Emeril

This poorly written sitcom relies entirely on the charisma of Emeril, and he needs help. The scripts were dreadful, the supporting cast (with the exception of Urich) were pedestrian, and the entire concept seems poorly thought out. Linda Bloodworth Thomassan, who with her husband gave the much needed support to President Clinton, via advice and speech critique, seems to have lost out again. And again it is the viewers that suffer.

I actually favored watching his live show on the Food Network over this show. If only NBC had done things differently, Emeril fans, like myself, wouldn't have ran out the door! I now feel sorry for Emeril and his potential acting career because I think he could've gone far with this one. My advice to Emeril is, "Please try again."

To say that this attempt to bring famed chef Emeril Lagasse to the sitcom world is bad would be understating the case. The unfortunate thing for Mr. Lagasse is that, despite what many will say, it simply isn't HIS fault. If you can stand to sit through one of these excruciating half hours, you may notice that Emeril himself is not all that bad. He's amateurish, and not nearly as fluid with his delivery of scripted lines as he is with the open banter of his actual cooking shows. But he's actually the best one of the bunch of "clowns" in this incomprehensible mess. The problem appears to be that the producers were afraid of Emeril's lack of polish and simply tried to cover it up by supplying a bevy of loud, obnoxious old-hat stereotypes to run around screaming. Mr. Lagasse could probably have done much better with some subtlety in the writing. Perhaps if the producers had modeled their product on the British comedy "Chef!", it might have suited better. Sorry Emeril, a chef is only as good as his ingredients, and the producers handed you spoiled ham to work with.

The critics keep expecting a show that is synonymous with Henrick Ibsen or Anton Chekov in its writing and plots. But that isn't what Emeril does. The show is just a pleasant diversion, with common issues with its viewers. I watched the show and enjoyed it for what it was. Why are people attacking it? It's not derogatory, it isn't hateful, and it doesn't dumb down to anybody. It's just a pleasant television show about a famous cook!

It was not Emerils fault that the show bombed.

The Thomasons would not let Emeril "play" Emeril as himself.

There were no "bams", no "kick it up a notches".

They forced him to play a toned down version of himself.

Then cast a bunch of actors around him to liven the show up.

Sure Emeril is no Sir Laurence Oliver, but neither is Tom Hanks.

Emeril was handicapped by not being allowed to be himself.

Emeril can still buy and sell any of you out there who have knocked his effort.

I went to one of the tapings of the show in California and in my opinion did as good of a job as was possible given the circumstances.

At least HE tried, can any of you dopes say say the same!