Within one week, Netflix and Fox premiered similar shows—so similar, they even shared a contestant. But both have unnecessarily filler crowding out some really fun parts.
Netflix
American Barbecue Showdown: a great cast fires up Netflix’s new BBQ competition
Netflix’s new barbecue cooking competition The American Barbecue Showdown covers well-worn territory, but it does so well—especially with its terrific cast, including judge Melissa Cookston.
Get Organized with The Home Edit: an Instagram photo turned into a Netflix reality show
Netflix’s Get Organized with The Home Edit is the spiritual opposite of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, which was all about paring things down. The Home Edit is about buying more, and then arranging it to look Instagram perfect.
Crazy Delicious: Netflix’s competition takes GBBO’s DNA into an ‘enchanted garden’
Carla Hall is one of the three food god judges on Crazy Delicious, which has a Willy Wonka-ish set but in tone and approach, is much more like The Great British Baking Show.
Floor is Lava and Don’t: two kids’ games, turned into reality TV competitions
Netflix’s Floor is Lava is visually stunning, with its set of gurgling lava slime, but it needs better narration, like Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool-style narration on ABC’s new game show Don’t.
Big Flower Fight is Netflix’s wilted, underbaked Great British Baking Show
The Big Flower Fight is the latest entry in Netflix’s attempt to wow the world with mediocre versions of popular reality TV shows, and it has plagiarized all the wrong things from The Great British Baking Show.
Tiger King excels at throwing bloody chunks at ravenous Netflix viewers. But why?
Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder Mayhem, and Madness is as unsubtle as this headline, and is addictively watchable. But what is its point?
Restaurants on the Edge: a review of Netflix’s restaurant makeover reality show
A review of Netflix’s Restaurants on the Edge, on which a chef, a restauranteur, and an interior designer visit locals in a community during their quest to help a struggling restaurant.
A review of Netflix’s Love is Blind, on which The Circle meets Temptation Island and Married at First Sight
Love is Blind is a new Netflix dating series that starts with fascinating interactions similar to The Circle, but then becomes a more cautionary tale.
The Repair Shop ‘will resurrect, revive, and rejuvenate treasured possessions,’ and my day
The Repair Shop—a BBC series that’s available via Netflix, and on which objects are restored—is charming, warm, and set in a barn. In other words, it’s perfect.
The Circle turns social media into reality TV: a review of Netflix’s U.S. version
Watching people text each other and judge the reactions is occasionally fascinating, sometimes boring, and frighteningly revealing about how we try to connect with each other.
Chef’s Line and Interior Design Masters: reviews of two competitions on Netflix
Australia’s cooking competition The Chef’s Line is the best cooking competition on Netflix now, while Interior Design Masters didn’t live up to its potential.
Netflix’s Prank Encounters is neither scary nor funny, just embarrassing and boring
The Gaten Matarazzo-hosted prank show is scary for all the wrong reasons, and far more tedious than terrifying.
Rhythm + Flow, Netflix’s hip-hop competition, which ends today, sure ‘ain’t The Voice’
“This ain’t The Voice, motherfuckers,” Snoop Dogg said on the premiere of Netflix’s Rhythm and Flow, which released its final three episodes today.
Review: Hyperdrive sends drivers and their cars on an insane obstacle course
Netflix’s new competition series is a thrill to watch, like a reality TV version of Fast & Furious on a stunning obstacle course.