Day: December 21, 2021

Cooking shows rise (or sink) to a new level

As cooking shows fill our TV sets, they offer lots of sleek settings.
“The contestants are always working in these fabulous, million-dollar kitchens,” said Matt Cahoon, a creator of the new “Next Level Chef” on Fox. They have “the best equipment in the world, using the highest-end ingredients that money can buy. And that’s not real life.”
Now real life – or three variations of it – arrives. “Next Level Chef” debuts after football (at about 8 p.m. ET) on Jan. 2, then moves to Wednesdays. It instantly shows its extremes.
“We’ve got these three incredible kitchens, three stories high, 85,000 tons of steel,” said Gordon Ramsay, who produces the show with Cahoon and Lisa Edwards. (The structure is shown here, with Richard Blais, Ramsay and Nyesha Arrington.) Read more…

Best-bets for Dec. 23: a ghastly good night for comedy

1) “Ghosts,” 8:31-11 p.m., CBS. In a rough season for comedies, “Ghosts” has done well. So CBS polled viewers and will rerun their five favorites here. First (shown here), Pete wants to see his wife, who’s still alive; at 9:01, Thorfinn wants a Viking funeral, now that his bones have been found; at 9:30, Samantha – the only living person who sees the ghosts – helps them play Dungeons & Dragons with her husband Jay. At 10, a music fan researches Alberta’s life; at 10:30, Hetty accidentally inhabits Jay’s body. Read more…