What’s It About?
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay goes to a restaurant that is not doing (bleep)-ing well, swears a (bleep)-ing lot tastes the (bleep)-ing food, swears a (bleep)-ing lot, sets about to set the (bleep)-ing chefs right within a (bleep)-ing week (generally by teaching them how to (bleep)-ing cook, swearing at them, having them buy local (bleep)-ing produce and swearing at them), swears a lot, and then swears some more. Did I mention that he swears a lot?
For Fans Of…
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares on Channel 4, Food Network Canada and BBC (bleep)-ing America. Also for fans of Restaurant Makeover who don’t enjoy the uppity designers on the show. I’m not convinced, however, that it’s right for fans of Hell’s Kitchen, as it’s not a (bleep)-ing competition, it’s Ramsay trying to make a (bleep)-ing restaurant (bleep)-ing better. And keeping the censor button guy employed.
What I Liked
It’s pretty much like the UK version. The genius of the show is that you can find (bleep)-ing money mark restauraneurs just about anywhere in North America. If it lasts, it can run indefinitely. This (bleep)-ing episode shows what happens when the (bleep)-ing minority owner of a (bleep)-ing family business does whatever he wants at the expense of his sister, who has put up her house as collateral against the (bleep)-ing establishment and could lose it if they (bleep)-ing go under.
As for the claims about Ramsay and the (bleep)-ing producers stacking the (bleep)-ing restaurant to make it look successful… You can’t deny that they do pile the people into the restaurant, but the point is more to see if the (bleep)-ing crew can handle a high volume of (bleep)-ing clients both before and after the (bleep)-ing “makeover” – something they generally haven’t had, so I’ve no real problems with it.
As an aside, if Gordon and UFC president Dana White ever had a made-for-television conversation, there would probably be more words bleeped than not bleeped.
What I Didn’t Like
It’s nice that they’re keeping the (bleep)-ing Hell’s Kitchen Voiceover Guy employed, but Ramsay can do the (bleep)-ing job just as well. The show has all those (bleep)-ing “Americanized” bits to it like the musical cues and such, which are somewhat (bleep)-ing annoying at times – you shouldn’t need those cues to tell you that something (bleep)-ing bad’s gonna happen. Finally, I didn’t like that Ramsay didn’t visit the (bleep)-ing restaurant after a month. Instead, we had Voiceover Guy tell us what happened in the following (bleep)-ing weeks before Ramsay gave his (bleep)-ing end-of-week speech. I felt that it didn’t give that air of authenticity that an official (bleep)ing visit from Ramsay would have.
Final Thoughts
(Bleep) me. This was (bleep)-ing entertaining. They didn’t stray too far away from the original (bleep)-ing format, and as such it made for entertaining (bleep)-ing television. I can’t say for sure whether the (bleep)-ing show will survive, because it’s on (bleep)-ing Fox, but I hope it does. I don’t consider the show to be appointment television, but definitely, it’s something that you won’t regret watching, if only to see Ramsay go off on a weekly basis.
