Meghan Markle’s “With Love, Meghan” and Pamela Anderson’s “Pamela’s Cooking With Love” might seem like two peas in a celebrity pod at first glance—both are glossy cooking shows fronted by famous women with a knack for branding.
But peel back the layers, and the differences are as stark as night and day. Pamela’s show oozes authenticity, a heartfelt extension of her decades-long passion for plant-based living, while Meghan’s feels like a calculated knockoff, a shallow grab at relevance that shamelessly cribs from others without an ounce of originality.
Let’s start with Pamela. Her show, airing on Canada’s Flavour Network, is a love letter to her vegan roots, filmed in her Vancouver Island home—a place she’s tied to through family and personal history. She’s not just posing for the cameras; she’s collaborating with world-class chefs, learning from them, and sharing a lifestyle she’s lived for over 30 years. It’s genuine.
You can feel the warmth, the curiosity, the realness in every frame. Pamela’s not trying to sell you a persona; she’s inviting you into her world, pickles and all (yes, there’s even a nod to her great-auntie’s award-winning recipes). It’s unpretentious, unforced, and undeniably her own.
Then there’s Meghan. “With Love, Meghan,” dropped on Netflix like a carefully curated PR stunt, reeks of imitation. The parallels with Pamela’s show are too blatant to ignore—cooking with celebrity pals, the airy “relatable” vibes, even the high-fives in the kitchen. It’s as if Meghan scrolled through Pamela’s trailer, jotted down the highlights, and said, “I’ll have what she’s having.” But where Pamela’s authenticity shines, Meghan’s attempt lands with a thud. Filmed in a rented Montecito mansion—not even her own home—it’s a staged fantasy of domestic bliss that feels about as real as a reality TV script. She’s not a passionate cook with a story to tell; she’s a former Z list actress desperately trying to rebrand, borrowing from others to pad out her thin resume. Her show’s trailer screams control-freak perfectionism, every flower arrangement and frittata meticulously placed to scream “look at me,” but it’s hollow. No soul, no originality—just a pale echo of better ideas.
Pamela’s show stands tall because it’s hers, built from a lifetime of conviction and a love for the craft. Meghan’s, on the other hand, is a masterclass in copycat mediocrity, a transparent attempt to ride someone else’s coattails while slapping a designer label on it. One’s a celebration; the other’s a charade. Guess which is which.
Meghan Markle‘s upcoming show has been brutally mocked by the Pointless star Richard Osman and Guardian columnist Marina Hyde.
The duo mocked the trailer of the show for its inauthentic ‘farm to table bull****’ on the latest episode of their The Rest is Entertainment podcast.
They derided the highly-produced trailer for the show, which showed Meghan, 43, inviting friends and famous guests to a California estate where she shares cooking, gardening and hosting tips.
Meghan’s cringeworthy phrase to ‘find joy in every moment’ was also laughed at, with Marina joking ‘she is the godhead, you are supposed to be the worshipper’.The culture writer said the show, titled With Love, Meghan, ‘looked like Instagram’ and had an expensive aesthetic similar to ‘trad wife’ and ‘luxury would-be mogul’.
Richard and Marina even jested that the show might change halfway through into a ‘brilliant satire’ or be used to launch a ‘sitcom’.
But despite their reservations, both media experts believe the show could be successful, with Marina claiming it would attract people wanting to ‘hate-watch’ it while hungover.
They said it was the ‘last throw of the dice’ for Meghan’s $100million Netflix deal, as her and Harry’s recent shows had not brought in the required number of viewers.
Meghan Markle’s upcoming show has been brutally mocked by the Pointless star Richard Osman and Guardian columnist Marina Hyde on their podcast
Marina Hyde said the show, titled With Love, Meghan, ‘looked like Instagram’ and had an expensive aesthetic similar to ‘trad wife’ and ‘luxury would-be mogul’
Due to be released on March 4, the new series will see the Duchess and her guests roll ‘up their sleeves in the kitchen, the garden, and beyond, and invite you to do the same’, according to Netflix promotional material.
Guests include Roy Choi, Mindy Kaling, Alice Waters, ‘with additional acclaimed chefs and special friends’ – and there will be eight episodes, each lasting 33 minutes.
Discussing the show, Marina said: ‘There appears to be what I would call a lot of farm to table bull*****. It is the kind of rosemary cocktail garnish of it all.’
Richard then quips: ‘They should have called it that.’
Marina said: ‘You know, that slightly religious way of talking about laying the table, tablescaping, in the parlance of the naff. The aesthetic is somewhat trad wife, somewhat luxury would-be mogul because it is very expensive.
‘By the way, we should say maybe it turns into brilliant satire half-way through, it hasn’t fully dropped and we don’t know, maybe it becomes an absolutely groundbreaking programme.’
Richard jokes: ‘A sitcom. That would be a hell of a way to launch a sitcom. She is an actor, it could be. That would be great.’
Marina said: ‘That would be absolutely brilliant, if it became a sort of Curb Your Enthusiasm style ripping the whole format apart. You could never make proper sitcoms after this.’
While on the podcast, Marina said: ‘There appears to be what I would call a lot of farm to table bull*****’
Richard joked Meghan’s show could become a sitcom, saying: ‘That would be a hell of a way to launch a sitcom. She is an actor, it could be. That would be great.’
Meghan with actress Mindy Kaling in the trailer for ‘With Love, Meghan’
Meghan Markle introduces her new Netflix series ‘With Love, Meghan’
Richard added: ‘Yeah and Prince Harry plays Jeff.’
Marina laughed and said ‘Prince Jeff. Which is a great idea. But anyway I don’t think we are going to see that.’
It is understood Meghan will use the show to launch her new brand ‘As Ever’, which will sell lifestyle goods to her fans.
The Duchess said on February 18 that the venture was replacing the old name of American Riviera Orchard because that name limited her to locally-produced goods.
Discussing the trailer, which released in January, Marina said: ‘She says she wants to create joy in every moment, what would create joy for me is that if people stop talking about creating joy. There is just something so extreme and religious about that.’
The House of Games star Richard then joked: ‘But also in every moment? Honestly you can have too much joy. Don’t you think?
Marina Hyde said: ‘She says she has always loved the idea of taking something ordinary and elevating it.’
Richard interrupts her by quipping, ‘like Harry’.
Marina responds with a laugh saying ‘you beat me to it’, before clarifying ‘we don’t actually think that we’re joking.’
Meghan high-fiving one of her guests in the trailer of the show, which is set to be released in full on Tuesday, March 4
Another part of the trailer for ‘With Love, Meghan’ showed the Duchess trying beekeeping
The two media experts discussed the Duchess’ show on their smash hit podcast The Rest Is Entertainment.
Produced by Gary Lineker’s podcasting company Goalhanger, it pulls back the curtain on television, film, journalism and more, with the pair using their years of knowledge, enviable contact book and wit to bring alive the world of entertainment.
Meghan posts then quickly deletes behind-the-scenes footage from new Netflix series
On the episode Marina said: ‘But Netflix says this is “going to reimagine lifestyle programming”. At this point they just have to say anything because they are $100million dollars in the hole to these people.’
Richard said: ‘The prize is enormous. If you can become a [Gweneth] Paltrow or a Martha Stewart, the money is sort of endless. And it is possible she can do certainly everything you see looks great.
Marina said: ‘It looks like Instagram’, with Richard quickly replying ‘but yeah that’s what people like’.
She continued: ‘The TV they have made is the TV they think people should be watching, rather than what people want to watch. All of that has been a washout.
‘The story is themselves, and that is all it ever has been. But they can’t continue to complain about their terrible treatment at the hands of the Royal Family because they don’t appear to have any contact with them to speak of.
Just weeks ahead of the launch of ‘With Love, Meghan’, the Duchess announced she was rebranding American Riviera Orchard to ‘As Ever’
‘They live in the lap of luxury, they have got Netflix money, so they cannot winge anymore so they have got to find a new thing to do.’
Richard then continues to mock the show and Meghan’s motto, cattily replying: ‘I think they have got to find joy in every moment.’
Meghan Markle’s new As Ever products ‘won’t be ready’ until a few months after Netflix show launch
Marina replies: ‘No create, they didn’t just find it. She is the presiding intelligence.
Richard says with a smile: ‘She is not foraging for joy.’
Marina said: ‘She is the godhead, you are supposed to be the worshipper.’
Marina continued: ‘This is the last throw of the dice from Netflix with these two. They are coming to the end of the deal, this is it. We don’t want to do any more documentaries.’
Richard said: ‘It doesn’t feel unreasonable though as a throw of the dice.’ Marina replies: ‘I also agree.’
When discussing Meghan’s polarising nature on the episode, Richard said: ‘But she is not polarising if you like her.
