At first glance, it would be very easy to compare this show to the Brady Bunch. For starters, both shows originally ran on ABC. Both shows were about blended families. Both shows featured a blonde mom named Carol. Mike Brady was an architect, Frank Lambert was a construction worker. Three sons and three daughters between them. Both shows even brought in a cute little kid to spice up their later seasons.

So you switch a few of the kids' genders, and trade out the wisecracking maid for a deceptively wise cousin living in a van in the driveway, and it's essentially the same show, right?

Not exactly.

While the Bradys tended to get along fairly swimmingly (right down to Carol's daughters taking the Brady name), the fact remains that not all blended families function as such. Step By Step illustrated this; yes, the Lambert kids and foster kids would clash. The gender-switching also contributed, because now you had children of mixed parentage being forced to share bedrooms. And since it was 20 years later, Step By Step was definitely able to tackle issues that the Brady Bunch couldn't...hell, the Brady Bunch never actually admitted that Carol was divorced.

When the show originally ran, I was young, so my main interest in the show...was Cody. Later on, watching it in syndication, I came to appreciate the topics of education, religion, fame, etc. that it addressed. Although I'll still admit...the episodes without Cody weren't as good.

Bret Harrison has amused me thoroughly ever since I first saw him as Brad on Grounded for Life. While I didn't get to see him on The Loop, my fond GfL memories are what led me to check him out on Reaper (well, that and Kevin Smith's involvement). Factor in his occasional guest appearances elsewhere, and he's been around a bit for a guy his age.

He's really got an everyman, boy-next-door quality about him (which is probably why he was so great on GfL...he played the boy next door). But he also manages to shine in starring roles. Plus, he's been in a movie with Burt Reynolds, which I believe legally doubles his overall coolness.

I think that, in time, he may eventually become my generation's Robert Urich (minus the untimely death of natural causes)...funny, likeable, a few hit shows, a lot of misses, but always more respected and popular than the show he was on.

It's not often you see a blended family on TV that actually gel into a cohesive unit...even the Brady Bunch had their issues. But this family seems to be in perfect harmony...even Candace's ire is usually directed at Phineas (her own brother) moreso than Ferb, and it usually has to to with his activities more than anything else. As much as the divorce rate is allegedly destroying America (although to be fair, I don't believe we actually know how Linda and Lawrence's first marriages ended), this program shows us it's possible for two families to come together harmoniously.

But enough of that feel-good stuff. Let's talk about how funny the show is.

Is the formula repetitive? Yes. But the show acknowledges it. That's what makes it funny.

The voice cast is well-assembled; although I really wish Disney would stop using the same people over and over again (Tisdale, Musso, Stoner, etc.).

Platypus = comedy.
Platypus in fedora = great TV.
Platypus in fedora fighting crime = where's my Emmy?

The musical element is a welcome change from the pace of other cartoons nowadays. And the theme song rocks.

Bottom line, Disney has another hit on their hands. I only hope they don't end up limiting the show's run with its own "summer vacation" concept.

Having been in the food business for almost 10 years now, people usually ask me my opinions on the various celebrity chefs, and I always tell them that Anthony Bourdain is my favorite, because he manages to be a chef and a celebrity without being a "celebrity chef."

The reasoning is rather simple: There have been 9 books that list him as the sole author; only one is a cookbook. He's had 4 TV shows; not a single one of them is a cooking show.

And when people come back with "well, Emeril had his own sitcom too," my response is usually "yeah, but he was dumb enough to actually star in it."

Bourdain is very opinionated, especially about his fellow celebrity chefs...however, when he broke bread with Emeril Lagasse in the New Orleans episode of No Reservations, it showed he's also willing to admit when he's wrong.

Although the chances of him being wrong about Rocco are very slim.

This series, based on Chef Anthony Bourdain's first book of memoirs (of the same name), this is probably the most accurate fictional representation of a professional kitchen that I've ever seen. In my 10 years thusfar cooking professionally, I've seen similar instances of hazing, chefs trying to sleep with waitresses, chefs trying to sleep with each other (heheh...been there...unsuccessfully), absentee owners (although Pino was one of the more informed ones), grueling injuries (again, been there), and pain-in-the-ass customers.

I suppose that's why I thought this series was so great...on the other hand, I can also understand why it was cancelled. The show is just a bit too esoteric for the general public. Also, as a chef, I think there are really certain inside aspects of the business that I'd rather the customer not know about.

However, a great show nonetheless. The characters in the show, while not necessarily based on specific real people, are definitely archetypes that usually pop up in professional kitchens.