CBS Debuts A Baking Competition As Broadcast Continues Borrowing From Cable
Broadcast TV has seen the writing on the walls at Food Network, Bravo and TLC: competitive food shows can build solid followings (Chopped, Top Chef) and so can shows about baking (Cake Boss, Cupcake Wars). Throw in a format popular in Britain called The Great British Bake-Off, and add the appeal of television that leads with how unpretentious and down-home it is. Soak in a deep dish of Jeff Foxworthy, and you've got CBS's new offering, The American Baking Competition, which premieres Wednesday night.
It's always interesting, and perhaps most likely in the oddball days of summer, when the big broadcast networks try to figure out how to take the inherently niche programming that cable networks can embrace and turn it into programming that can work for their broad audiences. ABC tried a cooking competition staffed with stars like Nigella Lawson and Anthony Bourdain this past season, but The Taste was received with a popular and critical shrug. It was renewed, but it can't have performed the way they were hoping.
The Taste, though, was taking very much the foodie angle, involving the exacting palates of well-known chefs like Bourdain and Ludo Lefebvre. The American Baking Competition is going the other way, focusing on decadent, gooey goodies prepared by eager home cooks and gobbled up by Foxworthy as he complains/brags about all the weight he's going to gain from all the delicious food.