Now that's not a bad premise for a show. The Food Network successfully retooled "Iron Chef," and there's always a desire to include more "average" people into the network's mix of programming. And developing a show co-hosted by Guy Fieri and Marc Summers is not a bad move either.

But having watched an episode of "Ultimate Recipe Showdown," I find myself somewhat disappointed with the final product. I was really anticipating the show, but at least so far, the execution isn't quite there. It's not a bad effort, but I can't say I exactly recommend it.

Ironically, part of the problem with the show involves the changes made in the "Iron Chef" format to make this show seem different. Instead of making the show distinctive, the alterations just make the whole thing seem clumsy. There are entirely too many extra steps in the competition and all that extra stuff just squeezes out the cooking part of the show.

The "Iron Chef" format is pretty straight-forward. Two chefs create a series of dishes that utilize a special ingredient. They present the dishes to three judges and a winner is announced.

The format for "Ultimate Recipe Showdown" brings together nine home cooks, who all cook a dish utilizing a single ingredient. They compete in groups of three, with the groups arranged loosely by type of dish (in the episode I watched, the overall ingredient was chicken, and one category was "whole chicken'). A winner is chosen from each group, then an overall winner is chosen at the end of the show.

While that's a convoluted enough arrangement, the judging is done behind closed doors, away from the contestants. Each dish is brought into a backstage room by a production person, and the judges make their comments to cameras, with the cook of the dish watching the proceedings on a monitor in a separate room. While I suppose the intent was to make sure that the judges didn't make their decisions based on anything but the dishes, this awkward staging adds two or three extra levels to the proceedings. It also has the unfortunate side effect of preventing any interaction between the judges and anyone else participating in the show. It all just grinds the show to a halt, and that's really unfortunate.

The other major problem with the show is probably a lot easier to fix. The episode is obviously heavily edited, but at least in the episode I screened, the editing often sucked the life out of the cooking segments. Guy Fieri would throw out a joke or two, but given how obvious it was that both he and co-host Marc Summers were using notes, it was difficult to tell whether he was actually adlibbing, or just reading off some prepared joke.

Fieri is certainly capable of great charm, and Summers has been hosting shows since his 1980s stint on "Double Dare." But that charm and expertise never gets the chance to shine, and ironically, the best example of their chemistry pops up during the bloopers that run under the end credits.

Fieri is a talented guy, and I enjoy watching him. But I'm not sure this type of show is the best fit for him, and I can't help thinking this might have been a good opportunity to match veteran host Summers up with some other new face that the network might have in the wings.

It might seem after all these complaints as if I hated the show. But I really don't. I'm just a bit dismayed at some of the elements, especially since I can see the promise in the format. I can't say that you should go out of your way to watch "Ultimate Recipe Showdown," but if you do watch, you won't turn it off, either.

My hope is that the show is retooled after this run of episodes, and that it comes back stronger and more entertaining.

"Ultimate Recipe Showdown" premieres on the Food Network on Sunday, February 17th, 2008 at 9pm ET/PT