What's on my TV
(or, "The Most Random Update in the World")
When I'm not watching true crime shows (sans reenactments, please), I've found myself hooked on reality cooking shows, mainly Kitchen Nightmares, Restaurant: Impossible, and Chopped. I much preferred the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares as compared to the US version. Gordon Ramsay is a lot more abrasive in the US version, as if Americans can't handle subtlety. Even the visual cuts and musical cues of the US version are blatantly done to raise the dramatic content. Restaurant: Impossible, with Robert Irvine (resume fudger extraordinaire), has a host who's more polite towards the folks he's supposedly coming to help, but the show's way too formulaic (to the point that I don't watch it nearly as much anymore): Irvine comes in, finds out the food is crap and/or the place is filthy, he coaches the restauranteurs and their staff, Irvine has his interior decorator come in and she works up until the last minute/dollar to turn the place around, the revamped venue opens with shaky legs under itself, but ends the night with a successful effort.
My problem with both Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant: Impossible is that the owners/chefs are shown to be so disgustingly incompetent at first glimpse that I'd *never* patronize their restaurants. I mean, the things I've seen Ramsay and Irvine wipe off of kitchen counters and pull out of fridges has come close to making me dry heave. I'd not trust those folks to maintain any sort of hygiene standards once the cameras departed (and I'd really love to eat at one of Ramsay's restaurants, if only because I'd trust his staff to keep the kitchen immaculate). No matter how the place was "turned around," old habits are hard habits. And slimy chicken is cheap chicken. Totally makes me want to avoid eating out.
On the other hand, Chopped, a timed three-course chef competition, is all sorts of awesome. If you've never seen it, it starts out with four chefs, and at the end of every round the dishes the chefs prepare are judged by a panel of "experts," with the preparer of the "worst" dish sent packing. The chefs must create a dish with the four mystery items that are presented at the beginning of the round. Generally they are one or two "oddball" items thrown in; I recall white duck kidneys a.k.a duck testicles being in an entree basket one day (none of the chefs knew they were testicles), and lemon drops being in an appetizer basket another day.
When I'm not watching true crime shows (sans reenactments, please), I've found myself hooked on reality cooking shows, mainly Kitchen Nightmares, Restaurant: Impossible, and Chopped. I much preferred the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares as compared to the US version. Gordon Ramsay is a lot more abrasive in the US version, as if Americans can't handle subtlety. Even the visual cuts and musical cues of the US version are blatantly done to raise the dramatic content. Restaurant: Impossible, with Robert Irvine (resume fudger extraordinaire), has a host who's more polite towards the folks he's supposedly coming to help, but the show's way too formulaic (to the point that I don't watch it nearly as much anymore): Irvine comes in, finds out the food is crap and/or the place is filthy, he coaches the restauranteurs and their staff, Irvine has his interior decorator come in and she works up until the last minute/dollar to turn the place around, the revamped venue opens with shaky legs under itself, but ends the night with a successful effort.
My problem with both Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant: Impossible is that the owners/chefs are shown to be so disgustingly incompetent at first glimpse that I'd *never* patronize their restaurants. I mean, the things I've seen Ramsay and Irvine wipe off of kitchen counters and pull out of fridges has come close to making me dry heave. I'd not trust those folks to maintain any sort of hygiene standards once the cameras departed (and I'd really love to eat at one of Ramsay's restaurants, if only because I'd trust his staff to keep the kitchen immaculate). No matter how the place was "turned around," old habits are hard habits. And slimy chicken is cheap chicken. Totally makes me want to avoid eating out.
On the other hand, Chopped, a timed three-course chef competition, is all sorts of awesome. If you've never seen it, it starts out with four chefs, and at the end of every round the dishes the chefs prepare are judged by a panel of "experts," with the preparer of the "worst" dish sent packing. The chefs must create a dish with the four mystery items that are presented at the beginning of the round. Generally they are one or two "oddball" items thrown in; I recall white duck kidneys a.k.a duck testicles being in an entree basket one day (none of the chefs knew they were testicles), and lemon drops being in an appetizer basket another day.