The Daily Beast: "Chopped: Why I’m Obsessed with Food Network’s Reality Competition Show"

Food Network’s Chopped returns for its fifteenth season. I write about why sea cucumbers, speculoos, and lacinato kale--on the surface, ingredients which many of us have never heard of--matter.

At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Chopped: Why I’m Obsessed with Food Network’s Reality Competition Show," in which I I write about my insatiable obsession with Food Network's Chopped, and how the competition show brings a deeper and richer awareness of food and culinary diversity to the public at large.

When the Food Network, the culinary-themed cable network available in approximately 99 million American homes and 150 countries around the globe, launched Chopped in 2009, no one could have imagined the eventual impact the show would have.

And by no one, I mean me.

I was initially less than enthusiastic about Chopped—a culinary competition show featuring four chefs squaring off by cooking an appetizer, entrée, and dessert from various mystery basket ingredients—during the early part of its run. I complained about the under-lit sets, the under-enthusiastic judges, the under-utilization of knowledgeable foodie host Ted Allen. I compared it unfavorably to Bravo’s Top Chef, from which it had appeared to borrow its overall conceit.

Over time, Chopped course-corrected: the set now no longer looks like it’s perpetually twilight, and the judges—a selection of well-known and well-respected chefs and restaurateurs—are now very much engaged and invested in the action in front of them. As for host Ted Allen … well, I always wish the show’s producers would give him something to eat, or at least offer him a chair.

I came back to Chopped a few years ago to discover the show’s transformation from staid and predictably over-produced competition show into something more intriguing and rewarding: a show that celebrated the competitive nature of chefs and brought a level of awareness—of technique, of ingredients, of culinary passion and poise—to a wider audience than ever before.

Years ago, Food Network’s primetime lineup was overflowing with how-to cooking programs. In the late 1990s, you couldn’t flip on the channel without seeing Emeril Lagasse or Ming Tsai or Bobby Flay preparing a dish, step by step, for the viewers. There was even a live call-in program, Cooking Live Primetime, hosted by Sara Moulton, which often featured sommeliers and wine experts in the mix. It was approachable, accessible, and most definitely focused on viewers who understood food and its preparation.

Over time, the network subtly changed its remit; in more recent years, it is stocked with various culinary competition shows, programming that places the emphasis more on competition (whether it be cupcakes, elaborate cakes, chocolate structures, new program hosts, etc.) than the food, per se. It wasn’t necessarily food television for foodies, but rather escapist fare for people who might derive more enjoyment from watching people cook than cooking themselves. (A spinoff network, the Cooking Channel, was created in 2010 to service the latter group.)

Chopped, however, occupies a unique strata within the world of Food Network. It might, like its similarly themed brethren (the terrifying Sweet Genius, for example), be a reality competition show in the vein of Top Chef, but Chopped manages to be absolutely riveting television that educates, informs, and thrills at the same time.

Four chefs enter the kitchen; one is crowned the Chopped Champion at the end, having gone through three courses and no less than a dozen mystery ingredients, ranging from the mundane (leftover pizza) to the sublime (abalone). The clock is relentless as they churn out dish after dish, being judged on creativity, taste, and presentation. Egos flare, tempers simmer over, and occasionally true culinary genius and ingenuity is glimpsed.

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The Daily Beast: "TiVo’s Top 20 Shows Watched Before Bed: Jimmy Fallon, Lost Girl, and More"

Just what are you watching before bed? Do you tune in to watch a 10 p.m. drama? A late-night talk show? Or reality television?

At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "TiVo’s Top 20 Shows Watched Before Bed: Jimmy Fallon, Lost Girl, and More," in which I examine data obtained from TiVo about the top 20 shows that people watch before they go to bed, from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Revenge to Chopped and NCIS: LA.

It’s no secret that many Americans turn on the television as part of a nighttime ritual before bed. But what is surprising is just what they’re watching before their heads hit their respective pillows.

According to data provided by TiVo to The Daily Beast, the top program watched at bedtime was NBC’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, while TBS’s Conan was the most-watched cable show before bed.

“Perhaps it’s not surprising that many late-night talk shows are watched before bed,” Tara Maitra, TiVo’s general manager of content and media sales, said in a statement. “But we found it interesting that many people are also tuning into light-hearted reality shows before falling asleep.”

In fact, 22 percent of shows watched at bedtime are reality shows, with Bravo and HGTV appearing most often with 11 percent of cable programs represented (though Food Network’s Chopped crops up in the top 20), while the most-watched non-news or reality show watched at bedtime is Syfy’s Canadian import Lost Girl. Despite the fact that it went off the air in 2007, The King of Queens—now airing repeats in syndication—scored an impressive high spot at No. 23.

The top 10 recorded, rather than live, programs watched before bed included Glee, Modern Family, NCIS: Los Angeles, Smash, The Mentalist, Revenge, America’s Got Talent, American Idol, and Cougar Town. (Wait, Cougar Town?!?)

A few caveats first. The data provided by TiVo came from a sample group of 47,000 opt-in households who are TiVo or DVR subscribers and were generated by the last program—both live and recorded—that they watched after 10 p.m. on weeknights (Monday through Thursday). Multiple-day viewership was factored in as well, which is why late-night talk shows like Late Night and The Tonight Show ranked so highly here, as they air throughout the week. Finally, the percentage listed is indicative of the percentage of viewers (TiVo boxes) out of all boxes that watched at least one show during the four days of ratings analysis, including both recorded and live programs. (All times are ET/PT.)

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The Daily Beast: "Sweet Genius: Ron Ben-Israel is the Scariest Man on Television"

Ron Ben-Israel may be a renowned pastry chef in real life, but as the host of Food Network’s cooking show Sweet Genius, he terrifies me.

At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "The Creepiest Man on Television," in which I discuss just why Ben-Israel freaks me out and review his Food Network show, Sweet Genius, a bizarre and often head-scratching mishmash of styles, tones, and freaky weirdness.

The scariest man on television is obsessed with cakes.

Ron Ben-Israel, the host of Food Network’s bizarre culinary competition series Sweet Genius, absolutely terrifies me. Watching the show reduces me to cold sweat, imagining that Ben-Israel has forced me into the Saw-like confines of the Sweet Genius set, where I must bake a génoise while he cackles eagerly at my misery before murdering me.

Sweet Genius is a variation on the network’s highly successful Chopped: Four chefs—pastry chefs and confectionary makers in this case—must cook three courses from pre-selected mystery ingredients, and one chef gets eliminated each round, leading to a final showdown between the last two competitors. This is hardly a novel conceit (in fact the entire show seems to be a direct reaction to Bravo’s Top Chef: Just Desserts), but here the courses—or “tests” to borrow the Sweet Genius parlance—are composed of chocolate, candy, and cake rounds, and the judge may cause you to wet your pants in fright, even if you’re not appearing on the show.

Overseeing the action from a thronelike place of power on a raised dais, Ben-Israel seems to be a cross between Fringe’s Observers—chromelike baldpates whose alienlike eyes skim over the action but never quite connect with it—and Austin Powers’s Bond-villain spoof Dr. Evil, given their similar physical appearances, fondness for wearing purple-blue and self-serious natures.

It’s the last element that’s the most troubling. While there’s clearly an overt aura of enforced theatricality to the proceedings, Ben-Israel takes his persona a little too far. There’s the spine-chilling way in which he tastes elements of the contestants’ dishes with an insane amount of fastidiousness, as though he were solving a complex differential equation or dissecting a victim rather than, well, eating candy. Adding to this sense of unease is the way with which Ben-Israel speaks, an exaggerated blend of winking coyness and thunderous voice of evil, announcing the inspiration for the dish (Ballerinas! Live baby chicks! A ventriloquist dummy!) and the way in which he slams his hand down on the large, overtly cake-shaped button that controls the show’s conveyer belt.

Continue reading at The Daily Beast...

Test Pattern: What's Your Indispensable TV Network?

We all have the networks--whether broadcast or cable, legacy or newbie--that we gravitate to, but I was wondering this morning about so-called indispensable networks.

Given that I write about television, nearly all networks could be said to be indispensable in one way or another, but what I was pondering was that one specific television channel that you can't turn away from, that you automatically switch to when you turn on the television, or which you have on as background while you're doing other things in our multi-tasking obsessed society.

Many years ago, that channel was--perhaps not surprisingly for those of you who know me--Food Network, but it was replaced by BBC America around 2000 and for many years that was my go-to network, the one spot on the metaphorical dial that I could always depend on for diverting fare, soothing background noise, or a sense of the familiar and comforting.

For whatever the reason, sadly, that's not the case anymore and--shock, horror--I've actually gone so far as to remove BBC America from my list of TiVo favorite channels as it's become a 24-hour network showcasing little other than Star Trek: The Next Generation, Top Gear, and repeats of three ubiquitous Gordon Ramsay reality series. (Three standouts this year: crime drama Luther, reality series The Choir, and culinary competition series Come Dine with Me all had short runs, unfortunately, and Doctor Who can't run all year long.)

But that's a rant for another post (and, believe me, it's coming).

What I am curious about is whether you have a specific network that fulfills those needs and just what network that might be. Are you addicted to USA? Hooked on HBO? Famished for Food Network? Drawn to Cartoon Network? Ingratiated towards IFC? Perpetually amazed by AMC?

Head to the comments section to discuss and debate.

The Insatiable Viewer: Not All Food Shows Are Created Equal

Now is a very good time to be a television-loving foodie, with several networks other than stalwarts Food Network or PBS devoting air time to culinary-themed programming. In fact, it's safe to say that cuisine as a whole has entered the general zeitgeist in a way that it couldn't really have done before the public's embrace of reality programming.

But there's a rather large caveat: not all food programming is equal. While television offers a bountiful cornucopia of culinary series, there's still a large difference in the quality of these programs, not to mention a staggering range of subjects being covered. There are docusoaps that focus on cake-makers, competition series pitting chefs against each other, old fashioned cook-offs, food-focused travel series, and product spotlights.

While I'd never be able to offer up a comprehensive discussion of all of these series (they are too numerous to even contemplate as a whole), I thought I'd take a look at a few members of the current crop of culinary programs and offer my thoughts about how each stacks up to the competition, with Bravo's Top Chef and Top Chef Masters, Food Network's Chopped, BBC America's Gordon Ramsay's F Word, and FOX's Hell's Kitchen.

So, sit back, grab yourself a plate of something tasty, and let's get cooking.

Top Chef (Bravo)

Top Chef really is the mirepoix of culinary programs today: that essential base that makes all others possible. And likewise, the cabler has taken this base to build an entire Top Chef franchise, which kicked off last month with spin-off Top Chef Masters. The conceit of Top Chef is simple: pit a group of ambitious chefs against one another for a cash prize and a chance at fame and fortune.

I remember when Top Chef first launched, there was concern that the audience wouldn't eat it up in the way that they did the network's own Project Runway. After all, it's hard to experience food visually in the same way that it is fashion on the runway. Wrong. Just look at the sheer number of food magazines, cookbooks, and food-themed memoirs to know that consumers have an insatiable appetite for all things food-related.

Produced by Magical Elves, Top Chef is a stylish and slick production that puts the emphasis squarely on the competitors' dishes, discussing strategy and flavor profiles with equal relish. It helps that the judges are a band of the culinary world's most celebrated stars: chef/restaurateur Tom Collichio, Food & Wine editor Gail Simmons, and a revolving door of arbiters that has included at times chef/memoirist/novelist/TV personality Anthony Bourdain, Ted Allen (who now hosts Food Network's own Chopped), journalist/food critic/Truman Capote manque Toby Young, and many, many others.

Several seasons down the line, Top Chef has remained essential television viewing for any self-respecting foodie, fusing the world of reality competition with the rigorous and demanding world of high cuisine. The casting is always impeccable, the chefs are always forward-thinking and creative, and the stakes are always high. Seeing these up-and-comers put through their paces each week with both a short-form Quickfire Challenge and a longer, more complex Elimination Challenge is a real treat, offering viewers the opportunity to see the chefs adapt, plan, react, and execute dishes under an array of difficult scenarios. The results are as delicious as the dishes they present.

Grade: A

Top Chef Masters (Bravo)

Any discussion of Top Chef would have to involve that of its recent offspring, Top Chef Masters, which launched a few weeks ago on Bravo and has sated the appetite of many a Top Chef fan eager for the return of their favorite series. While the series didn't start off with quite the confidence and poise of its predecessor, recent episodes have shown the series finding its footing and developing into its own tasty dish. Like Top Chef, the spin-off series puts its contestants through both a speedy Quickfire Challenge and a more structured Elimination Challenge, but this time around the contestants are boldfaced names from the restaurant business competing for charity.

Which gives the contestants more to prove (bragging rights are even more essential here) but also takes the series away from its original format. Given that there are twenty-four world-class chefs involved with the series (each with their own demanding schedules), Top Chef Masters pits four of them against each other a week, with the winners moving on to the champion round. While it makes for some high-stakes drama--if you don't win, you're off the series for good--it also loses some points for inconsistency. Each week presents a new batch of chefs, so it's hard to root for anyone in particular as we're not seeing them on a regular basis and each subsequent week brings in a fresh crop of competitors.

Still, this is a minor quibble. Top Chef Masters has proven itself compulsory culinary television viewing and has successfully tweaked the format of its forebear, offering up a different grading rubric that allows the Quickfire results, the individual judges, and the diners equal weight. When dealing with such celebrated chefs as the Top Chef Masters players, it's a nice change, though I do flinch when the results are read out from lowest to highest score, eliminating much of the drama there. Still, it's a meal I look forward to savoring each week.

Grade: A-

Chopped (Food Network)

I was intrigued when Chopped launched earlier this year on Food Network, given that it featured former Top Chef judge Ted Allen as a host and promised to put professional chefs through the ringer by forcing them to cook a three-course meal using mystery ingredients, with one chef eliminated--or "chopped" in parlance--after each course. Sort of like a Quickfire Challenge with bite, no?

Sadly, I have to say that I'm disappointed by this Top Chef wannabe. Perhaps it's the fact that poor Ted Allen is so woefully underused and offers nothing whatsoever to the proceedings. He doesn't taste the food nor act as a judge and is typically reduced to offering up some painfully scripted (and oftentimes rhyming) introductions and segues. Sure, he will occasionally lean over a competing chef's station and inquire about what they're doing but it feels stilted and out of place. There's no running commentary a la Iron Chef and, hell, even Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi has some input on the judging.

The concept is intriguing but it's the execution that's definitely lacking. It doesn't help matters that (A) the set is dark and oppressive and feels like it's being shot in someone's too-small Manhattan apartment and (B) the judges seem awkward and icy cold, offering very little in the way of constructive feedback and remaining completely unknowable to the home audience. There's very little personality at play on the judges' table and nothing they say is particularly memorable or exciting.

Which is a problem when there are going to be numerous comparisons to Top Chef. (The cabler also offers the Top Chef-esque Search for the Next Food Nework Star.) I've given Chopped, now in its second season, several opportunities to wow me but the results haven't been enough to keep me excited about this lackluster program. This is one course I'm more than happy to send back to the kitchen.

Grade: C+

Gordon Ramsay's F Word (BBC America/Channel 4 UK)

British import Gordon Ramsay's F Word (which airs on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom) has to be one of the most controversial and fun food programs ever to run on US television. The reason many people seem to find it frenetic and overstuffed is the very reason that I love it so much: it's a magazine-style food program with recurring segments that are blended with competition (kitchen brigades compete for a chance to cook in one of Ramsay's restaurants), behind-the-scenes (Ramsay raises sheep, pigs in his back garden!), reportage (Janet Street-Porter investigates foie gras production), celebrity interviews (Ramsay faces off with a celebrity of the week in a recipe challenge), how-to (Ramsay shows you how to simply prepare these dishes at home), and grassroots campaign (this season shows Ramsay offering tips on how to cook healthier meals). Whew.

It's a heady brew of travelogue, cooking show, competition, celebrity, practical how-to, and behind-the-scenes that I find absolutely intoxicating. Ramsay is also in his element here and it's easy to see his innate passion for cuisine rather than the bluster and bullying he seems to throw on in some of his other reality programs. Is there a lot going on? Hell yes. But it's always interesting, always hilarious, and always informative. And that to be is the hallmark of a great culinary series.

Grade: A-

Hell's Kitchen (FOX)

And then there's Hell's Kitchen. What started out as a fun and fiery culinary competition series has devolved into a freak show where the contestants--cast for their oddities, eccentricities, or abrasive personalities--attempt to work on the line in a Hollywood restaurant where they are overseen and browbeaten by Ramsay himself.

What sets this program apart from the others is that the contestants usually can barely boil water much less prepare palatable food for the diners. Which is a shame as it could be a great series about life on the line but instead its become trainwreck television. Seeing Ramsay scream at someone with precious few knife skills or professional experience isn't exciting or amusing, it's downright depressing.

I watch culinary television series because I want to be dazzled by chefs' inspiration, creativity, and passion for what they do. If I felt like Ramsay were training these contestants to become professional chefs (look at Jamie Oliver's amazing docuseries Jamie's Kitchen for that instead), that would be one thing. But instead, the entire affair feels cheap and exploitative, not to mention overtly sensationalized.

There's no way that I'd go anywhere near Hell's Kitchen these days for viewing, not to mention eating. And that's a real problem for a culinary series, which should be aspirational not nauseatingly vapid. It's clear that Ramsay is playing a part here for the cameras, which is a shame when you watch F Word or Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (or its US counterpart on FOX, Kitchen Nightmares) and you see the passionate, inspirational side of Ramsay. Sadly, Hell's Kitchen makes me lose my appetite completely.

Grade: D

And there you have it. I am curious to know, however, what culinary-themed television programs you're watching. Are there any that should have been on this list? Any that you can't live without? Any that you're hungry for week after week? And which ones should be binned? Discuss.

Channel Surfing: TNT Cans "Trust Me," Showtime Passes on All Pilots, Adam Scott and Zak Orth Get "Wonderful" for HBO, and More

Welcome to your Monday morning television briefing.

TNT has officially canceled freshman drama Trust Me, starring Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh. The Warner Horizon-produced series, which launched with 3.4 million viewers and quickly lost much of that viewership, will not be returning for a second season. McCormack himself has already signed on to another project, ABC's untitled Tad Quill comedy pilot. The cabler, meanwhile, has three new series in the works: Ray Romano dramedy Men of a Certain Age, medical drama Hawthorne (formerly known as Time Heals), and Deep Blue (formerly known as The Line). (Hollywood Reporter)

Showtime is now zero for four. The pay cabler has now opted not to order any of its four pilots to series in the last month, deciding over the weekend not to hand out a series order to Tim Robbins-created drama Possible Side Effects, staring Josh Lucas as a pharmaceuticals family scion. Previously, the network had shelved pilots Ronna and Beverly, The L Word spin-off The Farm, and The End of Steve. (Variety)

Adam Scott (Party Down) and Zak Orth (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) will star opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar, Molly Parker, and Nate Corddry in HBO single-camera comedy pilot The Wonderful Maladays. Orth will play the playwright husband of Mary (Parker) who is described as "the confident moral center of the family." Scott, meanwhile, will play the businessman ex of Alice (Gellar). (Hollywood Reporter)

Elsewhere at HBO, Lake Bell (Boston Legal) has joined the cast of comedy series How to Make It in America, starring Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk, as a series regular. And Ed Quinn (Eureka) will recur on Season Two of HBO drama series True Blood, where he will play Stan, a powerful Texan vampire. (Hollywood Reporter)

FX president John Landgraf told TV Week's Jon Lafayette that he believes that cablers are developing too many original series and ultimately the quality will suffer. "I’m of a different opinion than some of my competitors, in that I think that if you try to compete with them in terms of volume, you’re inevitably going to suffer erosion in terms of quality," said Landgraf. "When was the last time you had a broadcast network that had eight original dramas on the air and you thought they were all good? If a broadcast network can’t do it, then I think a basic-cable network’s never going to be able to do it." (TV Week)

Ashes to Ashes star Philip Glenister has hit out at critics of his co-star Keeley Hawes, whom he believes has suffered undue nastiness on the part of critics. "What I objected to most was the personal nature of some of the attacks and the utter lack of appreciation of what a fine actress Keeley is, a woman with this incredibly impressive range of emotions and almost uncanny ability to cry on cue," said Glenister in an interview with The Daily Record. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I actually thought some of the remarks made about Keeley, and her acting, were utterly inexcusable. What I objected to most was this idea, this totally bogus idea, that she was somehow lightweight, that she wasn't a key part of the show. She was central to it. There wouldn't have been an Ashes To Ashes without her. So, this time round, I hope that the comments about Keeley's contribution are a little more considered." (The Daily Record)

E! Online's Natalie Abrams talks to 90210 showrunner Rebecca Rand Kirschner Sinclair about what to expect at the end of the freshman season, including some tather tantalizing tidbits about "sex, drugs, alcohol, and murder," which co-star Rob Estes teased at last week's Paley Festival panel. "There are some rash actions at the end of the season, where one of the characters makes some decisions that may have very serious consequences, life and death consequences, if you will," said Kirschner Sinclair. "A lot of stuff happens during prom. There's love that's finally fulfilled and yet, because of various circumstances, potentially destroyed forever. There's love, there's death, there's heartache, heartbreak." (E! Online's Watch with Kristin)

Food Network has ordered eight episodes of culinary/travel series Extreme Cuisine With Jeff Corwin, which will follow Corwin as he travels the world in search of exotic foods and local culture. Series is expected to launch this fall on the basic cabler. (Hollywood Reporter)

Keith Allen will not be returning for Season Four of BBC One drama Robin Hood (which airs in the States on BBC America), should the network decide to order another season of the drama. "I doubt I'll go back for a fourth series if they do one," Allen told The South Wales Evening Post, "it's boring to work on now. I've done three series, and I'd like to move on to something else." Series star Jonas Armstrong had already made it clear that the current season would be his last. (Digital Spy)

Spike has ordered a pilot for docuseries Pirate Hunters: USN, which will follow the members of the U.S. Navy's anti-piracy unit in the Gulf of Aden. Project, from 44 Blue Prods. and executive producers Rasha Drachkovitch and Adam Friedman, will focus on the same region where Somali pirates took American sea captain Richard Phillips hostage and commandeered his cargo ship. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Set Your Tivo: "Jamie at Home" and "Nigella Express"

There are few things more joyous in this time of wet and cold in Los Angeles than to curl up on the couch on Sunday mornings, a steaming cup of tea in one hand, my TiVo remote in the other, and catch up with Jamie and Nigella.

I'm speaking of course about British authors Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, both as well known for their remarkably cozy cookery series as they are for their amazing and sinfully delicious cookbooks. Both are culinary heroes of mine and my dining room is filled with their books as, typically, my kitchen is overflowing with their delicious (and sometimes quite naughty) recipes.

Thanks to Food Network, both are currently running new series at the moment: Oliver has Jamie at Home, a back-to-basics series about growing your own veg and preparing it at home, and Lawson has returned with Nigella Express, a series tied around making fantastic food quickly in an "express" style all her own.

When he's not traveling around Italy in a refitted 1969 camper or trying to save schoolchildren by changing what they eat at school, Oliver is a culinary workhorse, challenging Mario Batali on Iron Chef America, running growing restaurant empire fifteen and its similarly-named foundation, making podcasts, overseeing a line of cookbooks and culinary tools, and keeping up with wife Jools and their two daughters.

So it's a nice change of pace to see Oliver in a little ramshackle kitchen on his property on Jamie at Home, picking vegetables from his own garden and cooking them (along with meat and dessert, yes) in inventive, seasonal ways that Alice Waters would approve of. There's no flashy camera work (a la Oliver's first series, The Naked Chef), no celebrity guests, no banter with the producer, just straight, honest cooking from a chef who brought a paired-down, simplified aesthetic to the masses. See Jamie rave about chilies, wax nostalgic over the simple fare of his dad's pub, and offer up some mouth-watering meals that you'll want to make at home: pappardelle with slow roasted leeks, omelet salad with bresaola, meringue with hot pears and chocolate sauce, hot and sour rhubarb with crispy pork and noodles, hot smoked salmon with chile salsa.

While Jamie might be all about paired-down simplicity, Nigella is all about express excess in her new series, Nigella Express, which offers recipes that are so simple and the opposite of time-consuming that it would be a surprise if you weren't heating up the stove minutes after watching her latest episode. Here, the time-saving recipes are often not for the fat-conscious though they are deliciously sinful affairs: caramel croissant pudding, a Camembert and Brie-laced cheese fondue with kirsch, rocky road crunch bars, flash-fried steak with white bean mash (a favorite of mine already), cherry cheesecake, doughnut French toast, buttermilk roast chicken. Which is part of the point of watching: think of it as aspirational television. Even if you can't possibly eat everything Lawson is making, the style and flair with which she does it is so disarming that you can't possibly look away look enough to wipe the drool from your mouth.

Nigella Express is home-style cooking at its most seductive and easy and Lawson offers up recipes and tips for all occasions and meals but the emphasis is always on the fact that, while there are tricks and some shortcuts, it's homemade and the point is to enjoy food with your guests (or family) and not be slaving over the stove for hours while the party carries on without you.

My hint: record them both and then watch them back-to-back on an early Sunday morning, still in your pyjamas with that aforementioned cup of tea and a dog on your lap. You'll almost swear you can smell the food emanating from the television set.

Jamie at Home airs Saturday mornings at 9:30 am ET/PT and Nigella Express on Sunday mornings at 10:30 am ET/PT, both on Food Network.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Power of 10 (CBS); Deal or No Deal (NBC); Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants (CW); Wife Swap (ABC); American Idol (FOX)

9 pm: Criminal Minds (CBS); Law & Order: Criminal Intent (NBC); Lost (ABC; 9-11 pm); Moment of Truth (FOX)

10 pm: CSI: New York (CBS); Law & Order (NBC)

What I'll Be Watching

9-11 pm: Lost.

Catch last season's two-hour finale ("Through the Looking Glass"), here repeated in a special "enhanced" broadcast with on-screen facts and info about storylines and backstory. In other words: the perfect opportunity to catch up before tomorrow night's Season Four launch... and to lure in new viewers.

10 pm: Project Runway on Bravo.

On tonight's repeat episode ("Even Designers Get the Blues"), the remaining designers are tasked with creating an original denim design out of jeans and jackets of various hues and textures; Jillian reaches her breaking point; Ricky turns on the waterworks once more.

Kitchen Confidential: "Nigella Feasts" on Food Network

I'm a sucker for food television shows. Especially ones that feature that insatiable British domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, author of such wildly popular cookery books as "How to Be a Domestic Goddess," "Nigella Bites," "Forever Summer," and her latest opus, "Feast."

It's the latter book, with its emphasis on celebratory cooking, that ties into Nigella's latest program, Nigella Feasts, which launched yesterday in the US on Food Network. To know Nigella is to love her. And to love her means giving into fat, butter, sugar, and god knows what else in pursuit of deliciously dreamy foodstuffs. If you can't handle a deep-fried Mars bar, this is not the cooking show for you. But if you've got a yearning for chocolate cherry trifle and lamb with pomegranate and feta, Nigella is the gal for you. My girlfriend, formerly hopeless in the kitchen, was transformed by Nigella's "How to Be a Domestic Goddess." Now she makes a pavlova that would rival her teacher's by comparison.

Both on screen and in print, Nigella's descriptions of ingredients and dishes are sensual and atmospheric and have a way of transporting the viewer/reader right into her kitchen. She also doesn't shy away from getting her hands dirty in the kitchen; in fact, Nigella seems to relish it. The effect is intoxicating: food becomes not just nourishment, not just art, but a full-body experience.

Yesterday's premiere episode ("Crowd Pleasers") was classic Nigella: a spicy beef chili, infused with cardamom and cocoa (seriously) and topped with a golden and cinnamon-scented cornbread topping. (I've made it several times and it's always been sinfully delicious) To follow: a chocolate cherry trifle: a classic English dessert made by layering chocolate cake, sandwiched with cherry jam, lashed with cherry brandy, topped with chocolate custard, sour cherries, and whipped cream. Trifle is a particular favorite in the Televisionary household and an absolute snap to make. I couldn't help but drool after watching Nigella make hers.

Like her previous programs, Nigella Feasts features some trademark Nigella traits: an adorable opening credit sequence (featuring upbeat music and animated kitchen-set drawings), the familiar site of Nigella shopping and rummaging through her overstocked pantry. And that charming end sequence that appears at the end of every episode as Nigella wanders down into the kitchen in the middle of the night to take a taste of her refrigerated leftovers. Familiar? Perhaps, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

"Nigella Feasts" airs Sundays at 1 pm on the Food Network.