The Julia Child Challenge

Came into the show with the idea that Julia would be guiding the contestants on how to prepare certain dishes. Not necessarily the "worst cooks" level but slightly elevated family cooks. These people are not those type of people and they use Julia in tidbits to bring in some nostalgia for the viewer but the chefs themselves don't care.

The premise of the show should be: Provide some footage of Julia cooking and the chefs follow along with cutting a fish for the first time and then cooking it a certain way as shown by Julia and judged.

The end.

This is "Chopped" on a vintage looking set.

No thanks.

Boring cooking competition that uses Julia Child as an "inspiration," but it's just a rip-off of Child's name and reputation. But I'm sure the Julia Child Foundation made some money on this.

The most boring collection of cooks I've ever seen on a Food Network shows "compete" by making dishes that really have nothing to do with Julia Child. Example: Julia used wine in her fish stew. Make us a meal in which you use wine. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

There's more time spent on the contestants yapping about themselves than there is on cooking. Antonia Lofaso (host) and two guest judges ooze on about Julia Child and have a "family" dinner at a big table where everyone is forced to eat the food. Raw salmon? Raw chicken? NO THANKS!

I guessed in the first 5 minutes of episode 1 that Bill B. Would be the winner since he sells cookware. Stay tuned .... I won't.

I like this show. It's not flashy or celebrating a holiday or season as some other FN show do, but it's more classy. It's neat to see the B&W Julia Child videos. The best part is at the end when the judges and contestants all sit around a big cozy table and try all the dishes the contestants made during the competition. What a great learning experience for all the competitors. They get to taste what others have done and discuss techniques, ingredients, etc. With each other and the judges.

The contestants are genuinely talented knowledgeable cooks. The program is not manipulative with regards to editing - a reason I usually avoid watching these programs. The competition between the contestants is respectful. The guest judges are all very experienced, constructive in their feedback, most with areal to Julia. The program honours her legacy . The producers reveal layers of Julia's life, her wide ranging skills and life experience prior to becoming the charming and influential home chef she became. Julia was confident enough to include her bloopers and mistakes. I'm looking forward to future series, We only have series one in Australia.

As a lifelong Julia Child fan, I started watching this with a little trepidation. I thought it would be too easy to turn Julia into a caricature and I was concerned about how they would incorporate her into the show. It turns out that my concern was unfounded. They did a great job.

I loved this show and I'm not over-fond of many current cooking contests on Food Network. My complaint against most shows is that they prefer flash-bang, edgy contestants and weird banter that ends up detracting from the cooking.

The Julia Child Challenge seems to take a page from The Great British Baking Show play-book; kinder, gentler, but no less entertaining and certainly more educational than most of the current crop.

I love that the contestants are nice folks, that they genuinely support each other, and don't talk smack. Each of them is truly talented as a home cook, too.

Antonia Lofaso does a great job connecting with the contestants and providing honest constructive criticism.

I'd happily watch more seasons of this.