So I decided to keep a running diary of KCPT's new show Check, Please! Here's what happened over the 23-minute show.
7:31: Drinking a beer, sitting in front of the television -- now this is the life. The theme music is a little too elevator but it's over soon enough and here's the show. Damn, it's not in hi-definition. I actually wonder if this is on purpose. As any anybody who's ever watched Lou Dobbs on CNN HD knows, the extra detail can be frightening. Food is hard enough to film, so it's probably best we can't see every stain on the tablecloth.
7:32: Host Doug Frost appears. He's one of the most personable, nicest people you can talk to and I'm glad to see that look carries over to the camera. He looks tan and rested and is wearing a blue oxford shirt with the top button undone and a black sports jacket (the Bob Costas uniform) and a stylish soul patch.
The three guests this week are political operative Sophie McCarthy, independent producer Dave Simmons and entrepreneur Donna Jolly. They all look nervous like someone just told an inappropriate joke before going on air.
7:33: First up is Donna's pick, the vegan restaurant Cafe Seed.
The owners of Cafe Seed are on camera explaining how so many vegans
crave bakery goods and breakfast and surprise, that's just what Cafe Seed happens to do well.
7:34: The first shots of food. The lighting
is pretty good and the food looks appetizing but the pictures of people
eating are a little scary. There's a reason you almost never see people
eat on television. We're pretty gross when we eat.
7:35: Whoa!
First shocker, Donna says she's not a vegetarian but that she chose it
in part because the vegan burgers are good and there's butter on the
burger bun. She'd be blown away by Culver's.
Dave got the soy
BLT at the vegan place and is raving about it. The camera just zoomed
out and I notice Sophie is sitting just inches away from Donna but as far away from Dave as possible. I wonder if the two women are afraid
Dave will give them cooties.
Sophie says she hates the bacon,
though I'm from the school that says anyone who orders bacon in a
vegan restaurant shouldn't be allowed to complain.
7:36: I
just realized that Donna and Sophie are on the other side from Dave so that
no one has his or her back to the camera. The set-up still looks awkward
in wide-angle shots.
7:37: Sophie is reporting that the food
takes a really long time to prepare at Cafe Seed but that the
chess-sets will keep children entertained. Are today's children really
entertained by chess sets? Don't they just pull out their iPhones while
they wait? (That's my Andy Rooney tangent of the night.)
7:38: Dave just went on a heart-felt soliloquy about how much he
loved the smoothies. I definitely see restaurants picking up a lot of
business from this show. That is, if it ever says where the restaurant is located.
Speak
of the devil there it is: Cafe Seed's address and phone number along with
reservation info, hours and average tab without drinks. On to the next
restaurant after a little trivia. (The Ancient Aztecs used chocolate
as currency.)
7:39: On to Dave's pick. Dave is sporting a
rocking beard. This first show is starting a trend: Facial hair should
be required for all males on the show. Dave chooses PotPie.
Cue
video of PotPie chef/owner John Williams (soulpatch number two on the
night!) cooking in the back. PotPie is relatively clean in the kitchen
but cameras in some restaurant kitchens will not be a popular thing.
7:40: Williams just said "The juju of the PotPie is not one specific thing." That should be the restaurant's slogan.
7:41:
Dave is talking about why he picked PotPie. One reason is because the place is so darn kid-friendly. I've been to PotPie
several times and have never noticed one child, but Dave says they treat
his two- and four-year-olds like royalty.
7:42: All right, who's going to get it? One of the three had to order the pot pie. My money is on Sophie.
7:43:
Damn. Donna ordered it. She says she liked the food but was slightly
perplexed by the layout and PotPie's menu was on a chalkboard. This
from a non-vegetarian woman who recommended a vegan restaurant with
anarchist literature.
7:44: I must take this opportunity to
point out that the table in the
studio has two tablecloths, including one that could be a Cliff
Huxtable sweater. It really is the ugliest table cloth I've seen since
the '90s.
7:45: Dave sums up PotPie by talking about his
kids again. PotPie better be ready for a rush of parents with toddlers. The childless customers should get ready as well.
7:46: Another break and we're on to Sophie's choice (just wanted to write that sentence) which is Lill's on 17th.
7:47:
Owner Trelle Osteen is really hyping the bacon-wrapped dates but on the
television they look for all the world like a charred lil' weiner.
7:48:
The camera is showing shots of Lill's but only of people eating on the
patio. Can't help but think that Lill's would get a bigger response
from the show had it not aired on the coldest week of the year.
7:49:
Sophie doesn't really like the desserts at Lill's but Donna loved the
peach bread pudding. Between PotPie and Lill's did the show manage to
hit every place in town with bread pudding on its first episode?
7:52:
All three guests loved the lil-weiner-looking bacon-wrapped dates. If
this show is popular, expect to see bacon-wrapped dates on other menus
in town.
Dave and Donna have a little disagreement because Donna said
Lill's is an only once, special occasion kind of place, to which Dave
said, "make more occasions." Unfortunately, a food fight does not ensue.
7:53: That's the show! Even though
he could have, Frost did not dominate the discussion and really let it
flow between the guests. I would have liked to see more analysis of the
food beyond two-word summaries like "it's good" and "so yummy" but each
person still managed to get their point across.
If you missed the episode last night, a repeat broadcast is on tonight at 10:30 p.m. on KCPT.
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Owen, thanks for blogging about the show - one correction, i didn't get the bacon wrapped dates at Lills, only Sophie and Dave did...
and yes, i do like culver's butter burgers, but there is still something distinctly better about the ones at seed.
looking forward to reading the rest of your check please running diary.
thanks,
DJ
I found the show very hard to watch, with Dave's beard and Sophie's upper teeth not helping out any.
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