Some TV notes

Since I am under medical orders to remain horizontal in bed "90% of the time if you can," I have been watching a lot of TV. I've been trying out a few shows, and I would like to discuss some TV chatte at this time.

IRON CHEF/IRON CHEF AMERICA
Some of y'all are probably recoiling in horror right now, but I had never seen this show before yesterday. I'd seen some mention of it on RSFC, but just hadn't gotten 'round to watching it.

So I watched Iron Chef. The English subtitles were amusing in their own right. The Chairman or whatever, if you ask me they should call him Head Poofter, not that there's anything rong with that, he's a trip too. But I loved the format of this show. What fun!

However, these two Oriental chefs were creating dishes I wouldn't go within ten feet of on a bet. That they are talented, creative chefs, I will not argue. Obviously they are. I enjoyed watching them work. They are virtuosos. But wouldn't it be more fun if they were cooking real food instead of that... stuff?

Yes, it would. Enter Iron Chef America. I watched that today. This was more like it! The secret ingredient was chicken. Now I'm not a big chicken guy, I'll cook with it sometimes because my wife really likes it. And I mean, I don't *dislike* it. But I was learnin' some things from these fellows.

The great thing about real cooking is not just following a recipe rote, but creating something new that is maybe similar to a recipe, but with your own style or touch to it. And watching this show, it's not that you can steal recipes, it's that you can steal techniques. And it's presented in a much more entertaining way than most of the cooking shows you see (which tend to be more recipe-based).

TRIPPING THE RIFT
Second season started Wednesday night with a double-episode evening of fun over on the Sci-Fi channel. I guess what they'll do starting next week is rerun last week's show at 10, then run a new episode at 10:30.

Well, I never saw Season One, but I wish I had. I have seen the video that made the rounds on the Web a few years back, so I'm familiar with the main characters. Judging by the two episodes I saw Wednesday night, this will quickly leap into my Top 5 favorite weekly shows status. Funny stuff.

NFL LIVE
30 minutes, as opposed to the full hour of Total Access. They should call it Access Lite. I very much prefer Rich Eisen on Total Access.

TOM GOES TO THE MAYOR
I'd never seen it, so I took a look to see what folks are talking about.

Two words: Yuck.