Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

LilyDaleLady The "2" is for the food and cooking, which often look delicious. But this show is so obviously faked, I am amazed people fall for this. Do they believe the couples on "Bachelor/Bachelorette" are genuinely dating and "in love"?There is no real restaurant "Chef and The Farmer". It's a set for a TV reality show. Simple common sense tell you that no such upscale eatery could survive in a dreary, remote small rural village that is 90 minutes (each way) from the nearest (modest-sized) metropolitan area. You'd be lucky to have 5 customers most nights. It would be impossible to survive. No -- this was an admittedly clever idea for a reality show, and the "customers" are clearly fake, or showing up to get on TV. It was "pre-sold" as a concept for PBS (in SC) and then went national.Vivian Howard is an attractive, 30-something lady, though her demeanor is often crabby. Of course, from other fake, scripted "reality shows" like American Pickers and Pawn Stars, we know this too is a "shtick". Her husband is rarely seen. They seem to argue a lot. I hope their marriage is better than it looks here. Both of them claim to have "worked in New York City" but if you do the math...they only spent a couple of years there out of college. By age 26, Vivian was back home in rural North Carolina (a place she says upfront she hated and wanted to GET AWAY FROM)....hmm, why would anyone do that? NYC is the gourmet restaurant capital of THE WORLD. I could see going to a slightly smaller market, but a village in NC? where no customers exist?BTW: I have talked to actual residents of this part of NC, and they have told me "Kinston is a poor, black-majority village, and no way any of the locals could possibly be eating at an upscale, fancy restaurant". Watch the show, folks. You can count the black people on one hand and have fingers left over. No black customers and no black STAFF. How can you live and work and have a business in a 90% black area, with no black people? Hmmm.Howard's parents own a large farm, and are immensely rich. Check out the "man cabin" (or whatever they call it) -- it's not a shack. It's nicer than most people's homes! and HUGE! so these very rich people got their daughter to come back to NC, by first offering to support her, and her deadbeat husband (perhaps when she got preggers?) and THEN by offering to pay for her to have a "fake restaurant" and then they (or her husband) marketed the heck out of filming the "fake tribulations" for PBS....and the restaurant burned down. No inkling as to how you'd survive that, or how someone who works 24/7 can be raising twins....or what kind of income you could possibly generate from a super-fancy restaurant in BUM you-know-what Egypt. (Of course, I know once it got on famous on TV, that did generate some business plus profits from books, PBS revenues, etc.. I mean INITIALLY.)Every crisis and situation is fake and manufactured for TV cameras. I pity their kids. I pity the husband and the marriage. I'll be really happy when reality TV dies a much deserved death.

feomgrofhome I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE A Chef's LIfe. Vivian (and Ben) are great to watch. I enjoy watching it more than ANY show on the Food Network. I no longer subscribe to cable and don't miss it one bit. This is a quality show that really enhances my at-home cooking skills and knowledge of food. I love the way Vivian infuses local ingredients into her cooking and restaurant menu. I also especially LOVE the authentic "southern" (or eastern to be more exact) cooking instruction offered by Lily; I am glad they allow her to be who she is. Warren is also an asset to the show; I am impressed with his garden and knowledge of ingredients (food).It is so refreshing to watch and listen to someone is REAL. I even like Vivian's drawl. The shows does not appear to be scripted as other shows. I ALSO like seeing the pre-opening staff meetings. Great stuff! It is so impressive when the wait staff really knows the foods that are offered on the menu.This is an authentic show!!!! I hope to one day be a patron of Chef and the Farmer restaurant.

BlackJack_B PBS' A Chef's Life is half cooking show, half "real reality T.V." show. Unlike most reality T.V. cooking shows, this isn't some made-up story about a restaurant opening but a legit opening. Problem is see, they clearly have scripted events occur during the program that anybody with a brain can see a mile away.The focus is on Chef Vivian Howard, who sounds like a female Dr. Phil. She has a North Carolina drawl and many of the people she interacts with have that distinct accent. She and her husband Ben Knight worked in New York (don't know if that's a work or not) and then claims her parents will allow them to open their own restaurant if they open it in Eastern North Carolina (?) which she says she was finished with in the intro. Most of each show is about the travails of getting this restaurant open with a mix of fact and BS. 5-7 minutes are spent showcasing her cooking prowess.Much of the show consists of the boring and dull comments of Chef Vivian in front of a camera. She certainly knows how to doll herself up but she has the personality of a rock. She also seems to come off as somebody with a superiority complex and her husband is pretty much forced to do her bidding as he clearly doesn't wear the pants in this family.I would recommend one episode just so you can hear that unique voice of hers but other than that, it's a good cure for insomnia. Anyway, I'm sure she will script a good ending for her little enterprise.

Michael Kelly There are a lot of cooking shows, some instructional, some merely exist as platforms to display contrived drama. This show is real. Warts and all. Learning anything about the cooking process or generic intricacies of the restaurant business is secondary.What allows this show to stand out in comparison to others is the lack of pretension. The interface of those on camera is fantastic and genuine. The viewer is being allowed a real glimpse into others' private lives. And Chef Vivian, via her narration, shares her personal thoughts and feeling as she displays a gamut of emotions, from happiness to sorrow.It's real. Very real. I highly recommend it.