deal. Maybe it will shift networks in time to serve the context better, but overall, Food Fighters is not worth fighting for.
Rating: 5/10
http://youtu.be/erH113eF6LE
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Logan J. Fowler is a senior writer and video game editor on Po-Break.com. He contributes his thoughts every week for Trailer Tuesday and has his own column called “A Link to the Past.” Logan’s “kid at heart” nature has led to his discussion about pop culture that many geeks love to talk about, including superheroes, Super Mario Bros., Pixar, and Muppets, amongst other things. In addition, one of his first pieces for the site, “Top Ten Comic Book Movies,” was picked as a “Freshly Pressed” piece by WordPress and remains one of the site’s most well-read articles. Currently, Logan works as a Special Education Instructional Assistant at Roosevelt School in Manville NJ. At the present moment, he is enrolled in Rutgers Online courses, pursuing a Teacher of Student with Disabilities certification. He graduated from Wagner College in 2005 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and in 2007 with a Master of Science in Education Degree in Birth-6th Grade Literacy. Also many of Logan’s friends have said that he moonlights as Spider-Man but this is so not true. Wait, are those police sirens I’m hearing?! Gotta go! -thwipp-
