"The Restaurant" Reality Show Season 2

[Lesley C]

i can't quite put my finger on it, but most of last night's episode made me want to shed more tears than the closing scene of Rocco looking in on Mama (which was cheesy as hell...).

Gee, I don't know, that scene kind of got to me.

[godito]

and drew....why? thought he got canned. maybe his daddy raised a fuss.

I know, horrible! at least he didn't say anything!

I'm also dissapointed with the editing last night. The whole CIA thing was managed by his PR group. For instance, Rocco goes into the Colavita center to see his "mentor", except that the chef in question doesn't even work in the CIA anymore. And what was President Ryan doing honoring Mama? I mean, sure she is respectable, and she seems to be the real hard worker at Rocco's (even when she seems to have no idea that his son is screwing up soooo bad! - My Mom would have set me straight long before things got this bad), but that was obviously a PR move between Rocco's people and the CIA PR group

And I don't care if Rocco was at the CIA at the same time he was supposed to meet with JC. The fact is that he seemed to have missed yet another meeting. Or at least JC said that he thought Rocco said he was gonna be there or something like that. Once again, Rocco is shown to be really iresponsible. I'm amazed this restaurant is still there. I wonder, for how long?

[godito]

I forgot to add something about the Rocco and Mama thing at the CIA! It's impossible that commencement was going on at the same time he was supposed to be at the restaurant. The scenes at the restaurants are during service, and graduation takes place every three weeks (usually on fridays) at around 9am. So, yes, there was some tricky editing there....

[tissue]

Emily is LAME. She has a fake British accent. I think she's from Florida and lived in London for a year and decided to talk like that.

[s9498]

I forgot to add something about the Rocco and Mama thing at the CIA! It's impossible that commencement was going on at the same time he was supposed to be at the restaurant. The scenes at the restaurants are during service, and graduation takes place every three weeks (usually on fridays) at around 9am. So, yes, there was some tricky editing there....

Rocco was at the CIA the night before the graduation ceremonies. The culinary competition took place the afternoon before the ceremonies and the evening before he toured the restaurants. Therefore if he was to meet JC that Thursday evening, he was actually at the CIA.

[jhlurie]

It seems to me that the manipulative editing went both ways last night. On one hand, Rocco and his CIA adventures were made to seem like he was skipping out on the meeting with Jeffrey, and while it's clear Rocco didn't show I'm sure the actual progression of events was a bit more complicated.

On the other hand, I found the sequence at Union Pacific (is this the first time we've been inside the kitchen of U.P. on this series?) to be somewhat disingenuous (or at least "practiced") too. If Rocco had really been spending all of his time at U.P. instead of on book tours, wouldn't the show have spent at least a moment or two on that during the many previous "Where's Rocco?" sequences? And of course there was the implication that U.P. runs well purely because of Rocco--because he set up this master plan of how it would operate, and it chugs along fine because he planned things so well. And I'm not quite so sure that his partners in U.P. would agree with any statement which set Rocco up as the only reason for Union Pacific's success (remember, we aren't just talking about the quality of the food here--which Rocco probably CAN take credit for).

[Rachel Perlow]

Drew was fired by Rocco from the restaurant. But he works for JC, so obviously he's still an intern for JC's company.

[WHT]

Drew was fired by Rocco from the restaurant. But he works for JC, so obviously he's still an intern for JC's company.

I thought JC had given Drew the boot. having missed the first 20 Min. of the show did something else happen?

[Peter B Wolf]

Does anyone believe that showmakers/producers looked at last year's responses on this forum?

If they had they would have noticed some very sharp comments about the show and could have done better this time.

I like to quote myself: "Wait personell still pre-sets tables with their fingers in glass ware"

or

"Rocco's restaurant marquee name sake was 'washed out' before the show started".

An 'indication' of 'down hill' ???

[Stone]

"Rocco's restaurant marquee name sake was 'washed out' before the show started".

I'm pretty sure this was intentional.

By the way -- aren't there people out there who know what happened? I haven't been by 22nd street in a while. Is the restaurant still there? Still Rocco's? Who's the chef? What's the state of the lawsuit?

Edited May 11, 2004 by Stone (log)

[hannnah]

Emily is LAME. She has a fake British accent.

It's not fake, but it's not precisely British either. Best guess, after some back and forth with the TiVo, is either someplace like the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, or, at the outside, New Zealand.

[uzayt]

Emily grew up in Florida or California, I can't remember. She lived in England for a year or so and decided she could be more of an annoying bitch with that accent. It works!

[theminx]

Drew was fired by Rocco from the restaurant. But he works for JC, so obviously he's still an intern for JC's company.

I thought JC had given Drew the boot. having missed the first 20 Min. of the show did something else happen?

We are, of course, assuming that this whole "Rocco replacement audition" happened after Drew The Obnoxious Intern was canned. Could be another example of the magic of editing.

[pugster]

Emily grew up in Florida or California, I can't remember.  She lived in England for a year or so and decided she could be more of an annoying bitch with that accent.  It works!

That's hilarious that Emily's adopted the accent after a year. i just got back from 6 months of living in london and no stray bits of accent stuck to me, although the brits thought i was canadian (born and bred in chicago....).

so off the topic, sorry, but has anyone caught any of Jamie Oliver's reality show? i think it was called Fifteen, where he trains 15 people to become chefs in his restaurant. i only caught an episode or 2 while i was there, and while i had a fairly low opinion of Jamie Oliver before watching (not so much based on his cooking ability, but his omni-presence...it gets really annoying seeing him on Sainsbury's commercials hawking his product line 24-7, esp. around christmas), i came out of the brief viewing i did thinking a bit more highly of him.

funny, my opinion of rocco has been entirely in reverse. he makes me cringe now. too much rocco-viewing is not a good thing.

[Seattlegirlychef]

Jaime rocks my socks off, I fell in love the first time I saw him on the Food network!

[carp]

...i had a fairly low opinion of Jamie Oliver before watching (not so much based on his cooking ability, but his omni-presence...it gets really annoying seeing him on Sainsbury's commercials hawking his product line 24-7, esp. around christmas), i came out of the brief viewing i did thinking a bit more highly of him.

funny, my opinion of rocco has been entirely in reverse. he makes me cringe now. too much rocco-viewing is not a good thing...

I completely agree. Although I had watched Oliver's shows and somewhat enjoyed them, I did not have a high regard for his abilities as a cook... much less as a chef running a kitchen. After watching him on the reality tv show I definitely felt that his stock had risen considerably. He definitely came across as someone who can not only cook, but can also run a kitchen with professionalism, poise, and skill. Rocco's first season saw his kitchen make some food that was not well received by the diners and appeared to be of poor quality. However, Jaime Oliver was at no time shown making or serving anything short of top-quality professional product. Oliver also seemed to have a busy schedule promoting his books, self, and other products. Nonetheless, it appeared as though he made running the kitchen at 15 a priority and devoted a remarkable amount of time and effort to the burgeoning restaurant's success. Oliver's skill and maturity, as portrayed in the show, belied his years. It's hard to believe he is about 10 years younger than Rocco.

[tissue]

Emily grew up in Florida or California, I can't remember. She lived in England for a year or so and decided she could be more of an annoying bitch with that accent. It works!

I heard they fired Emily after Rocco got locked out.

[ambra]

Emily grew up in Florida or California, I can't remember.  She lived in England for a year or so and decided she could be more of an annoying bitch with that accent.  It works!

I heard they fired Emily after Rocco got locked out.

Rocco got locked out? Is he still locked out?

[jhlurie]

Emily grew up in Florida or California, I can't remember.  She lived in England for a year or so and decided she could be more of an annoying bitch with that accent.  It works!

I heard they fired Emily after Rocco got locked out.

Rocco got locked out? Is he still locked out?

Ah... we risk ruining the suspense of the show with "Reality". (coughing in hand: "lawsuit" cough cough "lawsuit")

Frankly, I doubt Uzay would be this forthcoming about Emily if she were still there.

By the way I LOVE the banner shown in the photo on this page: "The Cameras Have Left The Building". Think of the subtext. Heck, it's practically text.

[PDC]

Just saw this news item in Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis (a TV biz e-newsletter) today:

"The Restaurant will be moved off the NBC primetime schedule for the remainder of the May Sweep, according to Daily Variety, slotting in repeats of L&O SVU and/or Crossing Jordan in the 10p Monday time period. The show will return to air all unseen eps post-Sweep, as well as be repeated on Bravo."

Guess Rocco's ratings are as good as the food....

[Mabelline]

Thank you for that. I was starting to feel as if I was in the cable hinterland. Hell, I missed the horserace Saturday, too. But I did see both Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory airings.

[Barb48]

Just saw this news item in Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis (a TV biz e-newsletter) today:

"The Restaurant will be moved off the NBC primetime schedule for the remainder of the May Sweep, according to Daily Variety, slotting in repeats of L&O SVU and/or Crossing Jordan in the 10p Monday time period. The show will return to air all unseen eps post-Sweep, as well as be repeated on Bravo."

Guess Rocco's ratings are as good as the food....

Okay guys, does anyone out there in "eGullet land" LIKE Rocco? He surely didn't get the awards and accolades from having "bad" food?

And the way he runs his restaurants...it's only business, and the poor guy is young yet...surely you all learned something from "The Apprentice"?

But I guess it's the American way...we love to tear people down who are at the top...

[Jason Perlow]

Okay guys, does anyone out there in "eGullet land" LIKE Rocco?  He surely didn't get the awards and accolades from having "bad" food?

Rocco WAS a respected chef, and he did have talent, Barb. However, in the present tense, he hasn't demonstrated his current ability to cook, especially on "The Restaurant". He does anything BUT cook in that show.

I have far more respect for celeb chefs like Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck and Eric Ripert who can put out cookbooks and TV shows and still manage to do dinner service a good amount of the time.

[TJHarris]

Rocco WAS a respected chef, and he did have talent, Barb. However, in the present tense, he hasn't demonstrated his current ability to cook, especially on "The Restaurant". He does anything BUT cook in that show.

I have far more respect for celeb chefs like Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck and Eric Ripert who can put out cookbooks and TV shows and still manage to do dinner service a good amount of the time.

Here, Here!!!

I agree 100%! What ever Rocco had done before has been severly diminished by the performance he has given on The Restaurant. Several years ago I read an interview with Rocco where he spoke of a couple of restaurants that he had operated before Union Pacific. He said that he had run them into the ground because he could create great food but didn't see the whole business picture. Well, I guess he is back to old tricks.

Edited May 17, 2004 by TJHarris (log)

[Raynickben]

The local station here in Dallas is not showing The Restaurant tonight in favor of "Crossing Jordan". I guess it's ratings based. Is the rest of the country getting the show tonight?