ItвЂ™s very clear Candy Land is only interested in borrowing the board game as a support, over which its producers have thrown the tasteless and overused piece of fondant that is the Food Network вЂњWarsвЂќ franchise. The teams who arenвЂ™t eliminated do have oversize game pieces, but they just picked up them up and walked around and did nothing with them while looking as confused as I was. But no, Candy Land the reality competition doesnвЂ™t care about replicating or adapting the game. ThatвЂ™s such a simple format it offers so many opportunities to be translated to television, perhaps with players moving their game pieces or themselves down the path.

The board game itself is simple: draw a card, move to the next space of that color, and try to be the first player to get to Candy Castle. ThereвЂ™s an even more-detailed behind-the-scenes special, hosted by David Bromstad, thatвЂ™s far more watchable and engaging than the actual show.Д«ecause thereвЂ™s a raging pandemic, and this was produced in the middle of it, and because I appreciate attention and time being given to the craft required to produce reality television, IвЂ™ll ignore that the edible set is actually just inedible set pieces with some bowls of candy strewn around-and that 2020 has already given us a reality competition in a similar space that was much more elaborate and immersive (NetflixвЂ™s Crazy Delicious, an imperfect but GBBO-ish cooking competition where the pantry was the set).Д¬andy LandвЂ™s designers have done a decent job of recreating the aesthetic of the game board, which in the version from my 1980s childhood was relatively sparse, a multi-colored path weaving through and past colorful vignettes and sugary characters: Gumdrop Mountain, Lollipop Woods, Queen Frostine. Making It winner Justine Silva is one of the many craftspeople who took 650 pounds of candy, 170 pounds of chocolate, lots of inspiration from the board game. The first few minutes of Candy Land were dedicated to showing us how 120 people created the вЂњinteractive, sugary set,вЂќ a version of the Candy Land game board. It absolutely is insane: that Food Network combined the magical ingredients of Chenoweth and Candy Land and produced this monstrosity that they should have revealed by yelling, Nailed it! They didnвЂ™t. ItвЂ™s going to be insane!вЂќ Kristin Chenoweth said at the start of Food NetworkвЂ™s Candy Land. вЂњThe most magical board game has come to life.

Candy land