Jamie Oliver's Version Of The Restaurant Is Coming

[BoboBrazil]

I just saw a preview for it while watching Date Plate. They will be working at his restaurant and the cameras are there to catch it all

[TrishCT]

From the promos it seems possible (and i say that a bit skeptically) that this show could be what The Restaurant wasn't.... (honest, intelligent, educational).

Or it could be more of the same old "Our-viewers-are-so-dumb-we-must-provide-new-story-arcs-

every-15-seconds-even-if-we-have-to-fake-them-(more-camera-mugging-please)-or-they-will-

fall-asleep-in-their-pjs...." reality kind of thing....

[malcolmjolley]

I think this is the story of his new resto "15" - I think it aired in the UK a couple of years ago. He takes a bunch of street kids and makes them into chefs.

[FoodMan]

I think this is the story of his new resto "15" - I think it aired in the UK a couple of years ago. He takes a bunch of street kids and makes them into chefs.

That is correct, but I believe it aired in the UK earlier this year not a couple of years ago. This along with Mario's new show are on my "To See" list.

FM

[Carlovski]

The new series (Return to Jamie's Kitchen) is out in the UK now.

First episode was quite entertaining - Despite being booked up months in advance, he isn't making any money, loads of the chefs have left, and one of them can't tell the difference between basil and celery.

They did get to make lunch at 10 Downing street for the PM though.

[barawidan]

Yes I heard of this in February of 2002. Jamie attempts to train 15 London youth to open a restaurant and all the money went towards charity. And they film the entire process. I think Jamie's intent was to take people with very little experience and give them a fast track into professional cooking. I think it may even be an ongoing process, with different trainees seasonaly.

Here's the link: http://www.fifteenrestaurant.com/fifteen/index.html

I'm curious to hear other people's insight on Jamie's contribution to: cooking, food media, etc.

The first season of the Naked Chef Series was unique. The look, lighting, editing, and camera angles presented a dynamic cooking show. I liked the way it was lit, warm and amber looking, natural sunlight. As a viewer, that first season had me excited and engaged me into what he was doing. It was a cool food program. Jamie had a very organic, natural feel, as if you where there with him. He was accessible. It was the "MTV’s Real World Season One: New York" of the food network.

As far as recipe’s goes, he seemed to do one too roasts and one too many version of a chocolate pot.

-B.

[Carlovski]

If you look at the UK board, you will find a lot of mixed opinions.

In the UK he went through a bit of a roller coaster of popularity. With the first couple of TV series, and books he was popular with pretty much everyone - he got a lot of people into food, had some good recipes and the programmes were entertaining. Then lots of other programmes stole the style of the show, and it no longer seemed as fresh.

Then He sold his soul to Sainsburys, and after all his programmes where he is mates with his fishmonger, greengrocer and cheesemongers, and extolls the virtues of artisinal produce, he is popping up on every tv ad break, flogging supermarket crap.

Jamie's Kitchen has sort of saved him in many peoples eyes, he comes across very honestly, and people have warmed to him again (Probably because not everything goes too smoothly - I won't spoil the plot here)

The one issue I have with the programme is that it focussed too much on the 'problem' students, probably more entertaining TV, but the students who did turn up every week, and made good progress etc didn't get as much attention.

[corvus]

Did the promo say when the show starts in the US? That is the show about training the staff of fifteen, not his other cooking show.

Thanks.

[bsan]

I've heard about it. I don't know when it's going to air on Food Network, though. It sounds good. Maybe if it's on at a reasonable time, then I'll watch it.

But it sounds like another one of those "Cooking School Stories" type shows. I never got Cooking School Stories through my head, so maybe this one will pass.

[corvus]

Did the promo say when the show starts in the US? That is the show about training the staff of fifteen, not his other cooking show.

Thanks.

I saw a promo last night which says the show starts on October 13th. Looks like there's a different one on the 14th also.

Also see the foodtv.com page on the show here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_jk

Edited October 4, 2003 by corvus (log)

[ExtraMSG]

Watched the first episode. Not bad entertainment. A much better balance between the food and personalities than The Restaurant, though it's still heavily weighted on the personalities, of course. At least so far, it's not the soap opera The Restaurant is/was. Seems like we'll get a much better look at the inner workings of a restaurant than The Restaurant, rather than the cat fights and the hissy fits. It looks like they're showing the episodes straight through day after day and then doing an all day marathon after that.

[ExtraMSG]

I've watched the second and third episodes now and I have to say that my respect for Jamie Oliver is growing with each. There is such a night and day difference between the motivations and attitude behind this versus The Restaurant, which I just couldn't stand watching after a couple episodes. Like The Restaurant, there are certainly some people you'd like to just slap or shake into reality, but unlike The Restaurant, this one revolves around Jamie Oliver who truly seems to give a damn about these kids.

[herbacidal]

i also like it, the 10 minutes i managed to catch.

the whole vibe and undertone is better than "the restaurant."

[ExtraMSG]

I'm going to record the entire marathon on Sunday for a friend who doesn't have cable, the freak.

[srhcb]

"I've watched the second and third episodes now and I have to say that my respect for Jamie Oliver is growing with each. "

I agree 100%. Jamie Oliver's outgoing personality has actually worked against him among more "serious" Food Network viewers, but anyone who harbored doubts about his qualifications or motives should be satisifed after watching this show.

Anybody who has ever worked at opening a new restaurant, or even just been involved in hiring kitchen staff, will appreciate the amount of effort he puts forth. And all while doing his regualr television show and attending to celebrity functions at the same time, to say nothing of becoming a Father!

[Singapore]

I truly admire how much he cares about each of the 'Fifteen', and how far he's willing to go for each of them. Nice one.

[specialteach]

If you read my rant on "another" board please skip this one, it is much of the same.

I am a special education teacher in Washington, DC and have worked with students that come from backgrounds simillar to those of the "15" in the show.

Jamie Oliver deserves all the praise and credit one can give. Regardless of whether or not the restaurant is a hit he has done something that few other "famous people" have done. He took a risk on kids who most people have given up on and tried to teach them a trade. And he did it with cameras recording every moment.

What's more, it appears that "they" did it the right way. (I promise you there are countless people behind the scenes who we are not even aware of.) They recognized when students were making an effort, even if they were not succeeding, and gave them the extra attention they needed and deserved. They did not feel sorry for these kids. Instead of not accepting excuses they helped solve the problem. They gave second and third chances, understanding that no one is perfect and kids like these need may need extra love and support. They gave these kids a chance to have a career.

They made an attempt to make the world a better place for a group of youngsters most would not bother with. And they did it with food.

I leave you with this parting thought......Tonight on Capitol Hill there was at least one dinner meeting where the participants walked away feeling very full. About a mile away there were kids who walked away from dinner feeling hungry.

[ExtraMSG]

What's more, it appears that "they" did it the right way. (I promise you there are countless people behind the scenes who we are not even aware of.) They recognized when students were making an effort, even if they were not succeeding, and gave them the extra attention they needed and deserved. They did not feel sorry for these kids. Instead of not accepting excuses they helped solve the problem. They gave second and third chances, understanding that no one is perfect and kids like these need may need extra love and support. They gave these kids a chance to have a career.

I give Jamie Oliver all the credit in the world. But it's worth noting that you can't blame all the people around him who told him to give up on some of those kids. I grew up in a similar or worse background to many of these kids and I would feel absolutely ashamed if I was given such an opportunity and responded in kind. 60% attendence!?! Terrible. I'm going to say something very un-PC, but true nonetheless. Some people are poor for a reason, and that reason is within them. And this includes people I love dearly, but no matter how much I love them, they've still got to make a go for themselves. It's nice to see some of these kids turning around. I hope it continues.

[specialteach]

I would feel absolutely ashamed if I was given such an opportunity and responded in kind. 60% attendence!?! Terrible.

I completely agree. This kids are being given an opportunity of a life time and they are blowing it. The sad part is that they will probably never realize it.

[Singapore]

I caught his interview with Letterman last Thursday night....he personally spent 2.2 million pounds on this program, mortgaging his (paid for) house in the process. He literally could have comfortably retired without "Fifteen".

I know I've said bad things about Oliver's Twist in a previous posting, but I have to admit, this kid put his money where his mouth is, and willingly put everything on the line to help out some unemployed kids. Goddamn, I have to admire him for that, even tho I wonder if he would've been better off with some sort of scholarship program instead.

Moving him up to my 'favorites' list, and going out to B&N to pick up copies of his books...this kid deserves any help I can give him.

BTW, has anyone else noticed that JO looks vaguely panhandler-ish on the cover of "Jaime's Kitchen"? Or is it just me?

[Janedujour]

I also caught his Letterman interview and seen quite a few episodes of "Jamies Kitchen" that I really enjoyed.

Jamie and the show in general are a lot more "real" than that awful "The Restaurant". The students don't all look like models or actors.

I have also gained much more respect for him, especilly after hearing he's spent a ton of his own money.

The one big frustrating thing is the lack of commitment by the kids, and the lack of any real interest in food!

One girl wouldn't even touch a fish that she was expected to prep for cooking!

I also couldn't believe how patient Oliver was with these kids, missing 30% of classtime and constant tardiness! Get rid o' the whole lot Jame!

It's sad to see that they don't value this chance of a lifetime. I would!

Maybe his next 15 students should be over the hill (40+) chef "wanna be's".

I'll be the first in line!

[ExtraMSG]

What's really impressed me with the last couple episodes is how great a teacher JO obviously is. His love of food really shines when he's teaching them dishes. He's got his character flaws when the pressure mounts and they're in the kitchen, but not in any unreasonable way when you consider the context.

Often the kids have reasons for what they do, but they're totally unfair in how they deal with those problems, not calling, not showing up, just screwing over not only JO, but their fellow students. Crazy. Nice to see they finally drew some lines though and dropped a couple of the students. At some point, no matter what, they just have to have consequences to their actions. They certainly won't get any breaks once they move on from the program. So it's no real favor to let them screw over everyone ad nauseam in the mean time.

Those contractors he hired were terrible. Way over budget, horrible craftmanship, and no repentance. I would have sued them for lost earnings.

[SWoodyWhite]

If there is a flaw in the writing/editing of Jamie's Kitchen, it is in the amount of time spent with each of the fifteen students in the program. The focus is 95% on the students who are failure-oriented, and 5% on the students who take the opportunity and make the most of it. Even here, I'm being generous about the amount of time given to the good students, because most of their time is in the background of group shots. We aren't given any opportunity to learn about who these people are, as opposed to the poor students who are given most of the airtime.

And this is wrong, because that means that the ten students who appeared to do well get none of the credit, while the five who don't do well get everything. My figures are probably off, and there was possibly a lower number of students who really gave a damn, but I'm talking about television, where appearances are everything, and the appearance was highly unbalanced and cynical.

Oliver has every right to be proud of the students who did well. Their story deserves to be told. It just wasn't told this time around.

[ExtraMSG]

And this is wrong, because that means that the ten students who appeared to do well get none of the credit, while the five who don't do well get everything.  My figures are probably off, and there was possibly a lower number of students who really gave a damn, but I'm talking about television, where appearances are everything, and the appearance was highly unbalanced and cynical.

I'd agree, except that I think the number of students who really performed well was more like 3 to 5, not 10. Then the problems kids were about 5 as well. It seemed like there were only a couple kids who did truly well, and in the last episode, Alisha, one of his stars, got a lot of face time, though it was usually because she was in trouble. But she also got face time as being the only student who could really explain why she loved those raviolis.

I imagine what happened was that there were only limited resources. The cameramen had to be somewhere. And as it is with the war in Iraq, people getting blown up is just more inherently interesting than people not getting blown up. Likewise, it's easier to film someone crying, throwing a fit, or walking out then it is to show them just standing there doing their job.

I also think it's a bit necessary from the standpoint that you really want to justify these kids getting kicked out of the program. I think few people would come away from the series and think that JO didn't give these kids every opportunity.

I sure would like to know if there are more episodes or what? The website for the Food Network only shows five episodes. But you're left hanging, really, at the end of the 5th episode. Is that all for that year? Were they just seeing how they'd do? Five episodes isn't many. Is there another year and another group of students? Damn FoodTV, all the best shows are limited. Iron Chef has been over and done with for years; it's rare there's one I haven't seen. A Cook's Tour was pretty much a one-year thing with some trickling episodes for a second season. And now we get a meager 5 episodes of JO's Kitchen. Meanwhile we suffer Unwrapped and Emeril every moment of every evening, it seems. The least they could do to make up for it is release some of these onto DVD (and not 3 eps per DVD like they do with GE).

[specialteach]

The one big frustrating thing is the lack of commitment by the kids, and the lack of any real interest in food!

One girl wouldn't even touch a fish that she was expected to prep for cooking!

I also couldn't believe how patient Oliver was with these kids, missing 30% of classtime and constant tardiness! Get rid o' the whole lot Jame!

It's sad to see that they don't value this chance of a lifetime. I would!

Youth is wasted on the young.