Recipe for Disaster (TV series)

Recipe for Disaster
GenreFood reality television
Presented by
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producers
  • Andrika Lawren
  • Jennifer Twamley
  • Cyle Zezo
Production company3Bird Media
Original release
Network
  • The CW (episodes 1–10)
  • The CW App (episodes 11–13)
ReleaseAugust 5 (2023-08-05) –
September 3, 2023 (2023-09-03)

Recipe for Disaster is an American cooking competition television series that premiered on August 5, 2023 on The CW and completed its first season on September 3, 2023.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Three of the episodes streamed exclusively on The CW App. No decision has been made on a second season.[9]

Format

In each episode of Recipe for Disaster, three new chefs and their cooking buddies, who are complete novices in the kitchen, must create spectacular dishes to impress the judges, all while they are dodging a variety of over-the-top disasters which are themed to the episode's subject matter and serve to create mess, distract and throw off the teams' cooking processes.

At the start of the episode, the participants are presented with a Judge's Choice challenge in which they each must make a dish that aligns with clear parameters set by the judges. While they are cooking, they are assaulted by messy and distracting disasters that fit with that episode's theme. The judges taste the dishes and designate one team as the winner, which is given a benefit ahead of the next round.

The winner of the Judge's Choice challenge gets to assign the episode's disaster ingredient to another team of their choosing in order to handicap that team in the next challenge. The disaster ingredient is pre-determined and is also related to the theme of the episode.

The second and final challenge in each episode is the Chef's Choice. The participants can cook anything they want, although there are still some parameters assigned that all must adhere to (for instance, in one episode the dish must be "floating." In another it must be "stacked"). The team that received the disaster ingredient must also seamlessly and impressively incorporate it into their dish. The chefs are once again put through a series of themed disasters while they are cooking.

Once the time is up, the judges taste and name one team the Masters of Disaster. The winning team walks away with a certificate and a token prize themed to the episode.[10]

Sustainability themes

The series incorporated a number of themes on-screen related to sustainability, with at least one plant-based cooking challenge, reference to sustainable ingredients, comedic climate-related jokes, visuals of a compost chute, forgoing gas-powered stoves, and casting multiple vegan and plant-forward chef contestants.[11][12]

Episodes

No.Title [13][14]Original air date [13][14]Prod.
code [13]		U.S. viewers
(millions)		Rating
(18-49)
1"End of the Rainbow"August 5, 2023 (2023-08-05)1110.190[15]0.02/0[15]
2"Dracula's Dinner Party"August 5, 2023 (2023-08-05)1090.108[15]0.02/0[15]
3"Way-Too-Fun Fair"August 12, 2023 (2023-08-12)1130.203[16]0.04/1[16]
4"Parisian Tourist Trap"August 12, 2023 (2023-08-12)1010.201[16]0.04/0[16]
5"Dining with Dinos"August 19, 2023 (2023-08-19)1040.174[17]0.04/1[17]
6"Bank Robber's Banquet"August 19, 2023 (2023-08-19)1100.130[17]0.03/0[17]
7"Sinking Cruise Ship"August 26, 2023 (2023-08-26)1070.256[18]0.05/1[18]
8"Martian Mayhem!"August 26, 2023 (2023-08-26)1030.180[18]0.04/1[18]
9"Daycare Nightmare"September 2, 2023 (2023-09-02)1020.222[19]0.03/0[19]
10"Bad Dog Park"September 2, 2023 (2023-09-02)1120.201[19]0.04/0[19]
11"Prom Gone Wrong"September 3, 2023 (2023-09-03)105N/AN/A
12"Not-So-Simple Life"September 3, 2023 (2023-09-03)108N/AN/A
13"Snow Globe City"September 3, 2023 (2023-09-03)106N/AN/A

References

  1. ^ "The CW Network Announces Its Seven-Night Primetime Schedule for 2022-2023" (Press release). The CW. May 19, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2023 – via The Futon Critic.
  2. ^ White, Peter (May 19, 2022). "The CW Fall 2022 Schedule: The Flash, Riverdale & Nancy Drew Move To Midseason, Stargirl Shifts To Fall, All American Block On Mondays & Walker Doubleheader On Thursday". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  3. ^ "The CW Network Announces Slate of Original Scripted And Unscripted Programming for Summer 2023" (Press release). The CW. May 10, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023 – via The Futon Critic.
  4. ^ Petski, Denise (May 10, 2023). "Run The Burbs, Moonshine, Bump Season 2 Among Additions To The CW's Summer Programming Slate". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  5. ^ "The CW Network Sets Summer 2023 Premiere Dates" (Press release). The CW. June 7, 2023. Retrieved August 5, 2023 – via The Futon Critic.
  6. ^ Petski, Denise (June 7, 2023). "The CW Sets Summer Premiere Dates For New Series Son Of A Critch, Run The Burbs, Moonshine, Returning Bump, Family Law, FBoy Island & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 5, 2023.
  7. ^ "The CW Network Announces Slate of Original Scripted and Unscripted Programming for Summer 2023" (Press release). Nexstar. May 10, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  8. ^ "Recipe for Disaster listings". Futon Critic.
  9. ^ "The CW Pulls "Bump" from Mondays, "Recipe for Disaster" from Saturdays".
  10. ^ McClelland, Audrey. "Host Anna Pornel dishes about her new show, "Recipe for Disaster"". WPRI. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  11. ^ Veltman, Chloe (July 7, 2023). "Climate change is our reality — so why wouldn't it appear on reality TV?". NPR. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
  12. ^ Thompson, Claire Elise (May 17, 2023). "The next cameo on your favorite TV show could be climate change". Grist. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  13. ^ a b c "RECIPE FOR DISASTER (CW)". The Futon Critic. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  14. ^ a b "Recipe for Disaster – Season 1 Listings". Zap2It. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  15. ^ a b c d Douglas Pucci (August 6, 2023). "Saturday Ratings: Fox Tops Broadcast Demos Despite Late Prime Start of Women's World Cup Soccer". Programming Insider. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
  16. ^ a b c d Douglas Pucci (August 13, 2023). "Saturday Ratings: NFL Preseason Action Televised in Select Local Markets". Programming Insider. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
  17. ^ a b c d Douglas Pucci (August 20, 2023). "Saturday Ratings: Stand Up To Cancer Special Draws Nearly 3 Million Viewers Combined on Big-4 Networks". Programming Insider. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  18. ^ a b c d Douglas Pucci (August 27, 2023). "Saturday Ratings: NFL Preseason in Local Markets Top Sports-Laden Night". Programming Insider. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  19. ^ a b c d Douglas Pucci (September 3, 2023). "Saturday Ratings: College Football Omnipresent in Prime Time, Including on ABC, NBC and CBS". Retrieved September 8, 2023.