"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 1

[MsRamsey]

In honor of the last episode of The Restaurant, I prepared Mama's Meatballs

Underwhelming, at best.  The meatballs were soft, but not in a good way.

You don't mention adding bread crumbs.

[Blondie]

The thing I disliked most about this series, and this episode particularly, was insulting our intelligence with those lame excuses for story lines. I can't believe that was the best they could come up with. The producers really need to take the blame for this mess.

There was entirely too much time devoted to the massively insecure blonde bartender and the new waitress who wasn’t smart enough to not wear heels to work. Gideon reappeared without explanation. Was he hosting? Is everyone screwing in the bathrooms at Rocco’s?

Pete, whose obvious desperation to be on camera is unparalleled, finally puts in a hard days work, but still can’t seem to follow orders. Didn’t someone (John?) tell him to dress like the other guys (i.e. not in a t-shirt) so he doesn’t sweat all over the clean dishes?

The obnoxious 10-year old and the table full of women just made me cringe. The cheesy “rehabilitation” of Laurent (portrayed as the villain of the series) by showing him flying a kite with his kid was a bit much.

It almost made me miss the nasty Brazilian chick who couldn't be nice to the customers "because it's not me".

[tommy]

What's up with the Hamptons after you couldn't pay people last week?

errr, perhaps that could afford it at that point?

[Truman Nabors]

Alright.  About 5 minutes ago, there was a family with a ten-year-old son.  The kid was doing his best to get busy with a waitron.

That was the saddest part of the episodes I've watched

- That kid 'Frankie' claimed he was 10. Shall we wager on when this reaction formation breaks down and he comes out? High School or college?

[daysee8]

[so why was it buried in this time slot?  Perhaps because the network programmers thought it had limited appeal? 

I think it was a good time slot given the fact that MANY restaurants are closed on Sundays or close early on Sundays thereby capturing a surething audience.

The time slot was probably chosen for a couple of reasons -- first, for the natural restaurant-interested audience. More importantly, because NBC has not had as much luck as some of the other networks with reality programming, so they tend to run their reality shows on nights that other networks are not running any to compete with it -- Monday's with their gross out reality, and Sundays at 10 with their "a look at a day in the life of X profession" shows. Granted, Crime and Punishment is much better "day in the life" programming than The Restaurant in my opinion -- and Dick Wolf is a better TV producer than Mark Burnett as I see it. But as the ratings see it, the viewers disagree with me since The Restaurant has done better than Crime and Punishment.

[Bux]

There was entirely too much time devoted to the massively insecure blonde bartender and the new waitress who wasn’t smart enough to not wear heels to work. Gideon reappeared without explanation. Was he hosting? Is everyone screwing in the bathrooms at Rocco’s?

Hey that new waitress got more on camera time because of her heels. Makes me want to ask about the last bar she worked in however. It's kind of interesting how she appears out of the blue in the last episode and apparently clueless about waiting tables (the shoes did it for me). She's an attractive addition to the cast and it makes me wonder if someone high enough up in the production got lucky, so to speak. This is show biz after all.

Speaking of getting lucky, the article on Rocco, Get Real in the September 2003 Gourmet co-executive chef Tony Acinapura is quoted talking about set up situations.

In the front of the house, there's a couple, a waiter and a waitress, camera-magnet types. They actually filmed them having sex. I was like, 'Why would you want to do something like that?' They said, 'They asked us, and we said okay.'

Is he referring to what we saw on TV from the wrong side of the powder room door, does some camera man have an entertaining "home movie," or is there a DVD version to come--brought to you by the guys who did "College Girls Gone Wild on Spring Break?"

[Ocean Girl]

I too will be sorry to have an end to this thread....it has proven MUCH more interesting than the show ever could have hoped to be.

I turned the show on, and five minutes later I was fast asleep.

I guess I discovered the best "use" for Rocco's afterall.

[shamrock]

It was nice to see some happy, fun stuff on the show for a change, even if the guests were so happy they should have been covered in pineapple rings and cloves when they came in.

I really enjoyed the cooks' repartee. That was awesome.

The "which blonde is hotter" subplot was lousy because it fleshed itself out unsatisfactorily. Sidelong nasty glances and no confrontation, no resolution? YAWN... I was waiting for them to make up, then make out. Wouldn't Coors Light have wanted it that way?

I interpreted Pete's vainglorious attempt to wrangle the dishwashing demotion into a positive, attention-getting scenario as a savvy move after the comedy-club debacle. Image management.

My main problem with the episode was NOT ENOUGH PERRY. What the hell? I was glad to see him bring it at the grill, but then he totally disappeared save a couple WHERE'S WALDO-esque scenarios at the beach party, where if you were looking (and oh, was I) you could see him smooching Heather (I learned her name this week -- the waitress who was upset at getting downgraded) and playing the guitar. It sounded like they had made up a funny song; I wonder if they were doing it on the fly, or if they wrote it beforehand.

[ronnie_suburban]

Pete, whose obvious desperation to be on camera is unparalleled, finally puts in a hard days work, but still can’t seem to follow orders. Didn’t someone (John?) tell him to dress like the other guys (i.e. not in a t-shirt) so he doesn’t sweat all over the clean dishes?

This episode really disgusted me and it's pretty much all been said...the feeble attempts to apply a coherent storyline at the very end of the series (the ONLY reason for the Hamptons trip IMO), the meaningless marriage proposal by Mr. Fame Whore, the idiotic and self-indulgent machinations of the tragically good-looking. Hmmm, I wondered where all those hot morons from high school ended up...apparently, they're all working for Rocco now. This show should have been called Wannabe Junction.

But Pete was possibly the worst of all of them. The guy is simply not funny. Everytime he spoke he tried to be funny and he never, ever was. Someone upthread referred to him as Shecky and I'd agree except that Shecky Green was actually funny every once in a while. I'd suggest that Pete not quit his day job, but that's not exactly his strong suit either...

After watching this series, I need more than a shower, I need a full on haz-mat team.

=R=

[mayapple]

Is he referring to what we saw on TV from the wrong side of the powder room door, does some camera man have an entertaining "home movie," or is there a DVD version to come--brought to you by the guys who did "College Girls Gone Wild on Spring Break?"

On, I think, Gideon's website, he makes reference to the cameras coming over to the girl he was making out with (Carrie's?) apartment. Apparently things got a little out of hand and it was deemed too risky for national TV.

I am so bad with names. The info is at www.gideonhorowitz.com, I just looked it up.

[shamrock]

Er, I meant to say the guests were HAMMY, not happy. It's a darn shame how a joke can wither in the hands of a bad typist...

[zilla369]

Is he referring to what we saw on TV from the wrong side of the powder room door, does some camera man have an entertaining "home movie," or is there a DVD version to come--brought to you by the guys who did "College Girls Gone Wild on Spring Break?"

This quote is from Gideon's site this morning:

What you didn't see was later that night. Remember I tell her, "See you after the shift." We had a 5-person camera crew follow us to her place after we went out. It was probably the oddest thing I've ever done. There we are in her bed making out, Carrie's top is off, I'm in my underwear and there's this tattooed boom mic operator over us trying to get the sound for the scene. We kicked them out very quickly. We were told that the scene was too racy for Network television…I don't blame them.

ew.

[Saydee]

I think the saddest part of that quote is that they didn't kick out the camera operator before the top or the pants came off. How desperate for attention can you be when you're on the doorstep of doing porn for a reality show about a restaurant?

(I also saw where he admits they did a re-shoot of the fall to get a good facial reaction. The fall itself was apparently real and he did hurt himself, but even the concept of re-shooting the thing is sleazy)

Edited August 25, 2003 by Saydee (log)

[shamrock]

Oh, one other thing: I WISH I was in an American Studies program that focused on deconstruction right now. The raw! The cooked! The fake! The real! Derrida is (or should be) levitating with glee at the carnivalesque atmosphere, the manipulation of space and time, the levels of narration, desire... I could go on and on if anyone cares, but that's highly unlikely...

[Mabelline]

Ooh, now I know what the second seaon will be: ROCCO II: the paternity tests.

[MatthewB]

Oh, one other thing:  I WISH I was in an American Studies program that focused on deconstruction right now.  The raw!  The cooked!  The fake!  The real!  Derrida is (or should be) levitating with glee at the carnivalesque atmosphere, the manipulation of space and time, the levels of narration, desire... I could go on and on if anyone cares, but that's highly unlikely...

"The raw & the cooked" is actually Lévi-Strauss. (Or Jim Harrison! )

And Baudrillard & Virilio would have way more interesting commentary than Derrida.

[shamrock]

This should show everybody how hard it is to cut a break in New York without being the son or daughter of someone in the business. These people are desperate for a break and though it's probably not the way they wanna go, I feel for 'em.

When I was waiting tables, tourists would come into the restaurant and ask me "Are you an actress?" just HOPING I would say yes. They just wanted to experience the cliche. And I wasn't very actressy or mannered -- in fact, people are usualy surprised when they find out I'm an actor because "You're so smart". Because only dumb people become actors, you know.

I would always go out of my way to be attentive, friendly, and capable, just so they wouldn't go home and say "She obviously wished she was onstage".

Funny, I WOULD rather be working as an actor than serving you microwaved burritos and terrible margaritas, but I'm here in front of you right now, and I'll try to answer your questions about my life, even though if you thought about it you'd realize that it's humiliating to answer your questions about my lack of success while you take a Schadenfreudist soak in the "quirkiness" of my "wacky, bohemian" life.

In fairness, every now and then the people who asked these questions were genuinely interested, and said kind things like, "Best of luck to you!" and seemed pretty darn sincere.

So I guess this post has evolved into a FOH apologia of sorts. Hrmm.

I know there are many incompetent, vain, and ridiculous waitstaffers, but I have only ever enjoyed the BOH and experienced great camaraderie with them. Restaurants are amazingly diverse places and you get to know people on a much more personal and real level than you ever will working in a "diverse corporate environment".

[laurenmilan]

Hmmm, I wondered where all those hot morons from high school ended up...apparently, they're all working for Rocco now.  This show should have been called Wannabe Junction.

LOL, I've been thinking the same thing...

if this were 1999. they'd be working in some braindead dotcom scheme. I remember the wasteful spending (coupled with the late payments for the coders & freelancers), the screwing around, the backstabbing ,and the attention whores trying to get into Wired. It's all coming back to me now...

[shamrock]

MatthewB, thank you for sorting through the murk of my mind. Yes, Baudrillard would be (is) a much better read. College was so long ago. ; ]

[Bothameboutasteak?]

What's up with the Hamptons after you couldn't pay people last week?

errr, perhaps that could afford it at that point?

Rocco took everyone to The Hamptons as a season finale for NBC. I am sure it cost him nothing, as NBC often picked up the tab when everyone went out drinking.

For the blackout in NYC last week, the salaried cooks at Rocco's were docked from their paychecks, which they found out when they opened them this past week. A final slap in the face for many, who promptly took off their aprons and left.

Thanks Rocco.

[Mark Sommelier]

Er, I meant to say the guests were HAMMY, not happy.  It's a darn shame how a joke can wither in the hands of a bad typist...

The lead-in show, Law and Order, is kind of food related, too. Vincent Donofrio is the biggest HAM on TV.

[Mark Sommelier]

Alright.  About 5 minutes ago, there was a family with a ten-year-old son.  The kid was doing his best to get busy with a waitron.

That was the saddest part of the episodes I've watched

- That kid 'Frankie' claimed he was 10. Shall we wager on when this reaction formation breaks down and he comes out? High School or college?

As anyone who lives in New York can tell you, smart mouth 10 year olds are a dime a dozen.

[tommy]

if i know one it's that i really don't want to see, or think about, gideon having sex.

[shamrock]

Vincent D'Onofrio is saddled with a hammy ROLE on the Criminal Intent... in real life his intensity is astonishing vz. FULL METAL JACKET.

Full disclosure: I worked on that show. I think the writing is actually quite terrible, and he's doing his best.

When I worked on Criminal Intent, though I had heard some horror stories about him, I found himto be a supercreative, incredibly intelligent person. Even though I was a crummy day player (1 scene) he went out of his way to let me know how good he thought my work was, and we had quite a lot of fun together. I had an EXTREMELY campy role as the hard-hearted ex-wife of a schmucky dingdong who was getting framed. My character had just bilked the guy of several Gs in cash when he got drunk one night.

They know the show is schlocky.

[Jinmyo]

For the blackout in NYC last week, the  salaried cooks at Rocco's were docked from their paychecks, which they found out when they opened them this past week.

Savagely predictable.

A final slap in the face for many, who promptly took off their aprons and left.

Thanks Rocco.