Emeril

In this short-lived sitcom, popular TV chef Emeril Lagasse portrayed a fictional version of himself. Following a critically-panned pilot in which time was equally split between Emeril's home and work life, the scene shifted almost exclusively to his set and office, where he was surrounded by an eccentric staff. Producer Cassandra was a loud- mouthed, twice-divorced mother of one; Melva was a sassy black stage manager who instilled fear in all of her coworkers; food stylist B.D. was a naive, recently-divorced simpleton; Jerry was Emeril's sleazy manager/best friend; Trish was a condescending network executive; and Nurse Smearball was the network's humorless nurse. Infrequently seen were Emeril's wife, Nora, as well as his two sons and daughter (all portrayed by actors). Plots were what you'd expect from a workplace sitcom set on a TV show: backstage squabbles, office parties, spinning negative press into positive, wrangling celebrity guest stars, etc. As sort of a lame tie-in, after each episode viewers could go to NBC's website and get the recipe for a dish which was seen on the show that week.

The show was slated to debut on September 18, 2001, but continuous news coverage of the 9-11 attacks delayed the start of the entire TV season... quickly leading to jokes that terrorists were trying to save us from enduring shows like "Emeril." Because fear and confusion was so thick in the air, TV viewers found solace in established series like "Friends" and every new show that season tanked (though oddities like "The Tick" and "Greg the Bunny" went on to develop cult followings on DVD). Soon afterward, Emeril's popularity waned and this sitcom was blamed. Thing is, that's not really fair - without reinvention stars tend to fizzle and this show was really no worse than any other sitcom on the air at the time (it was certainly better than that era's crap like "What About Joan?," the aptly-named "Cursed" and the inexplicably long-running "According to Jim").

There were times (particularly in the unaired pilot) when he seemed uncomfortable wrapping his mouth around the scripted sitcom dialogue, but for the most part Emeril was charismatic and seemed right at home in front of the cameras. Lisa Ann Walter (Cass) and Sherri Shepard (Melva) had terrific chemistry; Robert Urich (Jerry) was a seasoned pro who seemed to relish playing his slimy character (his final series role); and Tricia O'Kelley (Trish) basically played a variation of the same character she'd go on to portray for several years in "The New Adventures of Old Christine." The writing was not up to par with Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's earlier "Designing Women," but frankly that show got off to an almost-equally wobbly start, and this time Thomason pawned off writing duties for most episodes to her staff of writers. Yes, there were a lot of lame jokes (like any sitcom), but there were also some funny zingers too. Unfortunately, with abysmal ratings, NBC abruptly halted production after 10 episodes (3 shy of their 13 episode commitment) and only 7 of them aired.

While it was far from the greatest sitcom ever produced, it was equally far from the worst -- though it frequently shows up on worst lists. Had circumstances been different, "Emeril" might have grown into a long-running hit rather than the notorious bomb that it's reputed to be today.

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!

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.

I enjoy watching Emeril Lagasse's cooking shows on the Food Network, but this situation comedy built around him is a misfire. Compliments to the chef: Lagasse appears to be very comfortable acting in front of the camera as opposed to cooking. However, it's as if he's a supporting character on his own show. Lisa Ann Walter (veteran of a failed sitcom herself) and the other two ladies who play characters who assist with the chef's cooking show seem to pull the action right out from under him. I have no idea why Robert Ulrich's agent character is there at all; I guess the writers needed to give Lagasse a male buddy to interact with to counterpoint all of the women he's surrounded by.

His cooking shows on cable are more entertaining than this undercooked offering.