Iron Chef America needs to be longer. Like, somewhere around 90 minutes.
I reeeally enjoyed the extended time we got to spend watching the chefs. A sixty minute cookoff gets *very* edited, since there's at least twenty minutes of setup, eating, and judging, and even more time out for commercials. Sure, some of it is unnecessary to actually see, but the sixty minutes of actual cooking always goes by TOO fast, and it was so good to actually get to just sit back and revel in the extended stuff.
I also liked the extra time spent with the eating. We got to hear more of the stories of the dishes, and comments from the judges. Just...more time spent doing what the show does best, on all fronts.
Now, the episode also showed me that two hours? That's probably too long. There was a lot of fluff, and filler, and repeating of stuff from earlier in the show, and some odd spots worked in for commercials. The flow was just all off, which is why I think a 90 minute version of Iron Chef would be juuust right. You get more time for the cooking and tasting, but not so much that the show needs to be overly padded to fill the time. I'd gladly sit and watch a 90 minute Iron Chef America show, regularly.
J
