Kitchen Nightmares: Clone That Show And Don't Forget The Yuck!
By RTVC Senior Staff Writer Kathleen
January 31, 2011
I watched Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares the other night. I was attempting to see if what I was thinking was actually valid.
It was. The people who produce reality TV shows are in the cloning business.
Once upon a time I was briefly hooked on the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares.
There were never any surprises. It was always a restaurant in dire circumstances due to some failure to follow the Small Business 101 playbook. It was never a disaster caused by things beyond the owner’s control. Just bad business.
But with the exception of a tendency to show truly disgusting kitchen hygiene failures, designed to pander to the viewer’s need for gratuitous yuck, they were moderately interesting shows.
There was always the modest cliff-hanger as to was the lesson taught actually taken to heart? We, the viewers, really didn’t care. It’s not up there with who will win the Superbowl or Survivor. It’s merely a little interesting.
I don’t know if the UK Nightmares went off the air but original shows were no longer available to me.
One can handle reruns of a moderately interesting show only for so long. When the US version showed up, I tried watching it. It was such a dumbed down mess that it was indeed a Nightmare.
Well, it’s still on and they have fixed it up some, at least based on the episode I watched.
Two waitresses liked their job. When their employer was selling out to retire, they bought the place. They have no business background. They just like the camaraderie where they worked. They spent three-quarters of a million dollars on this feel good adventure. OMG. Say it again. OMG.
They then reinforced this “family style” camaraderie by hiring family and friends to work with them. Doesn’t work. No one was in charge. It seems to be right up there with who is in charge of Spring Break. After ten years of this free-for-all, they’re at the end. Out of money, out of food, done.
Just like Nightmares UK only more obvious.
The show allows the viewer to feel smug. We can so clearly see what the restaurateur has failed to see. We all know the rules about doing business with family and the old sayings about rudderless boats.
So, it is what it is. Middle of the road fare. No one is going to program their DVR for this thing. It gets watched because “it was on”. That there are two versions is a stretch, but not everyone has access to both the UK and the US, so I’ll give them that one.
It’s what has happened since that gets my goat. Cloning.
Tabatha has her Salon Takeover. Someone grabbed some old Nightmare’s transcripts and substituted hair for food and off we go. The rescuer even happens to be a blond semi-celebrity with an accent.
If you have managed to avoid.....
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