The simple, well-informed interviews of 92Y are a great way to spend a lazy afternoon. This session with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich, it's a stunning distillation of everything good about a cooking show.
We get 120 minutes with these characters, suddenly free of the editing and time constraint of a cooking show. All the passion, color, and personality are there, but for once, neither Mario nor the interviewer Francine Segan make any attempt to go over-the-top or play to the cameras. Instead they just talk, tell the most obvious stories, and we get a sense of the excellence of these two characters.
4 stars instead of 5, though, since the volume is incredibly quiet. Also note, he swears twice and it's not bleeped.
The catch with documentaries, cooking shows, and public television is that they can be a little expensive to buy on DVD...if the episodes are for sale at all. So it's a great relief to see 92Y included on Amazon Prime streaming.
