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The live experience was really a lot of fun! The first time we attended, the theme was "olives"--my LEAST favorite food, but he showed how to use olives and olive oil, and we learned a bit about different grades of olive oil. The second time we took the kids, my oldest daughter had "Flat Stanley" along as a school project; she had to write about his visit to the show. So during the intermission, the kids got to meet Emeril in person and get an ice cream treat from the freezer, and in turn, Emeril shook hands with Flat Stanley as well as our kids. The featured food on the show was garlic, and again, the food did not disappoint. Cooking as theater? Sure, why not? Oh, almost forgot--some guy named Charlie Daniels sat in with Doc Gibbs and the band that day. Emeril has been and is a huge inspiration to me as a home cook, and I am grateful to have been able to watch--and all three of our kids love cooking!

Having seen "Matlock" as the last vestige of "corn-fed" must-see TV in its original form, I didn't have high hopes for the re-incarnation. If Hollywood executives ever want to come to my house for dinner, I'm serving leftovers and hash, because if it's one thing Hollywood likes to do, it's to repeat itself.

Here, they've 1) borrowed the "Matlock" name, 2) gender-flipped the titular character, 3) borrowed NYC locations from the "Law and Order" franchise, 4) created a generic courtroom, and 5) cast a seemingly-younger version of an L&O judge.

Need I continue?

Well, I'm going to.

I watched part of the "pilot" episode and decided I'd seen too much of this before. I wish you success, but I won't be watching.

I saw this last night courtesy of Netflix. We've seen the cranky old Irish women characters before (Maureen O'Hara as Rose Muldoon in "Only the Lonely"), and they're no less unpleasant. This movie had promise, but it can't decide whether it's a Lifetime Channel "Men are useless movie of the week" or a commentary on life-long friendships. As a result, it drags along from one scene to another without very good transitions, either in script or visual editing. The ending reminded me a little bit of that Roma Downey schlockfest "touched by an angel" and as a whole just left me wanting less. Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates are two fine actors but this movie just didn't work.