Knife Edge seems to be Apple TV’s attempt to play in the same playground. Right from the start, it fails. For some reason, they’ve chosen to have a host, which detracts from the focus on the restaurant and it’s chef, owner, food and staff. The first episode sets a tone of American arrogance by asserting the pinnacle of aspiration & success as New York. The host says that the skyline of New York is the best in the world. This does nothing but suggest that he and the producers haven’t visited the world’s great cities. The comment sets a parochial tone, and also belies the producers’ lack of depth of knowledge about great food, great chefs and Michelin.
The producers & writers seem to assume that every second of the show must be filled with somebody speaking, whether on camera or voice over. One of the points of beauty & specialness about Chef’s Table is having confidence in their production, such that near silence, with the visual & accompanying ambient sounds recognized as ‘enough’ – as reflecting an important aspect of the great experiences we’re allowed to see & hear in the restaurants & places being shown.
Knife Edge producers, by contrast, frame their show as a reality game show, including a superfluous & annoying host. The structure also seems thrown together after the visits to the given restaurants, rather than having a narrative purpose in mind before production begins. The amateurish result certainly does no favor for the chefs and the restaurants. I’m certainly not interested in visiting any of these places based on how they’re shown here.
Knife Edge is contrived, phony, uninformed & uninterested in its subjects; just a poor attempt to step into the food documentary genre. It joins the lowest ranks of ‘food shows’ out there.
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