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Kitchen Confidential TV Show on FOX

PDC

By PDC
in Food Media & Arts

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aser

aser

Posted
Posted

saw it last night, it seems to have gotten more slapsticky than previous eps. That french accent was something terrible though, but then again I suppose it was meant to be a farce.

"The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who feel." - Horace Walpole

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Human Bean

Human Bean

Posted
Posted (edited)

...An ancient thread momentarily rises from the depths...

KC was recently released on DVD.

I've just watched all 13 episodes, and it's not bad. It's not great, and doesn't even attempt to represent the book, but on it's own terms, it's quite enjoyable.

They didn't come close to running out of ideas, and the 13 episodes have nice arcs to the characters; a commentary track on the last episode hints at where they might have gone had there been another season.

If you get the chance, give it a try; it's far from the worst restaurant-oriented comedy ever on US TV (the worst restaurant-related US comedy would be season 1 of of 'The Restaurant' w/ Rocco DiSpirito, IMO.)

(BTW, my all-time favorite restaurant-related comedy is BBC's Chef! (seasons 1 and 2) for it's extremely sarcastic and abusive English humor).

Edit: fix punctuation

Edited by Human Bean (log)
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Atomic Lunch

Atomic Lunch

Posted
Posted

I've been watching the DVDs and they are really funny. It's hard to know why Fox does this: cancel shows before they even get a chance to develop traction. This was a really good show, though. There was an unaired episode (nine unaired in total on this set) called Rabbit Test that had me laughing until I cried.

I think one of the things that really worked against this series was how it was presented. I've seen it a dozen times on this board alone: "It doesn't have much to do with the book." If you forget the book and just watch it as a TV series, it's great. If you watch it with book in hand, like a kid at a Harry Potter movie, listing the disparities, you'll be so busy you'll never see the really good writing.

You either love Bourdain or you're disgusted by him. This show on the one hand had his fans pissed off that it wasn't more true to the book. On the other hand, the girl I watched the DVD with said "he's not going to eat the head off of a live sewer rat, is he?"

They should have changed the name of the series, bumped up Bourdain's title so that they could prominantly feature it in the opening credits and promos. But then Fox might have cancelled it after six episodes rather than just four.

Why would anyone even take a series to Fox anymore?

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blackbox

blackbox

Posted
Posted
*snip*

(BTW, my all-time favorite restaurant-related comedy is BBC's Chef! (seasons 1 and 2) for it's extremely sarcastic and abusive English humor).

I'll have to check that out- extreme sarcasm and skinbristling rudeness with a stiff upper lip; sounds delightful. ;)

Is it on BBC amer, or on DVD now?

Tks!

Shai, santoku-wielding dabbler in many things culinary.

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Ted Fairhead

Ted Fairhead

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"Chef!" seasons 1,2, and 3, are on DVD. Neflix lists them. Very very funny and Lenny Henry as Gareth Blackstone, an irascible chef with staff problems is totally believable. One imagines Tony Bourdain was sitting on the shoulders of the writers whispering in their ears. Season 3 did drop in quality so I suppose that is why it did not continue.

BTW, I did rent "Kitchen Confidential", both discs and we found them funny and very watchable. Perhaps a little lightweight but deserving of a place on the otherwise dreadful schedule of Tv fare.

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Hopleaf

Hopleaf

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Posted

I just watched all 13 episodes on hulu and I found the show to be entertaining enough. nothing whatsoever like the book, but a decent enough show. ninety percent of what went on in the kitchen was complete farce. But I was constantly thinking that Bourdain is either doing a great job of keeping his mouth shut about what a debacle FOX made of his book or he's just enjoying cashing the check.

At any rate, there's a show on hulu that I really enjoyed that the BBC put out called Whites. It also met the same fate as KC, but it was lightyears better. Check it out.

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." -Ernest Hemingway

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Broken English

Broken English

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Posted (edited)

I downloaded the season a few months back, it's enjoyable if I forget that I work in a kitchen, but it is oh so cheesy.

The few lines from the book they used made me cringe (most notably the whole 'work clean' thing). The whole waiter's eating scene was highly realistic though, in my experience anyway haha.

Edited by Broken English (log)

James.

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