It’s always fun when Nick Jr. comes out with a new show….and by always fun I mean it’s more fun than watching the same episode of Paw Patrol or Blaze and the Monster Machines for the 10 thousandth time. So, when I turned on Nick Jr. and saw some weird looking…. thing…talking to Kristen Bell I was intrigued. And definitely not because I’ve had a crush on Kristen Bell since she was in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Who Is Tiny Chef?
Before I get into what the show is actually about, I think it’s important to take a minute to talk about the main character…Tiny Chef. If you’ve watched the show, you see this little chef thing that talks funny. When I looked up exactly what he is, the best answer that I got was that he’s an herbivore. Which doesn’t tell me much besides the fact he just eats plant-based foods.
I racked my brain for a couple minutes trying to figure out how to explain what he is to someone who has never watched the show. Is he a talking piece of clay, maybe a slime monster? I asked my wife for some help because Google wasn’t really helping. She gave me the answer that I’ll go with on how to explain what he is.
“He’s a chef!”
I didn’t say it was a great answer but it’s certainly an answer. Tiny Chef is an herbivore chef. (The only other creatures I’ve heard been described as herbivores are different types of dinosaurs…and he’s not a dinosaur either).
So, to sum up this first portion doing a deep dive into who Tiny Chef is…. He’s a chef…who doesn’t eat meat.
What Is the Tiny Chef Show?
Now that we got who Tiny Chef is out of the way the show is about this little chef thing cooking a certain food for the episode. To my knowledge, it might be the first cooking type show I’ve seen on any Nickelodeon channel.
For some reason, RuPaul hosts the show and introduces him at the beginning and then has nothing to do with the rest of the show. Now I’m going to be very gentle when I say this because I don’t want to make anyone
mad, but I’m not sure what the point of RuPaul on the show is.
I’m saying this not because I have anything against RuPaul but because it makes no sense. Replace RuPaul with anyone, say Robert DeNiro and I would still say it makes no sense to feature a big-name celebrity on the show and then have them introduce the beginning and be done for the rest of the show.
So anyway, Tiny Chef takes over the show and will talk about what he’s cooking, then they’ll have a segment where they actually give some good information on the food of the day, then Tiny Chef will chat with a celebrity…Kristen Bell…the guy that does the voice of Olaf from Frozen….and other big names. After that he’ll cook the food and wrap the show up.
Tiny Chef Show Review
I’ve spent many sleepless nights contemplating whether or not I like this show, and I’ll say it right now…. it’s pretty good. I love food so that’s a great start, and for me I find it a nice change from Nick’s usual lineup of kids’ stuff. Here’s a couple ‘’’reasons why:
- The Introduction: Maybe it’s because some of my favorite shows are 80’s and 90’s shows that have 2-minute-long introductions like Full House, Family Matters and Fresh Prince of Bel Air,but the intro theme for The Tiny Chef Show is pretty catchy so it makes me like it from the star.
They Actually Give Interesting Information: There’s a segment where they give some information about the food they’re cooking for the day, and it actually winds up being something I may not have known about the food. It’s probably my favorite segment of the show.
What I Don’t Like
There actually isn’t much I don’t like about the show. The one glaring issue I have with it is how Tiny Chef talks. To me, he sounds like Cartman from South Park if he had a major speech issue.
Now believe it or not, when I’m watching TV with my son, my full attention isn’t necessarily on the show. I might be doing something around the house, looking at some emails, writing, etc. so there are a lot of times 5 minutes will go by and I’ll realize I have no clue what Tiny Chef is talking about.
If the actor who voices Tiny Chef has that exact same voice in real life and has a speech issue, then I understand completely. But if they’re just making him talk like that for the sake of talking like that, I don’t really get it.
Does My Son Like Tiny Chef?
This is probably the most important question…way to put it at the bottom of the blog. My son is 50/50 on The Tiny Chef Show. If they’re talking about a food, he likes…which there aren’t many…then he’s in for most of the episode. If it’s a food he’s not interested in, then he’s eh. So, if you have a toddler or preschooler, I’d probably predict they’d be in the same boat.
Final Thoughts
The Tiny Chef Show probably isn’t going to reach the popularity of the big named shows on Nick like Paw Patrol, Blue’s Clues, or Peppa Pig, but my prediction is that it’ll be around for a while…. or until they run out of food to cook.
The Workin' Parent 