Marco Pierre White to host NBC reality show

[Bricktop]

I think the premise is sound and the chef is great, but somehow the execution was lacking. I don't know what exactly to call it...but it was like the editing or something. The show just didn't "flow" well enough for me. Here's hoping they do a better job down the line.

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Sums it up for me. The editing is flat out annoying, but I have DVR space, and I love Marco. Try to see him in the UK Hells Kitchen 3.

[McDuff]

"Ensalata Caprese"? anybody else see that flash by?

[mrsadm]

I am enjoying the show, although the pace is slow compared to Hell's Kitchen.

Sometimes I think they pick hopeless contestants on purpose so the chef hero gets to display his ugly side for the entertainment of the audience. We love it because secretly we all have characters at work we'd love to chew out and call incompetent.

I swear for Gordon Ramsey's show, the producers drive around town following the Sysco truck. When they find a place that gets most of its food out of the truck, that restaurant goes on the short list. Then they check out the menu; if it's complicated, viola, that's the restaurant!

[CKatCook]

All I know is, as I watched him during those reflective scenes in the easy chair I thought to myself "now that is one impressive index finger, how does he point it straight up in the air like that?".  My sorry index finger couldn't get me an open mic gig at the Chuckle Hut in Topeka, much less a reality show.

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I about spit my coffee out across the monitor when I read that! Way too funny! But strangly true...

I liked the show. It's one of those guilty pleasure kind of things...

I like Marco tries more to teach people and not just yell at them. Granted in Hell's Kitchen watching GR go off is the joy of the show, for me anyway.

And yes, maggiethecat, there a certain something about him, isn't there...maybe its his presence, I can't quite put a finger on it. However, the vans do need to go, IMO.

[Zeemanb]

This show is the epitome of the term "guilty pleasure"....... it is not good programming, but hey, I watch Rock of Love Bus, so this is practically Fawlty Towers in comparison.....

Marco is so damn serious.... when he was bagging on them last night for their Central Park inspired dishes, I half expected him to go "Those ninjas, over in the corner, were THEY inspired by the park? No?".

BAM! KA-POW! Impressive index finger of death on the lurking ninjas.....

Then at the end when he's sacking the couple...."I'm going to tell you something that I learned long ago (finger UP)..... when Ivan Doroschuk from Men Without Hats gave me this very same pair of checkered Vans that I'm wearing, he warned me against undercooked squab.....and you know what? He was right.".

[tino27]

At the same time, the contestants seem to be in this "Comedy of Errors" in terms of the decisions they keep making. I'm glad it's not another Hell's Kitchen type of screamfest (and not the laughing kind), but when I watch this show, I feel like I'm watching the Hindenburg burn up, over and over again and just can't look away.

[Tsulli1]

Best line from last week...

Jeffrey Steingarten: "The Insalata Caprese was one of the worst things I’ve eaten in two or three years."

Ouch.

I think Marco looks like a 50-ish version of Heath Ledger.

[jdanton]

And chopping block gets the hook...

EW

[Qwerty]

Can't say I'm surprised. Like I said up-thread, the premise is sound and the chef is great, but something in the way the show was edited/produced, whatever, really wasn't good. It's a shame too cause it had a lot of potential and I would love for MPW to find a US audience. He has some great insights and I love hearing/watching him talk about food.

The makers of the show really dropped the ball though. It's weird, but I can't put my finger on exactly what was wrong with it--but like I said, has to do with the way the show is put together.

[wkl]

so who won?

[Lisa Shock]

I never really got a sense of anyone's cooking skills/style on this show. The business of forcing people to work in groups has so far produced some really underwhelming menus featuring dishes that any homemaker could easily rustle up. (shrimp cocktail anyone? Insalata Caprese?)

There's too much camera time given to bickering, too little emphasis on creativity with food. And, IMO, putting pressure on people to produce large volumes of food in short periods of time does not result in creative fare -especially when it has to be designed by a committee.

I really think that the format itself is to blame. By keeping everyone tied to an unfriendly group, you never see an individual's strengths.

I prefer Last Restaurant Standing, by far. -And, I mention this despite being a huge Top Chef fan, because LRS also takes couples where one person is FOH and the other is BOH. On LRS, you get to know the couples for their culinary style, their dreams, and their unique ideas. And, the show has people succeed or fail based upon their actual skills and abilities, within the environment that each couple creates.

[rickster]

I never really got a sense of anyone's cooking skills/style on this show. The business of forcing people to work in groups has so far produced some really underwhelming menus featuring dishes that any homemaker could easily rustle up. (shrimp cocktail anyone? Insalata Caprese?)

There's too much camera time given to bickering, too little emphasis on creativity with food. And, IMO, putting pressure on people to produce large volumes of food in short periods of time does not result in creative fare -especially when it has to be designed by a committee.

I really think that the format itself is to blame. By keeping everyone tied to an unfriendly group, you never see an individual's strengths.

I prefer Last Restaurant Standing, by far. -And, I mention this despite being a huge Top Chef fan, because LRS also takes couples where one person is FOH and the other is BOH. On LRS, you get to know the couples for their culinary style, their dreams, and their unique ideas. And, the show has people succeed or fail based upon their actual skills and abilities, within the environment that each couple creates.

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I agree with all this, although I have not seen much of LRS.

One thing that bothered me with the format of this show as well as Hell's Kitchen (especially with HK, which I can't take for a number of reasons) is the fakeness of the whole restaurant/guest set up. They try to make you think these are real restaurants when everything is entirely staged. At least with Top Chef they limit it to one episode.

[mjc]

It would be great if they could have done this show Last Restaurant Standing style. But I imagine that it would probably be to expensive to produce a show like that in NY.

I really thought Marco was very interesting, if they could have given him more time on the show and if the contestants would have been better, the show might have done better as well.

[Bricktop]

Oh oh. In the US, Gordon 2, Marco 0.

MPW will not be happy about that. And neither am I.

[Lisa Shock]

NBC has episode one on the official website for the show. hopefully, they will post all of the episodes, so we can at least see who won!

BTW, Last Restaurant Standing is on BBC America right now, on Tuesdays.

[maggiethecat]

It would be great if they could have done this show Last Restaurant Standing style.  But I imagine that it would probably be to expensive to produce a show like that in NY. 

I really thought Marco was very interesting, if they could have given him more time on the show and if the contestants would have been better, the show might have done better as well.

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Marco was interesting. And hot. Nutz. I expect zilch from these shows, but having MPW on TV every Wednesday did cheer a lass up. My grandparents hailed from his part of the country and it was a reminder: Lancs is Lancs.

Edited March 30, 2009 by maggiethecat (log)

[Shinboners]

My grandparents hailed from his part of the country and it was a reminder: Lancs is Lancs.

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MPW is from Yorkshire, not Lancashire. There's a bit of a rivaly between those two counties - everything from the War of the Roses to Mancheter United vs Leeds "stuck in the old third division ha ha" United.

[Bricktop]

My grandparents hailed from his part of the country and it was a reminder: Lancs is Lancs.

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MPW is from Yorkshire, not Lancashire. There's a bit of a rivaly between those two counties - everything from the War of the Roses to Mancheter United vs Leeds "stuck in the old third division ha ha" United.

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I love Marco even though he was born on the wrong side of the Pennines from me. How Leeds have fallen from the Revie days. It must kill them to see United going for all that silverware.

[LBNoble]

I'm kind of annoyed that NBC decided to cancel this show after only 3 episodes-I think they didn't even give it a chance. The least they could do is finish it out, let us see a conclusion, even if they didn't plan to continue with the show.

I would also prefer to see a straight up cooking show, w/ MPW, but that's not going to happen on NBC.

[Shinboners]

  I would also prefer to see a straight up cooking show, w/ MPW, but that's not going to happen on NBC.

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You can find an old MPW cooking show on youtube. There's a thread on the UK board that has links. He cooks lunch for his various mentors (Koffmann, Roux, Ladenis, and Blanc) and Keith Floyd.

[steverino]

You can find an old MPW cooking show on youtube.  There's a thread on the UK board that has links.  He cooks lunch for his various mentors (Koffmann, Roux, Ladenis, and Blanc) and Keith Floyd.

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I can heartily recommend these videos - this should get you started nicely:

[johnder]

Hulu has what was supposed to be tonight version (episode 4) online if anyone cares

http://www.hulu.com/watch/65646/the-chopping-block-week-4

[LBNoble]

I care, thanks for letting me know-I thought this episode was the best yet, it's a shame it was cancelled prematurely. There seemed to be more focus on the cooking (less drama) & although I disagreed with the 'chopped' couple, I thought it was worthwhile viewing...I thought the 'crimson' team's menu sounded much more appetizing than the black team's, still a 'rough' show, but I think if they had stuck with it, it could have improved & pulled in an audience...

[GwennP]

Does anyone know why this show was cancelled? It seemed very quick - I set up to DVR it in the AM and it appeared in my guide, then went to watch it instead and it was gone!

[Jamon.Iberico]

Does anyone know why this show was cancelled?  It seemed very quick - I set up to DVR it in the AM and it appeared in my guide, then went to watch it instead and it was gone!

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I'm no expert, but I'd guess because it wasn't doing very well in the ratings. But again, I'm no expert. Or it could have been the theme music they didn't like. That might've done it.