America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation

This is the unfortunate work of ATK's new Vice President of Television, Video, and Podcasts: Mark Levine. His entire Food Network career was spent stacking the slate with competition cooking shows like "Worst Cooks in America", "The Great Food Truck Race" and "Cutthroat Kitchen". He also has the inglorious honor of being the guy that thought that putting little kids in dangerous, high pressure cooking situations for TV drama was an ethical idea.

So it's no surprise that this feels very much at home with the tired, cookie-cutter content he's been churning out for well over 10 years as part of Food Network's post-instructional era. You can even see the direct lineage and combinations of ideas, concepts, and presentation taken from his earlier works.

That said, even though this is a weird, uninspired mixture of his previous programs, namely "Food Network Star" & "Cutthroat Kitchen", it doesn't work with the talent that ATK possesses and their usual on-screen personas. He's making nearly every ATK personality come off as incredibly petty and condescending; qualities that wouldn't make me vie for a job at ATK.

The contestants themselves are making the best of a weird situation but each Cutthroat-esque twist thrown their way doesn't add to the drama, it just makes things awkward as they refuse to play along with the production. I applaud them, throwing people under the bus during a job interview is never a good idea. If only the producers understood that too.

To top it all off, the promised rewards at the end of the series are confusing and make it plain that whomever wins will probably have as much lasting impact at ATK as the average Food Network Star winner had on the channel over it's 14 seasons, which is to say nearly none.

Just to drive this home, during the various confession cam segments the contestants talk not about their dreams of working under the ATK brand but what independent ventures they hope to finance using the $100K prize. I wish them the same luck that ex-ATK personalities like J. Kenji Lopez-Alt or Christopher Kimball have had after escaping ATK's clutches. Maybe they'll actually be able to win a James Beard award! :P

My advice: Stick to instructional content based around exhaustive experimentation and tough-love hardware reviews; this show is a bad look that was tired well before Mark left Food Network.

ATK excels b/c of it's professionalism and trustworthiness. I trust these people. They aren't fashionable or pretty or trendy or slick. They're cooking nerds and that's why I watch.

So who did they choose to host their first competition show? IDK, (some D-list blogger?) but she's terrible. She doesn't appear to have any culinary knowledge and is about as authentic as a street corner Rolex. That's what producers think the ATK audience wants? It throws everyone at ATK's credibility out the window.

This woman has no idea what chicken tinga is, she stands right in front of competitor's stations while they're frantically working, and actually asked someone what's going inside their ricotta dumplings. Why couldn't any of the many competent, knowledgeable, and authentic ATK cooks host this show?

Examples of her comments: "That sounds bomb!", "Sounds good dude!" while strategically baring her cleavage. But hey, she can count down! That's about the only contribution she makes and that could be done by a clock on the wall. She's no Padma, that's for sure.

Also, sorry, but what is the point of this show? Seems like they're trying to knock off Top Chef. Why not shoot for something fresh and relevant to ATK? ATK is all about technique but the individual competitions have little to do with technique. How is Nonna's meatball dish going to get anyone hired as an ATK host? I don't need to know an ATK chef's culinary POV. I have no idea what Julia eats for dinner and that's fine.

And while I stopped watching, it would've been nice if after the winner is announced they show the winning dish. I'm probably not alone when I say I don't remember each contestant's dish.

Back to the drawing board, ATK.

This was a really disappointing show. As much as I love ATK and CC, this is an abomination. Most of the cooks are from either California or, to a lesser extent, Massachusetts. This is one more show that caters to the coasts and to hell with the rest of the country. I don't know or care who wins but I'll only see any of them when they get to ATK.

The level of inexperience for several of the contestants is laughable. On a dish that one cook mentioned he did in dedication to his Dad was horrible. Not only did he overcook the salmon that he said he has prepared many times but he failed to even get his rice done. How is it that you don't start the rice immediately - all of the rice cookers I am aware of can keep the rice warm until the protein is done. It all resulted in a plate that would have been better presented as salmon nachos - at least there wouldn't have been a nearly empty plate.

Others had their own set of afflictions. Bottom line, I watched through about 1/2 of the meal presentations and turnedd it off, not likely to ever watch again. I learned a great deal from ATK and CC and I feel lke this denigrates their "exalted" position in the cooking TV world. Sorry Elle, Julia, Dan, and Jack but this is beneath you!

It's really fun to see the inside of the America's Test Kitchen building and kitchens, which we don't get to see on the other shows. And I love watching the ATK hosts like Elle, Jack, and Dan give feedback in a new setting.

I'm a big fan of cooking competition shows, so this show is right up my alley. It doesn't have the borderline aggressive edge of a lot of current Food Network shows, but it's more aligned with that style than with The Great British Baking Show. The contestants are friendly with each other mostly because they're not cooking the same dishes side by side. There's a lot of creativity coming from the contestants themselves.

Remember when Food Network used to show programs about cooking, then the entire network turned into a slate of pathetic and inane competitions? It seems like ATK is about to travel down that same sad, sorry road if this horrid show is an example of what to expect.

The main host is horribly cast. Why is she shrieking and screaming at the contestants? Okay, I'm sure the producers want to generate some enthusiasm on the set but seriously? Her shrill voice is like nails on a chalkboard! At least we have one sensible, serious judge along the way.

And where do they find some of these cooks? I would expect someone wishing to obtain a position with ATK would have a touch more than basic food knowledge. We hear several times "I've never cooked that before". The worst was the contestant that seemed unable to comprehend the brief for the challenge in addition to their horrible time management. Just because your parent was a chef doesn't endow you with those skills.

I was really looking forward to watching this program but after two episodes I'm done.