I enjoy the two things I listed above so when I discovered that AMC had made a series that kind of mixed the two I was intrigued. Mix in the fact that I've got a soft spot for David Schwimmer and I was always going to watch this.
The story revolves around two best friends: Tommy (Schwimmer) and Dion (Jim Sturgess.) Dion recently got out of prison and seems to be constantly gravitating towards trouble. Tommy tends to fly the straight and narrow but is struggling with depression. They both have extremely high levels of talent though as Dion is an incredible chef and Tommy is a world-class Sommelier (a profession that i personally think is BS.)
what makes the show good
- The cooking sequences are epic: I appreciate cooking shows and I think most people do as well. Seeing amazing food get prepared in a lot of fun and since the major plot is that these two pals are trying to open a restaurant together, we get to see a lot of it.
David Schwimmer, Jim Surgess, and John Doman (plays Tommy's tough-guy father) are fantastic in their roles. While Schwimmer struggles to not have "Ross" moments, he and these other two nail their parts.
High productions value: The show takes place in the Bronx and very little of the show (if any, i can't tell) appears to take place on a soundstage. It all seems very genuine and this adds a layer of authenticity to it.
what makes the show bad
The storyline is extremely predictable: When Dion get's out of prison and proposes that they start a restaurant together, there is no doubt in your mind that it is going to happen and the only major events that happen along the way is certain things happen that keep slowing down the opening process. It just kind of gets to be a bit dumb after a while.
The Tooth Fairy is a dumb character played by a horrible actor: A rather major part of the storyline is a mobster who Dion owes money to nicknamed The Tooth Fairy who as his name would suggest pulls out people's teeth. Played horribly by Michael Gladis, this mobster seems both not intimidating and just plain dumb. He even rides around in a dumb car. I have gotten to the point where I skip past any scene he is in because his bad acting simply makes me angry.
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what kind of a gangster would actually want to be known as the friggin Tooth Fairy?
- The side-plot with Tommy's mute son, while interesting at first... get's old pretty fast. Tommy has a mixed-race son who refuses to speak ever since his mother died. This is also the reason that Tommy has depression. While I am not going to deny that there are traumatic events that can lead to this sort of thing - it is so "out there" that it stops being interesting pretty quick. In order to fill up the time in these 1- hour shows about a third of it is dedicated to this kid - and you stop caring after 2 episodes.
I had high hopes for this show because I really loved the Chef for the same reason. I love seeing world class food being prepared and I think a lot of other people do as well. Involving so much criminal underbelly in this series might have been a mistake in my mind, especially since the scenarios (and of course the horrible horrible horrible Michael Gladis) get old pretty fast. There could have been plenty of non-gangster-oriented problems they could have introduced into the works that would have made the show more interesting and less unbelievable.
Overall, there are a lot of ways they could have done this better because I think that a show encompassing cooking has a novel opportunity to succeed. Although no official reason was given, AMC cancelled Feed the Beast after one season. There does seem to be a revitalized interest now that it is on Netflix and there are some rumblings that Netflix may pick it up and make a season 2 on their own.
Mostly, as it stands now I think it is worth watching an episode or two, possibly with remote in hand. Oh, and don't watch it if you are hungry - i made that mistake once.