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Apparently, it's been on about three months now, but I only caught an episode for the first time last night. "Chopped", on TFN, isn't entirely original, but sort of seems like Sudden Death Iron Chef Express. No week-to-week drama, no celebrity chefs, no reward challenges, no going back to the dorm and nominating someone to go home. Four "up-and-coming" chefs are given three key ingredients and thirty minutes to come up with and execute a dish that's part of a three course gourmet meal. The worst one, in the judges' collective opinion, is "chopped", and it repeats with the next course until one chef is left, and they win $10K.

I thought it was interesting that they edit it after-the-fact so you're inside the chefs' heads as they decide what they're going to do, and as they proceed with the cooking. I thought it was stupid that host Ted Allen (Queer Eye, Top Chef) woodenly delivers the same lines each dismissal, ala "The tribe has spoken".

I have seen every one. What I would like to see is what the judges who are usually chefs could come up in 20 to 30 minutes from a basket with a really off the wall ingredient. Then be judged as harshly as they do the contestants.