Back in the day, if you wanted a daily cooking show, it was either reruns of Julia Child's PBS series, The French Chef, or Graham Kerr's syndicated Galloping Gourmet (and, later, the even shorter Take Kerr). The continuing expansion of cable has resulted in a revival of cooking shows as a sub-genre under the talk show umbrella.
ABC's The Chew (rhymes with The View) launched in 2011 after the network pulled the plug on All My Children. Cable personality Clinton Kelly (What Not to Wear) is the moderator, and, at least over the last two weeks, has doubled as announcer in the absence of executive producer Gordon Elliott (ex-To Tell The Truth). The free-form format allows Kelly to get the audience involved in some mini-games that pay homage to classic games of the past, such as Match Game. The rest of the regular panel consists of chefs Mario Batali, Carla Hall, & Michael Symon. Occasionally, ABC/ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer (ex-The Bachelor) drops by to help out.
I've watched portions of episodes during lunch break at work, but never a complete episode. Let's scope out a recent show with special guest Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey):
Graham Kerr would be proud.
Rating: A-.
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