Brian Boitano
Food Network premiered a new show today, "What Would Brian Boitano Make?", and if the first show is any indication, this is a major league home run. Please forgive my using a metaphor from the wrong sport.
Seriously, which might be the wrong attitude to use when discussing the show, everything works here. Boitano mixes deadpan humor with almost slapstick asides and his personality pervades every minute of the show. And that's a good thing.
Now don't get me wrong, while the food on the show is good and Boitano seems to know his way around the kitchen, this show is not about food. The show uses Boitano's celebrity from the ice rink and from the Southpark "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" song to great effect. The first episode was really a work of art and I hope they can maintain this quality level across multiple shows.
There was irony--like when they show a chef stand-in doing the nut chopping then Boitano exclaims about how difficult it was to chop them--numerous sexual innuendos (this episode should almost get an R-rating) about Tony getting laid (more about that in a second), or girls coming and coming and coming, or going to get "the meat of love." And often the humor in the scene is immediately lampooned in some way to "reverse" the effect and it just makes it funnier. It's an entirely new direction for Food Network, which up to this point hasn't been known for humor.
The Tony thing is the thin plot basis for the first episode. Apparently one of Brian Boitano's personal friends, Tony, needs to get a new girlfriend and Brian wants to come to the rescue. So he invites through friends---oddly enough he doesn't seem to know any single women, go figure---20 hot single women to meet his friend Tony and the bulk of the show is Boitano making the appetizers and cocktail for the party.
They interspersed cartoons, skating type music, video clips, etc to support Boitano's patter and cooking and it all works very well. I was quite surprised at how much I liked the show. After watching the show I immediately added it to my DVR schedule.
Seriously, which might be the wrong attitude to use when discussing the show, everything works here. Boitano mixes deadpan humor with almost slapstick asides and his personality pervades every minute of the show. And that's a good thing.
Now don't get me wrong, while the food on the show is good and Boitano seems to know his way around the kitchen, this show is not about food. The show uses Boitano's celebrity from the ice rink and from the Southpark "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" song to great effect. The first episode was really a work of art and I hope they can maintain this quality level across multiple shows.There was irony--like when they show a chef stand-in doing the nut chopping then Boitano exclaims about how difficult it was to chop them--numerous sexual innuendos (this episode should almost get an R-rating) about Tony getting laid (more about that in a second), or girls coming and coming and coming, or going to get "the meat of love." And often the humor in the scene is immediately lampooned in some way to "reverse" the effect and it just makes it funnier. It's an entirely new direction for Food Network, which up to this point hasn't been known for humor.
The Tony thing is the thin plot basis for the first episode. Apparently one of Brian Boitano's personal friends, Tony, needs to get a new girlfriend and Brian wants to come to the rescue. So he invites through friends---oddly enough he doesn't seem to know any single women, go figure---20 hot single women to meet his friend Tony and the bulk of the show is Boitano making the appetizers and cocktail for the party.
They interspersed cartoons, skating type music, video clips, etc to support Boitano's patter and cooking and it all works very well. I was quite surprised at how much I liked the show. After watching the show I immediately added it to my DVR schedule.
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