Mixed reviews and Benefits Street controversy have hampered the Channel 4 series' fortunes – will viewers want more?
It had all the ingredients of a surefire TV hit – a format that has already proved popular in the US, a cookery competition with a twist, and the country's most talked-about TV presenter, Nigella Lawson.
And yet viewers appeared not to have the stomach for Channel 4's The Taste, which debuted with 1.8 million viewers – a reasonable portion – in the new year, only for half of the audience to lose their appetite for Tuesday night's second episode, tumbling to just 1 million viewers, 4.2% of the TV audience.
Recorded before the acrimonious fraud trial of her two former assistants, in which she was forced to admit her use of cocaine and cannabis, Lawson's presence was expected to give the series a big ratings lift.
It ended up with fewer than half the viewers of Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother – and was entirely overshadowed by the controversy around another Channel 4 show which began the day before, fly-on-the wall documentary series Benefits Street."That didn't help Channel 4 being at the eye of a storm of something like Benefits Street," said entertainment PR and branding specialist, Mark Borkowski.
"Everyone was talking about Channel 4 but they don't want to be particularly positive about it when they have got critical stuff to say about Benefits Street. It must be hindering the way they can promote it," said entertainment PR and branding specialist Mark Borkowski.
Nor has it helped that the criticial reception has been mixed at best. "Constantly frantic and ceaselessly boring," said the Daily Telegraph. "Pretty tasty," said the Daily Mirror, despite concerns that it was "completely suspense-free".
A mash-up of MasterChef and BBC1's Saturday night talent show, The Voice, in which the judges have their back to the singers, The Taste's twist is that Lawson and her fellow "mentors" do not know whose food they are tasting, and only have one spoonful on which to judge it.
It began life on US network ABC, where it returned for a second series earlier this month with the same judging lineup of Lawson, food writer Anthony Bourdain and Los Angeles-based French chef Ludo Lefebvre, neither of whom will be familiar to UK viewers.
Radio Times TV critic David Butcher said: "There are just gaping holes in the format. The whole point of MasterChef and The Great British Bake Off is you see people cooking against the clock, there is suspense. Here it is just put on a spoon and delivered to the judges.
"With The Voice, the drama is that they can't see the contestants and we can. In pop music that matters, it's a big issue. With gastronomy it really doesn't matter what the chef looks like, the fact they are trying it blind is neither here nor there. It feels a bit charmless, a bit pointless."
But the sparring between the judges was enough to win over the Observer's restaurant critic and MasterChef judge, Jay Rayner.
"There is not much new in this business, and what it comes down to is the chemistry between the judges, are they three people you would like to spend time with at a table, listening to them talk?" said Rayner. "I think they are. It is shot beautifully and feels surprisingly fresh, and my suspicion is that interest will pick up as the series goes on."
The makers of BBC2's The Great British Bake Off (coincidentally the same people behind Benefits Street) consistently flag up the fun and warmheartedness of that format, which ended with a record 8 million viewers last year and will switch to BBC1 for this year's fifth series. But they may be qualities simply lacking in the Channel 4 show to date.
The broadcaster, which said it was "proud of the show, it's a brand new format with fantastic talent at the helm", is due to broadcast the original US series later this year. It remains to be seen whether viewers stick around for a second helping.
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It had all the ingredients of a surefire TV hit – a format that has already proved popular in the US, a cookery competition with a twist, and the country's most talked-about TV presenter, Nigella Lawson.
And yet viewers appeared not to have the stomach for Channel 4's The Taste, which debuted with 1.8 million viewers – a reasonable portion – in the new year, only for half of the audience to lose their appetite for Tuesday night's second episode, tumbling to just 1 million viewers, 4.2% of the TV audience.
Recorded before the acrimonious fraud trial of her two former assistants, in which she was forced to admit her use of cocaine and cannabis, Lawson's presence was expected to give the series a big ratings lift.
It ended up with fewer than half the viewers of Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother – and was entirely overshadowed by the controversy around another Channel 4 show which began the day before, fly-on-the wall documentary series Benefits Street."That didn't help Channel 4 being at the eye of a storm of something like Benefits Street," said entertainment PR and branding specialist, Mark Borkowski.
"Everyone was talking about Channel 4 but they don't want to be particularly positive about it when they have got critical stuff to say about Benefits Street. It must be hindering the way they can promote it," said entertainment PR and branding specialist Mark Borkowski.
Nor has it helped that the criticial reception has been mixed at best. "Constantly frantic and ceaselessly boring," said the Daily Telegraph. "Pretty tasty," said the Daily Mirror, despite concerns that it was "completely suspense-free".
A mash-up of MasterChef and BBC1's Saturday night talent show, The Voice, in which the judges have their back to the singers, The Taste's twist is that Lawson and her fellow "mentors" do not know whose food they are tasting, and only have one spoonful on which to judge it.
It began life on US network ABC, where it returned for a second series earlier this month with the same judging lineup of Lawson, food writer Anthony Bourdain and Los Angeles-based French chef Ludo Lefebvre, neither of whom will be familiar to UK viewers.
Radio Times TV critic David Butcher said: "There are just gaping holes in the format. The whole point of MasterChef and The Great British Bake Off is you see people cooking against the clock, there is suspense. Here it is just put on a spoon and delivered to the judges.
"With The Voice, the drama is that they can't see the contestants and we can. In pop music that matters, it's a big issue. With gastronomy it really doesn't matter what the chef looks like, the fact they are trying it blind is neither here nor there. It feels a bit charmless, a bit pointless."
But the sparring between the judges was enough to win over the Observer's restaurant critic and MasterChef judge, Jay Rayner.
"There is not much new in this business, and what it comes down to is the chemistry between the judges, are they three people you would like to spend time with at a table, listening to them talk?" said Rayner. "I think they are. It is shot beautifully and feels surprisingly fresh, and my suspicion is that interest will pick up as the series goes on."
The makers of BBC2's The Great British Bake Off (coincidentally the same people behind Benefits Street) consistently flag up the fun and warmheartedness of that format, which ended with a record 8 million viewers last year and will switch to BBC1 for this year's fifth series. But they may be qualities simply lacking in the Channel 4 show to date.
The broadcaster, which said it was "proud of the show, it's a brand new format with fantastic talent at the helm", is due to broadcast the original US series later this year. It remains to be seen whether viewers stick around for a second helping.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook. Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.