Emeril

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."

Emeril is a tremendously talented chef ala artiste, but a comedic actor (or actor period) he's not. This mess is a terribly formulaic take on Emeril's actual Food Channel cooking show (a joy of a show and where Emeril belongs). To make up for Emeril's lack of acting ability, the producers surrounded him with crisp, timing-savvy comedic pros...you can almost hear the snare drum and cymbals after every punchline. Robert Urich lent a legitimate "big-name" which evoked nostalgic sympathy for the cancer victim. Plots lines are trite and "text-book", and yet infantile (those excruciatingly bad baldy wigs in episode #1). Painful to watch, thank God this mistake was taken off the burner before it became completely overdone and rancid.

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!

I didn't really think Emeril Lagasse could pass as a comedian, but after watching this show, not only has it been confirmed that he isn't funny - but he also can't act.

The promo spots on television for this sitcom didn't feature any laughable teasers. That's usually a bad sign for things to come. Emeril basically plays himself in this show. He's a television chef of a reasonably successful cooking show and the sitcom centers around himself and his staff.

The premiere episode was something I could only describe as 'just awful'. Emeril and his crew enter themselves into a competition to see who can lose the most weight against the crews of the other cooking shows on the same network. The prize, $100,000.00, to be split amongst the winning crew. We spend thirty painstaking minutes listening to tired jokes about losing weight and how dieting makes people cranky. We see Emeril and his 'agent' (played by Robert Urich, which is almost a laugh in itself) get themselves into ridiculous situations, such as sweating it out at a gym. And to top it off, we see the main characters sitting in wet-suits on power-cycles at the gym arguing amongst themselves over who can lose the most weight.

One of the worst things about this show is the supporting cast themselves. They over-act to the point where the jokes are forgotten and you find yourself cringing in turmoil over why you haven't yet changed the channel at this point.

If you find it amusing when Emeril shouts "BAM!" when throwing salt onto a plate of food, then this show is for you.

If you want to watch something that will make you laugh at least once, then this show is not for you.

Shame on NBC for serving up this garbage to us so early in the season!

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.