Jumping the Shark Fin Soup

Well it was bound to happen. And I guess in a way it signals that Bourdain has truly arrived, but his new show "At the Table with Anthony Bourdain" reminds me more of the Food Network and less of his genius at crafting such shows as "A Cook's Tour."

The entire show felt almost like a tease. We watch as Mr. Bourdain and a select group of New York based Food and Culture behemoths sit around a table to sample great food, drink amazing wines, and talk shop. Holy crap that sounds awesome! It is not. You, dear viewer do not get to eat the food, sample the wines, or add your own story; but even if you could, I doubt this show could be saved by inebriation. The conversation is borderline vapid and mostly re-runs of the same recurring theme: the food world is crazier than your office. Yes, we know that by now.

Mr. Bourdain makes it abundantly clear that he had serious reservations about doing this, I wish his judgment or editing acumen would have had a stronger vote. The format is supposed to be No Reservations meets The Jerry Springer Show. What it really succeeds at being is an elitist, snobbish and less well-done version of After Hours.

In the first segment, Bourdain poses the question to the group that he recently spent $1900 at Masa on sushi for two, and "should he feel guilty about this?" Wow, that was disingenuous. Imagine Hugh Heffner asking "Should I feel guilty about sleeping with hundreds of the world's most attractive women."

You are an American Mr. Bourdain, you work hard, made a lot of money; you earned that meal. Enjoy it and tell us about it, what you ate, why it was worth $1900, and how you would do it again. We get enough guilt from our mothers.

At another point in the show, Ted Allen throws his three cents short of a nickel in on why he feels bad getting into New York hotspots over the throngs of commoners. Do you see a theme here? It was an hour of "Hey we are privileged, but don't worry we really feel bad about it." Am I jealous of them, absolutely. But is inciting jealous rage in viewers a good thing?

There were a few bright spots, when Mr. Bourdain and his guests played the Last Meal game. But it seems like even this is cliche at this point. Mr. Bourdain is at his absolute best when he sits down with a chef or writer and over a satisfying meal and a few cold beers, they become friends. They talk shop, carouse, crack jokes, and we the viewing public are left thinking, "God I wish I was there." In At the Table, the viewer is left saying, "If I wanted scripted TV, I would have watched the Hills."

At another segment the panelists all agree that Popeyes is the best fried chicken. That is real, that is the kind of organic conversation people crave. Talk more about being stoned and making late night runs to Popeye's to destroy an 8 piece, 5 biscuit, mashed potatoes with gravy, and dirty rice and less about how kids should be beat up for not knowing how to truss a chicken.

In this episode the panel, Bill Buford, the former Page 6 columnist, the aforementioned Ted Allen, and the owner of Bungalow 8* all dined at Wylie Dufresne's WD-50. The food looked very interesting, but if it wasn't for the waiter's explanation of each dish the viewer would not have known anything about the food other than a few snippets from the guests.

Perhaps future versions of this show won't be so self-indulgent and scripted. Perhaps the booze will flow quicker, the food will be heartier, and the conversation more interesting. Until then, I suggest you change the channel.


* I purposefully did not put their names down. Sure, I could have, but then you would have just had to google their names most likely. And the internet has to be more efficient. I needed their titles to know who they were; and I suspect other viewers shared my ignorance as well. That is more though, a reflection on us. And I know the Pope has no idea what Page 6 is.

EDIT
Even Mr. Bourdain is admitting that his shit does in fact smell.