Check Please, hurry up too because I'm feeling kind of nauseated.KQED's dip into the local restaurant scene could be a nice and cool Bay Area-based nugget but it takes itself far too seriously and its cutesy format with way too cutesy people borders on extreme ego largess.
"Check Please" has people sitting around a dinner table talking about and rating their chosen restaurant and their experience. It's like a review and the participants go far into detail highlighting the spaghetti at the restaurant was divine or the burger at my cafe was way too soggy. Words like that. It's a decent premise and there's a whole lot to like on paper until you watch the show.
Leslie Sbrocco is the show's host; she sits with the dinner reviewers and plays along with their reviews and talks individually about each specific restaurants. There's mostly innocent, cutesy, cuddly, chit-chat with her guests as they sip wine around the dinner table and do their best to annoy you and express the love for amazing Mexican food or a rather superb leg of lamb. If the show stopped there, it would be just fine. "Check Please" is too gooey for it's own good and that's where the problems arise.
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| Leslie Sbrocco |
And the format of people sitting around a dinner table rating the food is fine only most shows the three participants take themselves way too seriously and act like pompous jerks to boot. Maybe it was required KQED snobbism for the show's fate, I don't know but it really sounds and looks bad.
And it's chock full of demo PCitus: almost every show there's a white woman, gay man, middle-aged guy of color --nothing against all those folks but what would be wrong with three women? Or three white guys with a beard? If you're down for this type of entertainment you'll love Check Please.
Waiter.
I always enjoyed this show because it was simple. They try to hard to make up for the lack of budget, etc, but overall I think they do a decent job. And while I don't want to seem sexist, I do like staring at her rack. My wife doesn't appreciate it, but hey, what's a guy to do? Rack em up!
ReplyDelete3/10...would not. Some real weird taste in women around here.
ReplyDeleteUntil this post I never even saw her face. #Cougar
DeleteRich is right, show's turning cheesy.....hard to stomach at times (no pun intended)
ReplyDeleteagree with Rich and Anon Sept 21 @ 12:05 pm: Guests take selves way too seriously given the oftentimes no substantiation reviews. They just say, in essnece, that the X was Soooooo Gooooood and back it up by saying it was perfectly roasted or exquisitely boiled.
DeleteAnd the intros are a big turn off: they all seem to mug it up and look like stooges.
I like the show. Lighten up, it isn't Meet the Press.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the show and going to Leslie's events. She is Great in person. I like the music and the places that they visit. Its one of the only things that I watch on KQED.
ReplyDeleteWay too much makeup for PBS.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered why KQED was never able to produce any top quality programs like WGBH? There is no shortage of money available for underwriting here in the Bay Area but there doesn't seem to be much drive toward achieving that goal...
ReplyDeleteThe area is ripe for a This Old House type West Coast program. I'm on board.
DeleteMillion Dollar Fixer...idea I've had for several years.
DeleteI nice little show that plays to the crowd. Too bad Rich has a stick up his ass and can't appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteLeiberman hates everything.
DeleteI've watched this show a couple of times, usually after my wife has passed out after a hard day.
ReplyDeleteI too like the show. The participants pick the restaurants and not KQED. Leslie is a Wine Sommelier. I have been watching Check Please for over 15 years. Over this time, I have been to many East Bay restaurants that was reviewed on Check Please....Sichuan Fortune in Pleasant Hill, True Burger in Oakland.
ReplyDeleteRich, you have got to get a life!!!...
Michael Bauer of SF Chronicle just retired....I never saw you write anything "bad" about him....
It would be great if you can appear on the show.
ReplyDeleteit looks like the usual suck up/brown nose nauseating drivil coming from "chef ryan" and there is no bigger asshole phony chef then him
ReplyDeletewhat in the world is the matter with you Rich ? You are turning into an old crank ! There is nothing wrong with Check Please - it has been on the air for 13 years, won the James Beard, has people on that represent the DIVERSITY of the bay area and features all kinds of places to eat from across the entire Bay Area. Not only that but they have a really nice web site that not only allows you to watch old shows but also to check out the food scene for places to try out. I agree with 6:06p -- let's see you on the show - it would be fun : )
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does NOT represent the diversity of the Bay Area in the proportion that it exists, nor do any of the local TV shows or newscasts. If aliens were watching from space, they'd conclude the Bay Area consisted of gays, blacks, latinos, transgenders, and the very very occasional white person in the form of a kid working in tech.
DeleteBoring. Who wants someone else's opinion on their meal. I'll take my chances and decide for myself. Food is a very personal thing and I don't need anyone else telling me about it. I'll experience it for myself. I see no point in this show except to give some local people exposure they wouldn't get, otherwise. And, I don't care to eat at out of the way places that haven't built a long and reputable history in the Bay Area. And, I'm not into "ethnic."
DeleteTo some extent I agree with Rich. The show's producers could do so much more about the subjects than airing the panel's opinions. They're either lazy or not sufficiently creative, or both. For example, at the beginning of a segment about a particular restaurant show the restaurant's health rating from the county health department. Diners want great food from safe restaurants. Next, troll Yelp and other restaurant rating sites and give a summary of what other diners say and rate the establishment. Cleanliness, service, atmosphere are just as important as the taste or presentation of the food. The show could be a little more "news" section than "food" section.
ReplyDeleteI watch it to mock it. The slow motion shots of the fork poking the food are priceless!
ReplyDeleteBest part of the show. Always makes me hungry!
DeleteI LIKE IT .
ReplyDeleteI admit I've seen the show (my wife's choice of what-to-watch once or twice). I actually went to one of its recommended restaurants (Back-A-Yard restaurant) and liked the food. Overall, I do find the TV show annoying. I liked "Dine & Dish" when Vicki Liviakis used to do her food segment on KRON.
ReplyDeleteYeah I too watch this show and I'm surprised RICH hasn't been on their yet. He seems like just the kind of quirky minor Bay Area Celebrity the show looks for. I've tried and book marked a few eateries I would have other wise not known had i not watched the show. Yeah disagree with you on this one Rich.Quality local programming here
ReplyDeleteKQED stole the idea from WTTW (PBS)in Chicago years ago.
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed this show. The only thing that bugs me is when the guests (are presumably forced to) mime their occupation when Leslie introduces them.
ReplyDeleteRich isn't 1) black, 2) gay, 3) a hipster or 4) all of the above, so it's no wonder he's never been on.
ReplyDeleteCheck Please jumped the shark several years ago and you can still even see how because they play reruns from all the way back to 2008. I don't know why they do that, restaurants tend to change a little in 10 years.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Leslie Sbrocco decided that introducing more hand action into her speaking would liven things up. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't know how to use her hands appropriately to emphasize what she's saying. I particularly hate it when she talks about having 3 guests and indicates 2 with some misplaced gyrations of her hands waving around her face. This comes off as totally fake and somebody must have told her that because she does it less frequently now.
Leslie's frequent idiotic interjections of "I'm hungry!" and "It doesn't have any calories when you share it" and "I'm a meat girl!" along with her constant mugging make her look like she's a frustrated actress seeking all the attention but she unfortunately ended up in the food and beverage business.
The last "feature" that is super-annoying is that guests are told to pantomime something that goes along with Leslie's introduction of them. It just makes them look like idiots.
As a past guest on the show I can tell you:
ReplyDelete1) they encourage you to drink before and during the taping
2) they encourage but don’t force you to do the stupid pre-into mime (I refused).
3) what you see on the air is only about 1/3 of what is actually taped, so there is a lot on the editing room floor.
4) there is no control and minimal guidance by Leslie or the producer to ask and let each person talk...it’s just basically a free-for-all of people talking. So depending on the personality, some individuals (that talk a lot) will get more air time.
5) Leslie doesn’t even visit and try the restaurants.
The featured restaurants are diverse and we have dined in probably a dozen over the years. I do find that, at times, the guests think they are judges on ‘Chopped’’ which can be annoying. I do agree the Leslie’s smile appears forced and insincere.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rich, for beginning to critique "Check, Please! Bay Area" for what it has become.
ReplyDeleteThe San Francisco version is one of several aired in PBS markets nationwide, as probably known, deriving from the Chicago premiere edition in 2001. While licensed to KQED locally, neither concept nor creation is original and/or unique to this region.
Although the 2005 spin-off may have started as an "everyman" review of Bay Area restaurants, it has devolved into little more than a personalized infomercial. On balance, favorable comments clearly outweigh adverse criticisms; the latter, when allowed, are usually minimized with laughter or covered (i.e., dismissed) with "maybe it was a bad day."
Obviously scripted to a greater extent than not, the glib banter challenges credibility. When describing eating experiences or cuisine, does the average person spontaneously speak with smooth, flawless diction that is devoid of vocal pauses?
Participants appear to anticipate Leslie's directives or leading questions before she delivers them, seldom skipping a beat even to breathe. What would happen if conversation veered from pre-set queries?
Surviving doubtless edits for time plus continuity, many adjectives and phrases are repeated from one episode to another. Without coaching, what amateur reviewer has already acquired a mastery of typical "foodie" vocabulary?
As suggested, regrettably, the program remains "cutesy, cuddly" entertainment that increasingly resembles a reality show. Why would anyone take it seriously?
Oh, wait. According to the show's website, casting was scheduled to begin on July 25th for "First-Ever 'Check, Please! Bay Area' Kids Episodes" (Submissions Closed). Will KIDS once again "say the darndest things"?
My favorite episode was from a few years ago when one of the reviewer picked a bowling alley as his restaurant. The others had to act like they loved the fake cheese nachos and hot dogs. Hilarious
ReplyDelete