Kitchen Nightmares on Fox

Fox’s remake of Chef Gordon Ramsay British program “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares” is remade for US broadcast. “Kitchen Nightmares” (Wed. 8 PM on FOX) fits with the traditional reality makeover scenario: struggling *blank* meets successful *blank* and with some tough love, tears and a makeover, the struggling *blank* can meet his/her/its potential. It’s the same whether its “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” or “Nanny 911”. The formula is comforting and successful and “Kitchen Nightmares” is a fine example of the genre.

Programs of this nature start with the star/host. In this case it’s Chef Gordon Ramsay, a Scot with a three-star restaurant and a profanity-laden vocabulary, fresh from his stint this summer in the second season of FOX’s “Hell’s Kitchen”. In the first episode, Gordon visits a small, family-run Italian restaurant in Babylon, NY called Peter’s. The family who runs Peter’s is in danger of losing the restaurant and their livelihoods. Gordon comes in to try to help them.

The first thing he does is sample the food. His meal is execrable and he shares the cold crab cakes and uncooked pasta with the camera with disgust. You can see just how unappetizing the meal is. The camera catches Gordon’s anger at this substandard meal both visually and in his comments like “the crab cake is *bleep*ing frozen in the center”.

Next, he goes into the kitchen and discovers a kitchen stuck in time. The walk-in freezer leaks like a sieve, food in them is rotting where it sits and the ovens are broken and being used to store dirty aprons. Gordon tells the manager, Peter, a hulking, balding, self-important gladhandler that his restaurant will be famous very soon; for poisoning half of Babylon.

Gordon soon discovers that the whole problem is Peter. He’s spent the family’s money on a flash car, expensive watch and new suits for himself. It’s become such a problem that the restaurant has bill collectors coming to squeeze money out of Peter even while the cameras are rolling. One collector takes Peter out back and while the camera catches every word, threatens his business.

Peter won’t refit the kitchen so the chefs are doing the best they can with broken equipment. Gordon sees that the only way to fix the problem is to force Peter to work in the kitchen for a night. Peter is quickly revealed to be the weak link. He can’t cook on the equipment and is constantly coming up front to ask for cappuccino or whine about how things don’t work back there. The kitchen staff and Gordon all gleefully commenting in confessional-style shots about what how awful Peter is when forced to actually work. It’s compelling TV to see such a character hoisted on his own petard, which, of course, is the producers’ plan all along.

After showing Peter the error of his ways and forcing him to change at a blistering staff meeting after Peter’s disastrous night in the kitchen, the next morning finds Peter hard at work trying to repair the neglect that his mismanagement has caused. He apologizes to the wait staff he’s terrorized and cajoles a repairman to fix the walk-in box that same day.

With Peter’s new attitude now comes the makeover. Chef Ramsay sweareth at you, and then he gives you a whole new kitchen. This is the payoff for all the travails that Gordon puts his subjects through. The kitchen is completely redone with gleaming new state-of-the-art stoves and ovens. The prep area is revamped to make the food flow much faster from cooking to prep to tables. Gordon gives them new flatware and plates and, most importantly, a new menu. He takes Peter’s to a family-style menu with the emphasis on traditional Southern Italian dishes like lasagna and fettuccini alfredo. Of course, the staff is thrilled with the makeover, but Peter is not sure that it will work. Gordon opens the restaurant’s doors wide and, when the menu is a huge success, takes his accolades from the staff and family. The final scene is Gordon cautioning them that only by pulling together and everyone pulling their weight can their restaurant achieve its potential, but if they do, that potential is virtually limitless.

On the whole, this was a satisfying show. It has all the familiar elements, protagonist, antagonist, conflict and resolution. The show rests firmly on Gordon Ramsay and he shines in the spotlight, narrating what the audience is feeling, albeit with more profanity. His dialogue is bleeped at least once every time he opens his mouth, but he carries such authority in the kitchen that rather than blanching at his cursing, you agree with what he’s saying. I’ll certainly be set the DVR for this one.

***

Ratings:
***** - Worth a viewing party with your friends, bring popcorn, blog about it the next day
**** - Record it for later, but don't miss it
*** - Fine if it's on after a show you really like
** - A perfectly fine show, TiVO it, but if it's deleted, no biggie
* - Ugh, why is this on the air?
No Stars - Write the network and scream at them for wasting the public's airwaves