The Big Brunch

For those of you who enjoy Great British Baking Show/Great British Bake Off, you'll most likely enjoy this show. It follows the same format where there aren't any green screen interviews or intense judging panels or chef drama. This is a very sweet and wholesome show. Yes they swear but they're chefs and it's HBOMax so those that are complaining about that...come on. There is a great amount of humor and it's not terribly complicated or dramatic like other cooking competitions can be.

All of the chefs are people that are doing great things for their communities and with the diversity it brings a fresh take on a sometimes stale genre of television. Also Dan Levy is a gem per usual.

The Big Brunch is a fantastic show that celebrates an oft-maligned and overlooked meal. Nothing says 'weekend' like a leisurely brunch with friends, and this show celebrates that occasion in a positive way too.

It's interesting that reality TV was the catalyst for much of the bad behaviour we now experience every day, from social media to politics. Think back twenty years to the first seasons of Survivor that encouraged disloyalty, lying, and treachery... Now, in 2022, reality TV shows like Ru Paul and Big Brunch have become models of civility, support, and encouragement.

The Big Brunch lifts your spirits as it promotes a great meal with great attitude.

First off, this is created and hosted by Dan Levy of Schitts Creek. And if you watch this unique and fun competition, that won't be the last time you'll hear that word, nor the F bomb.

It is a competition populated by all sorts of people all who had a goal in mind to use the $300,000 to accomplish, or boost or start a project. To a person, all those great competitors were consistently kind and helpful to anyone who needed it if they had it, be it crushed peppers or a spare burner. THAT was my favorite part of the show.

A major part of the show is to give the prize to a person to help them achieve their goal. This is literally part of this competition. Some (one) reviewer took great umbrage at that so dinged the show with all of their might. It's also why I gave the show 9 stars instead of 8.

I do wish that if there is a season 2 that they place all the equipment and ingredients they need at a level that is easily accessible to even the shortest of them.

I'm also in VERY high hopes for a Christmas special where the judges go to the homes of the contestants who invited them to join them and their families for the holiday meals. THAT would be WONDERFUL! Just a suggestion, Dan Levy.

Everyone else - Enjoy!

First off, to the person who complains that there's swearing, like it's a shock to hear form cooks. What's shocking is that swearing is censored so much for other shows because cooks and chefs swear like it's a career requirement.

Second, as a diehard fan of cooking shows, I'm really disappointed in the lack of discussion about what the cooks are doing or how. A guy makes switch from scratch. Are we shown this? No! He just tells them he did it.

I never "not learn" from cooking shows and that's true of this one. I'm only two episodes in so maybe it's all the background storytelling that gets in the way of technique discussion but it's a bit frustrating.

I want to love this but I feel like it was made by a team that don't actually watch a lot of great cooking shows. I'll keep watching because I want to see who wins but they really need to beef up the value for watching this. Give us techniques and tips, show us more of what the actual chefs are cooking.

I was really enjoying this show until the finale, where I felt as if the show became confused as to what it is. Is it a cooking competition? Is it a brunch themed cooking competition? Is it a pitch show?

After the first episode, there was little to no reference from the judges over the next several episodes of how good the contestant's pitches were for what they would do with the $300,000 grand prize. It became about the food and the best dishes would advance each week regardless of what they would do with the money.

Now, in the final 3, the pitches began getting critiqued and would impact their decision on who to choose to win The Big Brunch.

No spoilers, but if Contestant A's pitch seemed like it needed work, why not have the pitches be discussed throughout the show and allow each contestant to improve/change what they originally wanted to do with the money based on them evolving during the process, the judges feedback, etc.

The finale felt out of place to what the show had been up until this point especially with the Brunch aspect now seemingly being irrelevant.

If there is a season 2, they either need to just award the winner based on the dishes they cook or involve the contestant's pitches throughout the show and allow them to get feedback during the process and not just get these questions at the finale where it leaves the viewer wondering what show they are now watching.

Potential for greatness with Dan leading the way, but they need to figure things out for future seasons..