Chinese audiences seemed to have been underwhelmed by the third season of the highly anticipated food documentary "A Bite of China."
Even though the series has maintained high viewership ratings since its comeback last week, much higher than other programs aired at the same time, the ranking on Douban, a social networking website featuring films, literature and events, slipped to 4.5 out of 10, as of Sunday, compared with 9.3 and 8.4, respectively, for the first two seasons.
Picky viewers complain that some of the narration is not accurate, while others pinpoint misleading content. For instance, marine life expert Zhou Zhuocheng wrote on his Weibo social media account that U.S.-imported largemouth bass is used to describe fish that appeared in Chinese literature more than 1,700 years ago in east China's Taihu Lake.
At the same time, food blogger @barbarababa questioned whether it is appropriate to give a close-up shot of the poisonous plant nandina in a food program.
A Bite of China, which debuted in 2012, became hugely popular nationwide for its quality introduction of some rarely-known and mouth-watering domestic cuisine. In the new show, however, watchers are not satisfied with "irrelevant" food references, such as lipsticks made of Chinese traditional medicine and martial arts master.
The first episode introduced a hand-made iron frying pan from east China's Shandong Province, which prompted thousands of Chinese Internet users to buy one from China's leading e-commerce website Tmall in the next few days.
Sales of the pan at "Zhensanhuan" surged 6,000 times compared with a year ago, according to Beijing Youth Daily, but the store quickly asked customers to withdraw orders. It explained, "Hand-made products cannot be finished within a short period of time. We should respect the traditional technique."
By the evening of February 23, all iron products had been removed from relevant stores.
In response to overwhelming criticism and questions, A Bite of China production crew responded on Weibo that they seek innovation despite the risks following the first two phenomenal seasons.
"It is unavoidable to make comparisons with the first two, and some audiences may not accept the changes," the crew said. "We explore the culture and civilization behind food, and give food a historic touch. That's why we feature culinary tools, feast and rituals, as well as a healthy diet to show Chinese wisdom and philosophy, which has not been shown in any food programs before."
