Man v. Food

Adam Richman was fantastic, Casey a bit rubbish.

A series of it's time, but now we have the internet and YouTube which has much more extreme food challenges on.

Half cooking show, half strange competition show. It started the competitive eating awareness and gave birth to watching men eat too much food in a way the killer from Se7en would find agreeable in the first kill - Gluttony.

Beard vs Food on YouTube is the UK version, wildly popular as he does food in the UK and over the globe.

It's very entertaining and will make you want to pick up your phone and order Uber Eats/Just-Eat. But with the obesity crisis, do we need this in 2024?

This decade has been a bit of a disappointment in terms of television programs. After a decade of excellent cartoons, sitcoms, and dramas, the 2000s has been quite lackluster in terms of prime time. With few exceptions (My main one being ABC's LOST) out there, I've turned my attention to video games and especially movies for entertainment much more often. However, there's a television show out there that delivers some of the most entertaining television in recent memory. The Travel Channel has been on a roll lately with rising ratings and whatnot, but thanks to Man vs. Food, the Travel Channel and reality programming in general has reached new quality peaks.

Man vs. Food is easily, hands-down, the best new television show within the last two years. Well-edited, perfectly hosted, and with enough energy to generate Manhattan, this program is a wonderful breath of fresh air for television. While it isn't for weak stomachs, the content is family-friendly, well-paced, and thoroughly enjoyable. The host is entertaining, caring, lovable, and has a love for food that most of us can only dream of having.

The concept is nice and simple: Adam Richman travels the country in search of food challenges that could make your arteries clog just witnessing the carnage. To add to the mayhem, he also scours the city in search of the more popular and successful eateries in the area. Unlike Andrew Zimmern, Richman doesn't attempt to really gross out, he tires to expand your horizons as to what you eat and how you actually eat it. Man vs. Food focuses on quality as well as quantity. Richman has already on Season 1 introduced us to a dozen award-winning restaurants as well as over a dozen crazyinsane eating challenges. Along the way he interviews people, and also runs into celebrities from time to time—ranging from Gladys Knight to baseball star Kevin Youkilis. The spotlight is never hogged; Richman shares the camera with the scenery, the local folks, and of course the food.

The main appeal in Man vs. Food are the challenges in the end that pretty much prove that Americans are easily among the biggest lovers (and most creative crafters) of food in the entire world. The human versus food battles range from eating a 12-pound pizza to eating a 5-pound burger (plus 5 pounds of fries) to fighting a 7-pound breakfast burrito to even taking on spicy food so hot it can make people bleed. Adam Richman, despite his lack of competitive eating skills, rises to almost all the challenges and the results range from hilarious to gross to perhaps even uplifting. It's just much too easy to root for him to win them all. Plus, why go against someone that introduces you to slices of pizza larger than babies and donuts bigger than your face? Locations are scattered all over, never limited to any one type of food or one region of the country. He has traveled as far north as Seattle and Boston, and made his way all the way down to Atlanta, and all the way west to Los Angeles and San Jose. But have no fear, with so many lovely cities in the United States, I can guarantee that we won't find an end to all the pursuing challenges; his main enemies are time, and his health. The only drawback would be if your city has yet to be featured in the program. Give it time, at this rate, he'll be knocking on your door.

Bottom Line: The best new show on television, hands-down. The concept has been done before, but has never been done with such humor and bubbly energy. Adam Richman is the best host in all of Travel Channel, and remains one of the few modern shows I'm willing to watch multiple times. America is never seen in a negative light, as the subtle and hidden beauty of the diversity and creativity of the country sparkles throughout the all-too-short 30 minutes of the program. I wish this show all the success in the world, because it deserves it, and I'd hate to see another Arrested Development situation develop. Highly, highly recommend.

Back in the day this show was a fun, amusing and interesting show. Adam Richman seemed to respect the people, establishments, and the food while having a lot of fun doing his job. The scary thing was you could actually see him gaining weight rapidly and you knew he couldn't do it for long. He rode off into the sunset, while getting his weight down, and they replaced him with a dullard that is his polar opposite. While Casey seems to be a genuinely nice guy, he is just too awkward and cringey to take seriously. He stares at the camera creepily and often while making moronic comments that you can see the people around him with "Wtf?" looks on their faces. The show is watchable though because of the food, most of which looks very good. While Adam beat some seriously difficult challenges in during his stint, Casey rarely comes remotely close to beating any. He won't stop talking during the challenge. Eat, you fool! Entertain us, clown!

All those overly dramatic reviews just have to be written by health freaks. My God, get over it, it's a TV show, nobody is ever invited to follow him, or try it at home. people watch it over here in Ireland & the UK too, and we don't have such massive obesity problems. if your kids are so easily influenced by what they see on TV, switch it off!

I love watching the mounds of crap that these restaurants conjure up. BUT, it is true that he kisses ass a little, I've never once seen him say something was terrible or even just not great. Everything he eats is "Awesome" and it is the over Americanised exaggerating (like every challenge has a crowd of overly eager - possibly actors - behind him) that ruins it in the end.

Watch it on a full tum and you won't go hitting the fridge ;)

It's very easy to write off a replacement - you like an original presenter etc, and this can be wholly unfair - people are different, and sometimes that's ok. But...

Not in this case! While OTT and silly, Adam was genuinely funny, quick witted, and knew his stuff.

It's all well and good being amusing, but to also know a thing or two about your subject just elevates the premise of the show.

I have tried and tried with Casey, but he just shouts, has zero knowledge, leaves pauses like he's caught in the headlights, and just isn't funny.

Some great eateries, some amazing chefs. But a real step down in presentation. And ultimately the subject makes you want to watch, but the host just pull you in. No longer, sadly.