The Big Brunch

Dan Levy's cooking show looks beautiful and it is an easy watch. The kitchen and set are stunning, I loved the colors that they chose. I loved that we got to know the chefs on a more intimate level and almost felt like we were competing with them. The parts I did not enjoy were almost every critique from the judges. In one episode, they have a special guest judge who somehow topped will and sohla in terms of being insufferable. They tell the contestants to go back and think about the theme of the day... even though it wasn't really that clear ? That is ultimately the problem with this show, the contestants seemed confused on exactly what they are supposed to do - cook the best meal, or pitch the best idea for a restaurant.

Dan Levy has created a show with so much heart and humanity. I dearly love all of the contestants and their relationships with each other. They truly do love one another and want the best for each other. The behind the scenes info on each contestant is just great and really makes it so much more personal. Dan's love for food makes me like him even more than I already did and the fact that they hand picked each person on this show is wonderful. They all have such amazing stories that make you really connect and want to route for each even after the show ends. I was not aware of Sohla and Will before this show but I am a huge fan of both now.

I was really enjoying this show until the finale, where I felt as if the show became confused as to what it is. Is it a cooking competition? Is it a brunch themed cooking competition? Is it a pitch show?

After the first episode, there was little to no reference from the judges over the next several episodes of how good the contestant's pitches were for what they would do with the $300,000 grand prize. It became about the food and the best dishes would advance each week regardless of what they would do with the money.

Now, in the final 3, the pitches began getting critiqued and would impact their decision on who to choose to win The Big Brunch.

No spoilers, but if Contestant A's pitch seemed like it needed work, why not have the pitches be discussed throughout the show and allow each contestant to improve/change what they originally wanted to do with the money based on them evolving during the process, the judges feedback, etc.

The finale felt out of place to what the show had been up until this point especially with the Brunch aspect now seemingly being irrelevant.

If there is a season 2, they either need to just award the winner based on the dishes they cook or involve the contestant's pitches throughout the show and allow them to get feedback during the process and not just get these questions at the finale where it leaves the viewer wondering what show they are now watching.

Potential for greatness with Dan leading the way, but they need to figure things out for future seasons..

First off, to the person who complains that there's swearing, like it's a shock to hear form cooks. What's shocking is that swearing is censored so much for other shows because cooks and chefs swear like it's a career requirement.

Second, as a diehard fan of cooking shows, I'm really disappointed in the lack of discussion about what the cooks are doing or how. A guy makes switch from scratch. Are we shown this? No! He just tells them he did it.

I never "not learn" from cooking shows and that's true of this one. I'm only two episodes in so maybe it's all the background storytelling that gets in the way of technique discussion but it's a bit frustrating.

I want to love this but I feel like it was made by a team that don't actually watch a lot of great cooking shows. I'll keep watching because I want to see who wins but they really need to beef up the value for watching this. Give us techniques and tips, show us more of what the actual chefs are cooking.

For those of you who enjoy Great British Baking Show/Great British Bake Off, you'll most likely enjoy this show. It follows the same format where there aren't any green screen interviews or intense judging panels or chef drama. This is a very sweet and wholesome show. Yes they swear but they're chefs and it's HBOMax so those that are complaining about that...come on. There is a great amount of humor and it's not terribly complicated or dramatic like other cooking competitions can be.

All of the chefs are people that are doing great things for their communities and with the diversity it brings a fresh take on a sometimes stale genre of television. Also Dan Levy is a gem per usual.