‘Taste’ searches for top holiday recipes
Who says you have to settle for frozen turkey, boxed stuffing and canned cranberry sauce for Christmas dinner?
A country as diverse as ours should have millions of favorite holiday recipes, and “Taste of America” (8 p.m., Travel) host Mark DeCarlo spends his one-hour holiday special trying to find them.
DeCarlo begins in Carver, Mass., where he learns the secrets of cranberry harvesting and how to make a traditional cranberry sauce.
Then it’s on to Cajun country, Shreveport, La., to sample turducken, a trendy holiday treat with its roots in medieval food preparation.
As the name implies, turducken is a chicken stuffed into a duck that is in turn stuffed into a turkey with lots of stuffing. And, if all goes well, it will be stuffed into a person at Christmas dinner.
DeCarlo’s gourmet road tour takes him to West Virginia to learn the secrets of gingerbread; to California, land of latkes; and on to a Trappist monastery in Kentucky, where the contemplative life includes the preparation of fruitcakes. Heavy stuff, indeed.
De Carlo wraps things up with a visit to his aunt in Chicago. And what’s a chef to prepare after a cross-country eating binge? His favorite Christmas meal, stuffed calamari.
Early in 2006, NBC will reshuffle its schedule, moving the Tuesday-night comedies “My Name is Earl” and “The Office” to Thursday nights to replace “Joey” and the “The Apprentice,” which are both going on a well-deserved hiatus.
While “Earl” has been a bona fide hit for NBC, “The Office” has been drawing modest audiences. But if you were watching “The Office” carefully last Tuesday, you might have noticed NBC take a new step, or perhaps sink to a new low, in shameless product placement.
Last Wednesday, NBC’s corporate parent, Universal, announced a deal with Apple to make NBC shows available on Apple’s iTunes Web site for its video iPod. On that very night’s episode of “The Office,” Michael (Steve Carell) made a big deal out of buying a $400 video iPod for the office grab bag, even though the Secret Santa limit was $20. The iPod was mentioned frequently and become a minor part of the show’s plot.
That’s pretty pathetic as well as proof that corporate synergy has nothing to do with good comedy.
It’s interesting to note that “Earl,” the more popular show, is almost product-placement free. Earl’s low-rent lifestyle doesn’t exactly lend itself to brand-name promotion. The season’s other breakout comedy, “Everybody Hates Chris,” is similarly unfriendly to commercialization.
Other highlights
A cynical TV producer (Patricia Heaton) becomes part of a media circus hunting down a boy who doubts Santa in the convoluted holiday romance fantasy “A Town Without Christmas” (7 p.m., Lifetime).
A trip to a fallout shelter leads to a quarantine on “Bones” (8 p.m., Fox).
Lorelai remains coy about the big day on “Gilmore Girls” (8 p.m., WB).
“The Amazing Race Family Edition” (9 p.m., CBS) wraps up with a two-hour finale.
A dangerous day at the races on “House” (9 p.m., Fox, TV).
Joy’s wedding, ruined and redeemed on “My Name is Earl” (9:30 p.m., NBC).
The speaker horns in on the veep choice on “Commander in Chief” (9 p.m., ABC).
“Seoul Train” on “Independent Lens” (10 p.m., KSPS) looks at the flow of North Korean refugees to the south.
The murder of two HIV-positive patients on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (10 p.m., NBC).
Credit card merry-go-round on “Boston Legal” (10 p.m., ABC).
Cult choice
Director Ang Lee failed to wow comic book fans with his 2003 adaptation of “The Hulk” (8 p.m., USA).
Series notes
Murder strikes at a reality-show set on a military base on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS) … A manipulative in-law on “According to Jim” (8 p.m., ABC) … Tyra Banks hosts the finale of “America’s Next Top Model” (10 p.m., UPN) … Sisters bicker on “Hope and Faith” (8:30 p.m., ABC) … Models display skimpy underwear at the “Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show” (11 p.m., UPN) … An airborne ghoul on “Supernatural” (9 p.m., WB).