Review: 'Man Vs. Child: Chef Showdown'

When the A&E-owned cable channel Biography changed over to the reality TV-based fyi last year, I wasn't sure what to expect. While the network had been airing a few left-over house fliiping shows that originally aired on its parent network, there wasn't any track record on its ability to crank out new, original hits. But fyi embarked on an ambitious slate of originals and while it still airs the blocks of old shows, it's also premiered an impressive line-up of new favorites. The past year has seen the premiere of shows like "Married At First Sight," "Tiny House Nation," "Seven Year Switch" and "Unplugged Nation." All of them distinctive shows that inject new life into familiar genres of reality television.

The latest series to join the channel's primetime lineup is the cooking competition series "Man Vs. Child: Chef Showdown." The title tells you all you need to know about the program. Each hour-long episode features a grown-up professional chef battling it out head-to-head against a rotating team of kid chefs in three different events. It's part "Masterchef Jr." and part "Chopped" with a bit of several other cooking shows mashed up into the mix. The series even features Adam Gertler as the host, a guy who was sadly underappreciated at the Food Network. He's a familiar face to viewers and a solid host for this type of show. He is genuinely funny and that humor still manages to sneak out every so often in the show.

Each episode includes three challenges. One of the five kids is picked to compete and the winner of each of the first two events wins some advantage in the next round. Such as forcing your competitor to cook without tasting any of the food or allowing you to force your opponent to cook with three surprise ingredients. Yes, you've seen it all before, even the table with the two judges who decide the first two rounds. But everything is done very well and it doesn't have that clunky staging that you find in shows such as "Cake Wars." The contestants are fierce but friendly, everyone is having a good time and there will be a few times in every episode where the kids' impressive cooking skills will make you feel old and talentless.

"Man Vs. Child: Chef Showdown" isn't rocket science, but it is a really fun cooking show. Along with "Rusty's Rockfeast: Backstage With The Zac Brown Band," fyi is building an impressive stable of entertaining cooking shows. If you're tired of the same old formats being endlessly recycled on the Food Network, you are going to love these inventive, fun new programs.