Nigella is a boring cook

April 14th, 2007 emigre Posted in Odds And Ends |

Nigella Lawson has done the near impossible - make me disinterested in a cooking show. “Nigella” which is now shown on ArtsCentral features Nigella cooking with celebrities such as Val Kilmer, Brooke Shields and Joan Rivers. This is a schizophrenic show.

The cooking is kept fairly basic because Nigella has to switch between preparing food and chatting with the celeb who sits nearby watching her. Half the time I’m worried she will scald herself or something. The camera switches between the salad mix and Val Kilmer’s face - so annoying.

At some point in the cooking, Nigella will invite the celeb to help out with cutting up the vegetables for about 10 seconds so that the celeb won’t feel totally useless. After the perfunctory cooking lesson, they move to another part of the studio where 2 other people join in a chat with the celebrity and it becomes a talk show.

British talk shows are some of the most boring western TV you will encounter. The host is boring, the audience is boring, the set up and lighting of the studio is boring and everything just makes even the most exciting guest boring. I wonder if Nigella’s cooking skills are up-to-scratch enough for her to carry off a real cooking show all by herself.

nigella cooking TV