After three seasons, ABC has cancelled the Anthony Bourdain-hosted food competition series The Taste. After just one episode, ABC has renewed its Shark Tank spin-off Beyond the Tank. The network has also renewed The Bachelor, Dancing with the Stars, and Shark Tank, as was to be expected. The renewal for Beyond the Tank is perhaps… continue reading
The Taste
The Taste season 3 ends in the best way possible
Another season of The Taste has concluded, and like certain wines or Anderson Cooper, it keeps getting better with age. The finale featured a live studio audience of the contestants’ friends and family who could witness Ludo’s abuse in person, and came down to three men, the final two of whom were also in a separate competition to see whose… continue reading
The Anthony Bourdain In-N-Out “burger slut” video
The Anthony Bourdain In-N-Out video is currently making the rounds, because it’s so spectacular to watch a chef known for exploring and extolling world cuisine eat fast food and analyze it in great detail. Bourdain calls the chain “his favorite restaurant in Los Angeles,” and calls himself a “cheap, nasty, low-down, trailer park burger slut.” In this video, provided to… continue reading
The Taste and its spoons return with a new twist, same mentors
When I reviewed the first season of ABC’s The Taste, I suggested it would not last beyond one season. Thankfully, ABC thought otherwise and gave the show a shot to redeem itself, and in its second season, it really improved. It excised things that weren’t working, including former “Top Chef” Brian Malarkey. He was replaced with Marcus… continue reading
The Taste’s second season: so much better than the first
Along with the silly spoons, most of the annoying parts of The Taste have all but disappeared, improving the ABC competition in its second season. The first season just didn’t work, but there was a lot of potential that has been realized now, and that’s both surprising and great: rarely does a show get time… continue reading
Marcus Samuelsson replaces Brian Malarkey on The Taste
ABC’s The Taste, which is returning for an improbable second season, has replaced its winning judge/mentors, former Top Chef contestant Brian Malarkey, with Chopped judge Marcus Samuelsson. Malarkey’s contract wasn’t renewed; he said in a very nice statement earlier this summer that “Being a part of ABC’s The Taste was a great experience, especially mentoring… continue reading
ABC kills Dancing with the Stars results, renews The Taste, orders fantasy competition
Dancing with the Stars will only air on one night this fall, as ABC has cancelled its Tuesday night results shows. That’s similar to the decision Fox made last year to limit So You Think You Can Dance to a single night, combining the performance and results into one awkward hour of television. ABC said… continue reading
How The Taste screwed up
ABC’s blind-tasting cooking competition The Taste concluded last night, and just 3.45 million people watched, tying its lowest-ratings ever. It was easily crushed by the second hour of Hell’s Kitchen. It was won by someone familiar with being on a reality TV show: Khristianne Uy, who besides being Charlie Sheen’s personal chef, has also appeared… continue reading
The Taste’s dumb judges: maddeningly rejecting food they like
ABC’s The Taste aired its second–and, mercifully, final–audition episode last night, and it drove me even more insane than the first audition episode. And that’s because the four coach/judges/chefs/whatever–Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Brian Malarkey, and Ludo Lefebvre–had a maddening tendency to reject a contestant and then praise that person for his or her amazing food…. continue reading