Kitchen Confidential TV Show on FOX

[sandercohan]

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

[liv4fud]

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

[CharityCase]

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

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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]

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]

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.

[FoodMan]

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 . That's TV for you. Hey, at least they did not have a silly "laugh" track after every comment.

Elie

[Peter B Wolf]

Turned to a good 'Book': " Kitchen Confidential "

[Jason Perlow]

How surreal. I think Frank Bruni Liked It.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

John Francis Daley (loved him in Freeks & Geeks)

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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?

[ronnie_suburban]

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=

[Megan Blocker]

How surreal. I think Frank Bruni Liked It.

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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.

[aengus9]

I saw the show Monday, and I have to say that I liked it. This is usually a sure death toll for a show. Int eh interest of offering support, everyone should go here and vote for KC. I think they need some foodie input.

http://www.adage.com/poll.cms

[M.X.Hassett]

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 so I will have to return one or two times before passing judgement.

[inny]

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.

[chefboy24]

John Francis Daley (loved him in Freeks & Geeks)

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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?

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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]

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

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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!"

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

--Fabby,

a CIA girl herself

[seanw]

I saw part of an episode last night, will not be tuning in again. It isnt very good.

[dvs]

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]

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]

Very unamusing. Very.

Especially after the pure genius of Arrested Development.

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

[Rachel Perlow]

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]

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.

[Jason Perlow]

After two episodes I can only say that its basically a crappy version of Chef!

Sorry Tony. It's no Sex and the City.

[inny]

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.

[zilla369]

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.