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Tuesday, August 22

Ace of Cakes Ain't That Bad

Okay, perhaps the title is misleading. Ace of Cakes is actually quite good. After dreading the possibilities, the first few episodes were filled with funny people, cool cakes, swearing, and excitement.

First off, I love the cool Mary Alice. She's so fun and sassy and always seems to know what's up more than Duff himself.




The show focuses on the business of Duff's bakery. They have a huge wall of clipboards outlining each cake that needs to be made. If you've seen Duff's work in the challenges, you know it's abstract and intricate.



I got an email from Dave, a Food Network intern, who commented that Ace is (probably) the first show on the Food Network with bleeped out curse words. Duff and his friends/bakers/artists share a lighthearted workspace, so when you drop a bunch of sugar balls, you say s***! Not that big of a deal.



I know some people have commented that they wish the show featured more explanation of what goes into making the cakes, what tools they used, tricks, etc., but as we know, that is exactly what the Food Network is moving away from. Ace is much more the "Real World" of cooking shows, as Dave pointed out to me. Thus, you aren't going to see Duff standing at a kitchen island demonstrating the best way to roll fondant pieces into edible puke (an actual feature of the Tequila bottle cake).



Having a theater background, I understand what it's like to put a huge amount of effort into something people enjoy for only a brief moment. Often, the people watching (or in this case, eating) never realize just how many hours it took to put together.



So, I can appreciate the cakes that they design. However, it doesn't mean I have to like all of them.





Again, a huge amount of work and talent went into all of them. Bravo to that.






Also, like the Real World, there seemed to be a nonstop "rock" music track playing in the background the entire show. It worked all right, just seemed very different for FN.

I will definitely keep watching Ace of Cakes. I am only worried about the show's ability to keep things interesting and varied. How many episodes devoted to how busy they are, how many cakes they have to finish, trying to deliver them ontime will everyone watch? Still, the relationship Duff has with his coworkers is great and really nice to watch. It's something I have never seen on the Food Network before. Let's hope Ace keeps moving along nicely.

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5 Comments:

At 8/22/2006 8:53 PM , Blogger amanda said...

I just want to say:

Agreed with everything.

Love the show, love [most of] the cakes, loveloveLOVE the gay couple cake, and am worried about the show not having a lot of "plot" variety. I can't wait for more, though.

Oh, I also love the Mary Alice! She's already my favorite. :)

Oh, btw, if you haven't noticed, I've already missed a day, and I wasn't even teaching kids. Stupid job.

 
At 8/23/2006 9:00 AM , Blogger jacob said...

I did notice you skipped out on a day! Now that it's the first day of school, I fully expect another post after those little monsters go home. It's a half day, right? This better be a good one, too. I love the cruisazy one!

 
At 8/24/2006 12:42 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

I think the show was very entertaining. I also like that they show some insight into how some of these crazy cakes are made. But at the same time, it's not a cooking show, so we're not flooded with details. I think the show is a good idea.

What I'm most disappointed about is the fact that Food Network did all this promotion and hoopla for their search for the next Food Network Star and then put the new host's show in a terrible time slot.

Guy Fieri's show should have been during "prime time" or at least a little later. In a similar time slot as Ace of Cakes. Unfortunately, they put his show at like 11am on Sundays, when noone is going to watch it. I never get to watch his show because I'm usually asleep, or forget it's on.

What was the point of this Next Food Network Star? Seems like it was a huge waste of time.

 
At 8/24/2006 2:04 PM , Blogger jacob said...

I agree that the Next Food Network Star needs to be tweeked a bit if it plans on coming back for a 3rd season. Despite letting the viewers "choose" who ultimately wins, I don't think either of the season's winners have truly won the hearts of most viewers. Thus, the network puts their show in an all right time slot (mashed in-between new episodes of more popular shows), but not one that really says "We think Guy/the Hearty Boys are stars!" More like "we have an obligation to air this show."

While cashing in a hot, reality-based phenomenon, I don't think the network really thought through the long-term impact of hosting a competition like this. Basically, if the network can't find good enough contestants that could ALL host their own TV show eventually, it's screwed. And that seems to have been a pretty hard task, two years running.

 
At 3/20/2009 2:02 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I HATE ACE OF CAKES!!! I love Iron Chef, Good Eats, Rach, Chopped, EVERY SHOW other than this one. Cakes can only be so interesting...

 

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