TVC: Netflix's Nailed It! Review
Netflix has been on a high rolling out new content on their streaming network each month at astounding speeds. It's quite impressive with how many new shows with top quality are being produced and released through them; Lost in Space, Voltron, and the Marvel shows to name a few, however, it was a cheesy romp through the everyday baker that made me feel special and normal, and had overall made my weekend with a little show called Nailed It!
Usually in this field networks would find the best and/or upcoming bakers, chefs, cooks, to rig up a contest to find the best of the best. Here, Nailed It takes a few steps back and looks at the everyday baker; the soccer mom, a stay at home dad, maybe a prosecutor that does it as a hobby. Normal everyday people with only a little bit of cooking experience are pitted against one another in a contest that brings out the best in everyone.
The contest itself is comprised of two parts. The first is only an appetizer for the grander second stage, but it allows competitors to have fun with a smaller project and show the judges where their abilities lie. This can range from making cake pops, or a self-portrait cookie. Whomever wins this section gets a shiny gold chef hat and an advantage in the next round. The next round is bigger, ranging from wedding cakes to fully sculpted artistic statues that professionals could probably do in their sleep, but here the amateurs get a chance to replicate them and take a stab at the big leagues. Everyone has the ability to ask for help in the second stage, and the winner of the first gets a special button that'll either help them or distract their competitors. The winner of this stage will win ten thousand dollars and bragging rights to their families.
The hosts of this show are Nicole Byer, chocolatier Jacques Torres, and a rotating guest judge. Upon first glance Nicole Byer may give off an annoying vibe, and one of the buttons in the second round is indeed her being annoying to the competitors to distract them, but that illusion is quickly shed as you realize how bright and bubbly she is to everyone. She has a big personality, and devotes fun and positivity as her number one priority as hostess. Jacques is there for the expertise. In his own way he's just as positive and fun whited as Nicole, but his insights into cooking and his love of teaching these amateurs are what make him a lovable, huggable, chocolatier.
One of the biggest worries I had of this show when I found it was that it would be mean spirited. A lot of reality television seems to take drama out of the sad, and mean, portions of someone's life and when dealing with amateur bakers it can seem like an easy target for those jokes. After the first episode, to my delight, I found that I was wrong. The show never makes fun of anyone in any inappropriate way and actually celebrates how normal people are when it comes to cooking. A lot of the comedy does come from the competitors messing up, but instead of laughing at them we're laughing with them because their mistakes are familiar and human and relatable.
Overall, this strange baking show for the everyday person has become an ultimate delight in my life, and I'm sure in whomever watches it too. The episodes are short and sweet, just like their cakes, and the overall positivity to being human on the screen is a great pallet cleanser of life. So sit down this weekend, turn this on, and enjoy the brief time you have with these beautifully human people.
B+
