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Godiva's - Vancouver Restaurant Sitcom (merged)


jamiemaw

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Now, Andrew, when are you auditioning?

I'm far too short for television, and as I've said before I have uncontrollable drooling issues. The Walken imitation only goes so far...

Wow! That globe article panned it! I watched the show through the dual prism of my years in the business and my tastes for tv. I think the "industry panelists" were judging it for realism and that's their thing. I was pleasantly surprised. Mind you, it ain't no West Wing (where realism is ably abandoned, too :wink: ).

Edited by editor@waiterblog (log)

Andrew Morrison

Food Columnist | The Westender

Editor & Publisher | Scout Magazine

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OMG I think it's pretty bad.

Pretty damn bad.

Yeah I have to say, what the heck is going on in that kitchen? nobody's cooking much! and the little thing with the manager girl dancing before commercial...yeesh!

She's never make it as a hostess at Earl's either! on any count!

may be bad enough to be funny; I haven't decided yet.

Agenda-free since 1966.

Foodblog: Power, Convection and Lies

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Interesting show!

My favourite lines - "He couldn't get hired at a Coquitlam waffle hut" and "He'd be in the shit by 6:30 Monday".

I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex, and rich food. He was healthy right up to the day he killed himself. - Johnny Carson
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I thought that only a self repected worker would only do their drugs at work :raz:

Especialy on TV

I worked in edmonton in the eighties and everyone was on some kind of drug.

steve

Cook To Live; Live To Cook
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My personal favourite:

The part where the cook spits in the food because he feels threatened!

What a wonderful image of Vancouver people will get. (Yes I know it's Fictional....but just what any customer's nightmare is....why give that image power!)

No respectable restaurant/chef would EVER let that happen! :hmmm::angry:

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Damm, I really hate being right! :biggrin:

Level 10 suckitude indeed!

86 it!

Oyster Guy

"Why then, the world is mine oyster, which I with sword, shall open."

William Shakespeare-The Merry Wives of Windsor

"An oyster is a French Kiss that goes all the way." Rodney Clark

"Oyster shuckers are the rock stars of the shellfish industry." Jason Woodside

"Obviously, if you don't love life, you can't enjoy an oyster."

Eleanor Clark

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ya i only watched 10 min of it too, my it was one of the worst shows i have seen in awhile, bad actors bad script, bad everything!

DANIELLE

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well."

-Virginia Woolf

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Don't have the insider angle so I can't be totally sure about the realism, but I'm pretty sure. Irishgirl - yes the plate sabotage scene was terrible!

Andrew you mentioned the entertainment factor, which I agree often precludes realism for profession-based fictional shows (eg CSI). But I felt it kind of struck out there too. The kid selling pot storyline - tacked on garbage, possibly some writer's lame homage to BC?! Even the Wreck Beach scene was disappointing :raz: . It sort of felt like the writers went to waiterblog, copied and pasted all the lexicon, and poked in the occasional noun or verb to complete the sentences.

Normally I'd be glad to see another show based in our town, but in this case I actually wish it was taking place somewhere else. Kind of embarassing.

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I want a royalty check today... :sad::laugh:

Nevertheless, I was still entertained. Perhaps it was because I hadn't seen the restaurant world portrayed (even poorly) since Flo last had her grits kissed. I guess I'm the only person here whose suckitude metre needs new mercury.

Andrew Morrison

Food Columnist | The Westender

Editor & Publisher | Scout Magazine

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I thought it was both better and worse than I'd expected. Occasionally you'd get theses weird pockets of sharp well written entertaining dialogue lost in the expanse of banality and cliches. Weird.

I'm going to have to try letting my pinot grigio breath.

The casting was hilarious. Without exception the characters look like Torontonians pretending to be Vancouverites. The chefs especially.

And I've been to wrech beaqch, wreck beach is nothing like that.

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Oh, and do any of you pronounce it Toron-toe? I've never heard a Canadian say it that way, always Taranna, really...

Ahem, actually yes I do pronounce it Toron-toe. And I am a Canadian, born in Vancouver.

Cheers,

Anne

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Possibly it wishes it has parallels to Kitchen Confidential, but in reality it does not. Whereas Bourdain (IMO) writes with stark plain honesty, often with an edge, the writing in the first episode of Godiva's was trying too hard and ended up (to me) contrived. Restaurant jargon piled on excessively looses it's effectiveness. And the characters are not the characters you see in KC. Most of them are not real. At all.

The photo of Bourdain with his kitchen mates on the cover of KC: people who look like this would not be welcome on the set of Godiva's.

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I thought it was both better and worse than I'd expected. Occasionally you'd get theses weird pockets of sharp well written entertaining dialogue lost in the expanse of banality and cliches. Weird.

I'm going to have to try letting my pinot grigio breath.

The casting was hilarious. Without exception the characters look like Torontonians pretending to be Vancouverites. The chefs especially.

And I've been to wrech beaqch, wreck beach is nothing like that.

Propitiously, I had to tear myself away to attend a South African wine dinner last evening as I felt the natives might be friendlier there. I largely agree with Keith's premise--that this is contrived restaurant fare for the banal-retentive. You could hear the quotation marks around the industry jargon--they "slammed" the term slammed.

If I were to liken Godiva’s to a restaurant, I would be forced to call it the Wilson’s Steakhouse of sitcoms. Is that a shame? Well yes, because in addition to taking up space, it also spells a failed opportunity.

The Godiva’s writing reminded me of the finer moments of Married with Children but minus the superior acting talent of David Faustino. Then it would take a mysterious ten minute toboggan ride into Simplify then Exaggerate hell.

But more to the point, or the lack of it, it seemed to me that the writers failed in their due diligence: They simply failed the first task, of understanding the business. And perhaps that’s the only remarkable thing about Godiva’s—that with all of the resources available to the production team that they seemingly failed to take any real advantage of any of them.

As a result I found the show a rather thin conceit. Thin because it wasn’t researched, a conceit because ignorance, when masquerading as a wannabe insider, is far from bliss. But the conceit seemed amplified by the fact that, in wanting to appear hip, it lacked the street smarts to even upstage Kelly Bundy.

That being said, one must remember that Married with Children debuted in its first season at number 142 out of 163 prime time shows. And if Rupert Murdoch was worried about the cash hole that Fox had quickly become, he didn’t blink.

On the other hand, he had Christina Applegate and The Nudie Bar. But he also had writers who imtuitively understood how to sell shoes.

Edited by jamiemaw (log)

from the thinly veneered desk of:

Jamie Maw

Food Editor

Vancouver magazine

www.vancouvermagazine.com

Foodblog: In the Belly of the Feast - Eating BC

"Profumo profondo della mia carne"

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Oh, and do any of you pronounce it Toron-toe? I've never heard a Canadian say it that way, always Taranna, really...

Ahem, actually yes I do pronounce it Toron-toe. And I am a Canadian, born in Vancouver.

OIC...you must live in a better neighbourhood than I :wink:

:biggrin:

Agenda-free since 1966.

Foodblog: Power, Convection and Lies

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Oh, and do any of you pronounce it Toron-toe? I've never heard a Canadian say it that way, always Taranna, really...

Ahem, actually yes I do pronounce it Toron-toe. And I am a Canadian, born in Vancouver.

OIC...you must live in a better neighbourhood than I :wink:

:biggrin:

Just down the street in the West End!?!

Edited by barolo (log)

Cheers,

Anne

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Oh, and do any of you pronounce it Toron-toe? I've never heard a Canadian say it that way, always Taranna, really...

Ahem, actually yes I do pronounce it Toron-toe. And I am a Canadian, born in Vancouver.

OIC...you must live in a better neighbourhood than I :wink:

:biggrin:

Just down the street in the West End!?!

Just joking, Anne...I honestly usually only hear that from foreigners, but I meant no disparagement...(I speak like who knows what, having lived here, back east, in the US...)

:smile:

Agenda-free since 1966.

Foodblog: Power, Convection and Lies

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Well said, Jamie and Keith. There were parts that had me gnawing my knuckles and in other parts I found myself smiling. Having lived and worked in Toronto for a number of years, the manager was supposed to be a Torontonian, from Canoe no less (about as "Big Smoke" as it gets). I thought the bartender was bang on target. The chef, Ramir, was a bit of a ponce...but I guess they play the parts they're given.

Despite our misgivings, I still think it'll play much better to a broader audience who know sweet shite all about the business. It's going to annoy me to hear about it all the time from customers, though. The token gay waiter is going to cost me some dosh because of his up-selling antics.

Off to the trade day to try my tongue at Afrikaans and drink wine until I start my shift. I hope the chef doesn't make a special tonight with lots of the letter "s" in it. :wink:

Andrew Morrison

Food Columnist | The Westender

Editor & Publisher | Scout Magazine

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