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Kitchen Confidential TV Show on FOX

PDC

By PDC
in Food Media & Arts

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sandercohan

sandercohan

Posted
Posted

So I watched the pilot last night on Fox, amazingly enough got my girlfriend to watch it too (its a trade off, I suspect that the O.C. will be part of my t.v. schedule this fall as a result)

Good and bad. Much more sitcom-y than I expected. I wanted something more in the Arrested Development vein, but whatever.

The script felt a bit schitzophrenic, the script sounded like it had about three different writing voices: Some stuff was distinctly Anthony Bourdain, some stuff was quirky slapsticky stuff, and the last part was definitely FOX stock sitcom-writer. As a result, it felt uneven. This will probably even out as the show goes on and single writers take over the process.

Thinking back on the episode, it looks like the show was meant to be a bit more slapstick comedy (the finger, the drunk customers, the lovable motley band of food artists etc....) than dramedy (the love story, Jack coming to terms with his need for love and his tomcatting). It reeks of studio re-tooling -- ie the original script was really funny but narrow in its appeal (i.e. I might find it hilarious, but women ages 24-35 might not)

I wonder which voice will win out as the season goes on. But this is neither here nor there.

As far as a TV food show goes (b/c this is eGullet, after all) I thought it was okay -- a bit of food porn, some overblown chef antic stuff -- but what do you expect from a major network...

s

CharityCase

CharityCase

Posted
Posted
that drunken customer who comes to personally thank the chef ... what was that! chef-groupies!!!

Jeezus that show sucked. But it was the pilot and I'm sure it will get better. And as has been said I'm happy for Tony.

jeffZ

jeffZ

Posted
Posted

I was excited when I first heard about it. No details though. Then I found out it was a sitcom and was disappointed. Then I heard T was in town shooting some of it at a local restaurant in L.A. Then I read that he really didn't have much to do with it at all. Then most of the critical reviews came out. But the marketing apeared OK. And then I finally watched it. What a roller coaster ride. Unfortuately after all of that I didn't really dig the show. I'll keep watching and hoping they turn it around. So far it just seems like one of those shows that makes you squirm a little because you feel embarrassed.

SiseFromm

SiseFromm

Posted
Posted

I actually like the cast a lot, including Owain Yeoman, John Francis Daley (loved him in Freeks & Geeks), and John Cho. Those guys are great so I'm hoping the characters will drive the show.

R. Jason Coulston

jason@popcling.com

FoodMan

FoodMan

Posted
Posted

I certainly was not disappointed, it was exactly what I expected. Dumbed down, some funny moments, good looking cast and it happens in a restaurant's kitchen. I guess my expectations were not that high.

I love how "realistic" it was for the staff to be waiting for the Times' review to appear in the next morning's paper. She had the dinner and ran off to write and publish the review :smile:. That's TV for you. Hey, at least they did not have a silly "laugh" track after every comment.

Elie

E. Nassar
Houston, TX

My Blog
contact: enassar(AT)gmail(DOT)com

FabulousFoodBabe

FabulousFoodBabe

Posted
Posted
John Francis Daley (loved him in Freeks & Geeks)

Ahhh, that's where I saw that guy before! BTW, you gotta love that he yelled that he was a trained chef. Most of the boys at the CIA believe that about themselves. But really, an Executive Chef stooping to hazing him?

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
ronnie_suburban

ronnie_suburban

Posted
Posted

I read here that John Cho's character was written out of the show, post-pilot:

. . . There's a colorful, high-strung staff to introduce, even if the producers may have made a mistake by writing out "seafood genius" Teddy Wong (John Cho) after tonight's premiere. . .

=R=

"Hey, hey, careful man! There's a beverage here!" --The Dude, The Big Lebowski

LTHForum.com -- The definitive Chicago-based culinary chat site

ronnie_suburban 'at' yahoo.com

Megan Blocker

Megan Blocker

Posted
Posted
How surreal. I think Frank Bruni Liked It.

And I think Frank has a secret jones for Bradley Cooper.

But, as we've established, such is the way my mind works. All BC, all the time. :blush:

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

M.X.Hassett

M.X.Hassett

Posted
Posted

Well to use an analogy: If this were a restaraunt. It was not so bad that I would not return, some courses were off, but there were some interesting seasonings and they source their products from a great supplier :biggrin: so I will have to return one or two times before passing judgement.

inny

inny

Posted
Posted

A little something for us to chew on... Here are the ratings.

Even worse was the series-premiere of sitcom Kitchen Confidential at a 3.4/ 5 in the overnights (#5), 4.32 million viewers (#5), and a 2.0/ 5 among adults 18-49 (#5) at 8:30 p.m.

Ouch. I hope they give it a little time to develop. I thought it had potential. But, this is Fox, and I've been burned before.

Anna

------

"I brought you a tuna sandwich. They say it's brain food. I guess because there's so much dolphin in it, and you know how smart they are." -- Marge Simpson

chefboy24

chefboy24

Posted
Posted
John Francis Daley (loved him in Freeks & Geeks)

Ahhh, that's where I saw that guy before! BTW, you gotta love that he yelled that he was a trained chef. Most of the boys at the CIA believe that about themselves. But really, an Executive Chef stooping to hazing him?

no. cia boys know their place. that kid is an exaduration. dont forget, a lot of nyc's greatest chefs were cia boys 10-15 years ago.

FabulousFoodBabe

FabulousFoodBabe

Posted
Posted
  that kid is an exaduration.  dont forget, a lot of nyc's greatest chefs were cia boys 10-15 years ago.

I don't know if he's quite an exaggeration ... there's a lot of that going around these days.

I'd love to see one of the newbies in the kitchen say, "I didn't spend $___ to become a trained chef, to come here and sweep the floor!" :laugh:

And you don't have to tell me about former CIA boys.

--Fabby,

a CIA girl herself

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
dvs

dvs

Posted
Posted

uuugh... i missed most of the 1st one (i thought it was on at 9p), so i made a point of checking it out last night. it was really bad... i mean reeeeeaaalllyyy bad.

lesfen

lesfen

Posted
Posted

Eh... I'll watch again. It had enough amusing moments to keep me tuned in. It wasn't great but I haven't seen too many great shows lately.

Raynickben

Raynickben

Posted
Posted

Very unamusing. Very.

Especially after the pure genius of Arrested Development.

Yeah! Another 30 minutes added back to my life each week!

Rachel Perlow

Rachel Perlow

Posted
Posted

I like the office/kitchen/foh politics of the show. The thing that seems most wrong with it, to me, is that it is supposed to be a 1/2 hour sitcom. But it's not funny. They would have been better off making a 1 hour dramedy out of the material. It just doesn't work as a sitcom.

zilla369

zilla369

Posted
Posted

I think I'd enjoy it more if it was called something else and I didn't know it was supposed to be loosely based on Bourdain's book/life. I'm constantly disappointed that the main character doesn't "remind" me more of Bourdain. Now, if it was just a show called "Back of the House" or something similar, I'd probably be all over it.

That said, I think I need to give it more than two episodes before pronouncing it a dud. Also, I have to keep reminding myself that - as popular as Kitchen Confidential is with the eGullet and "foodie" crowds - not everyone who has US network TV available has read Bourdain's books or been exposed to his other shows. So maybe it's reaching a wider audience, and maybe that's not a bad thing.

However, I did read somewhere that the ratings tanked during the first episode. Haven't seen anything today about last night's ratings.

Marsha Lynch aka "zilla369"

Has anyone ever actually seen a bandit making out?

Uh-huh: just as I thought. Stereotyping.

inny

inny

Posted
Posted

Guess I'll be the ratings chick again this week...

Kitchen Confidential (Overnights: #5; Viewers: #5, 3.71 million; A18-49: #5, 1.7/ 4)

And these are down from last week. I actually thought this episode was a little tighter than the pilot. Not necessarily funnier, but tighter.

Anna

------

"I brought you a tuna sandwich. They say it's brain food. I guess because there's so much dolphin in it, and you know how smart they are." -- Marge Simpson

zilla369

zilla369

Posted
Posted

And I'll bet even those lackluster ratings are partially due to having "Arrested Development" as a lead-in.

Edited to add: I don't mean that Arrested Development is to blame for KC's ratings, but might be responsible for some of the views it does garner.

Marsha Lynch aka "zilla369"

Has anyone ever actually seen a bandit making out?

Uh-huh: just as I thought. Stereotyping.

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