Why wait on reviewing a brand new TV show! On Tuesday night the new show called The Taste premiered on ABC.
The Taste has a very similar concept to the NBC show The Voice. The concept of the show is the contestants have one hour to cook a dish to serve to the four judges. Each judge only has a spoonful of food to taste. After tasting, each judge has to vote YES or NO on the food they tasted. While this is going on, the contestant is watching their food being tasted behind a door. After the voting is over, the judges open the door to reveal the contestant. After a quick chat, each judge will reveal their vote and if the contestant gets a YES vote they are put on that judges team. If there is more than one YES vote the contestant gets to pick the judge they want to be with. All of this kind of sounds like The Voice does it.
The four judges/mentors Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre, and Brian Malarkey will conduct each tasting throughout this series blind. I watched the first episode which featured all auditions and I was left wondering, why were so many talented cooks not picked. The judges have to vote YES or NO before they get to see each contestant. And on many occasions throughout the episode. I kept hearing “I regreted I never picked you.” I had a hard time understanding Ludo Lefebvre at times. And many people thought Anthony Bourdain was acting very mean. Surprisingly the judges axed so many professional chefs which was a surprise because they are tasting each dish blind.
After watching the first episode I thought The Taste was negative, disheartening and boring. It looked like the judges were not paying close attention to the food they were tasting because they passed upon some great talent. Reality shows must have success and happiness. Not rejection and failure. And the judges had no problem rejecting contestant after contestant. ABC, you will not have a hit on your hands. I have a feeling this show might be cancelled before the first season is even completed. There are better cooking shows such as Masterchef, Chopped, and Hell’s Kitchen that are more enjoyable to watch than this.
If you want to give The Taste a try; new episodes air Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.
Related articles
- Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain takes on judging full time on ABC’s The Taste (metronews.ca)
- The Taste – Premiere (notesfromasouthernkitchen.com)
- Anthony Bourdain will judge Franklin Lakes chef on new ABC cooking show (nj.com)
