In my opinion they are crap! I was really looking forward to this series, but have been very disappointed in the first three episodes to date!
For starters, the shows are about five minutes shorter. Add to this the very short American attention span, that means at the start of the show you need a 2-3 minutes of spoilers, a lengthy 'coming up after the break' spoiler and then a rehash of what has happened after most ads breaks. I think the show would have less than half an hour of actual footage. (I thought some of the UK episodes did rehash a little too much, but the American episodes are MUCH worse!)
The three US shows to date seem to be more of a mix of a renovation show and Jerry Springer. They almost skip over the designing of the new menu and the cooking - it just seems to be mostly about conflict with one or more staff members. Halfway through the show, Gordon's team come in and install a brand new dining area and/or kitchen area literally 'overnight'.
Add to this that crappy American editing, where you can just tell some of the speech and facial expressions have been taken from other areas and 'edited in' and you have one of the worst versions of a great show I have every seen transplanted into a new country.
I think the lack of time (to date at least) in the kitchen and the jump from arguing about the problems to the relaunch (and no revisit) means I think the best parts of this show end up on the cutting room floor!
It says all about it in his new book i think it was the americans idea to do the restaurant refit etc they always want to glam up every thing dont they, although i love the us. How did you find the new episodes i looked on torrent but wernt there ! i wish he wold do more in the uk any way it would be great we all love him so much
After only 4 episodes, FOX decided Kitchen Nightmares USA was solid enough to renew for a second season. Another 10 episodes of the dumbed-down version of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares will be produced for broadcast in 2008. With over 6 million viewers every week, the show has turned out to be a big success.
I must say, while I find this good news, I’d rather have the UK version renewed for more episodes. Because let’s face it, it’s like comparing a mediocre bottle of wine with a Chateau Latour.
Meanwhile, while you are sitting at home enjoying the Nightmares, the next season of Hell’s Kitchen USA went in production. While that’s also a nice show to watch, I’d still rather see Ramsay do the cooking himself in a show like The F-Word.
LOL, watching them right now, and yeah sexychef, thought you'd like that JB is in one or two. :P I prefer the UK version, feels more serious. I was appalled when the spoiled violent idiot in episode one got a whole new kitchen for free and could keep bleeching his teeth and leeching off of the family... yuck, don't like the makeover thing at all, the makeover should be more about how the people and skills change, more focus on that. Less on glam, that's just surface.
Ive only seeen him in one is he in two ( she says desperately) the new uk version starts on the 30th of october channel 4! Went to the Boxwood good but obviously not a patch on the NYC one.
I'm a brit living in the USA - they show both the UK and US versions here and I agree the US ones are definitely dumbed down... they spend so much time focussing on the arguments there isn't time to show how they actually managed the change, and I wish they would go back after a few weeks and see what happened after he left...
As an american that watches all the uk and US kitchen nightmares, i will agree that the american ones are crap.. The narrator for the UK one is gordon, for the one here they use the same production crew and narrator that they use on the US hell's kitchen, which is a HORRIBLE show. The shows are 5 minutes shorter mainly due to how many commercials they put in the shows, and everyone HATES the 2 minute recap after the commercials, its not needed and wastes more time...
Icetech... stuck in detroit.. we have no produce, only crime
Hiya Ice, long time no post. Have to agree with you about the narrator and the recapping, it is so patronising to be thought of as having so short a memory span that they constantly have to remind us of what we have just seen. Then again they wouldn't have another programme out of it, you know the one, "unseen footage" "Outtakes" . Hope all is well with you. Take care. LDK
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do" Benjamin Franklin "Some cause happiness wherever they go - others whenever they go" Oscar Wilde
I hated Gordan to start with (After Hells Kitchen USA), but after seeing more of him realised the stuff I disliked was the American interpretation. Now I have more faith in the American viewers, but the creaters of the US show (Hells kitchen and Kitchen Knightmares) believe in sensationalism.
The show is less about saving the restaurants and building on that, and more about argueing, sponsered overnight makeovers and (maybe overhyped) dirty kitchens. I think It's just highlighted, when they don't go back a month later to check on whether the place has survived.
Originally posted by David D.: Has anyone seen any of these episodes???
In my opinion they are crap! I was really looking forward to this series, but have been very disappointed in the first three episodes to date!
For starters, the shows are about five minutes shorter. Add to this the very short American attention span, that means at the start of the show you need a 2-3 minutes of spoilers, a lengthy 'coming up after the break' spoiler and then a rehash of what has happened after most ads breaks. I think the show would have less than half an hour of actual footage. (I thought some of the UK episodes did rehash a little too much, but the American episodes are MUCH worse!)
The three US shows to date seem to be more of a mix of a renovation show and Jerry Springer. They almost skip over the designing of the new menu and the cooking - it just seems to be mostly about conflict with one or more staff members. Halfway through the show, Gordon's team come in and install a brand new dining area and/or kitchen area literally 'overnight'.
Add to this that crappy American editing, where you can just tell some of the speech and facial expressions have been taken from other areas and 'edited in' and you have one of the worst versions of a great show I have every seen transplanted into a new country.
I think the lack of time (to date at least) in the kitchen and the jump from arguing about the problems to the relaunch (and no revisit) means I think the best parts of this show end up on the cutting room floor!
I'd just like to say that I've just read all the moaning comments being made here and I don't agree. I find Gordan's USA shows are very good. I look forward to it. Ok, to be honest a lot of it beggars belief!! The ignorance and the mess in some of those places - but hey it's good fun watching it all and Gordan knows how to knock them all into shape! I think it's actually quite funny and very entertaining. Even my husband watches it and he doesn't suffer fools gladly!!
I've never really seent he UK ones, but am enjoying the US shows so far. Some of the kitchens are just soooo manky it beggars belief!! And the guy last night taking bottles of wine a food home
I really thought the young soux chef was going to do well running the kitchen last night....and OMG the exec chef making smash Makes me look like a domestic goddess
I think that a major dfference between the two shows on either side of the pond is that the US restaurateurs seem to have been enticed onto the show by promises of Free Stuff. Free kitchen refit (just get the old one clean!), free enw dining room, free makeover for the exterior. For the most part in the UK versions, a lick of paint and some new table linen - usually with the proprietor and staff of the place pitching in - was all that happened, and that was as a means to an end; in the US it looks like slovely habits, crappy food and dreary decor are actually rewarded by shiny new Free Stuff given for Free to the inept, arrogant or just plain stupid, and they get it for Free.
UK owners also seemed rather less cocksure and arrogant ( with a couple of notable exceptions) and to really want their businesses to turn a corner; I had a real sense of this being peoples livelihoods on the line, and they seemed much more willing to listen. In the US it seems that some effort has gone into finding the dimmest, orangest, dirtiest owners and chefs available for the sake of Drahma. Losing GR's voiceover is a mistake that puts the show on a level with "TV's Greatest Scariest Videos of Morons From Whitebread Indiana Trying to Evade Police Capture by Driving Very Fast Indeed on The Wrong Side Of The Road But Always Getting Caught Anyway", rather than hearing a professional's concerns.
I totally agree with you Mrs Eyre. I'm semi-certain that Sebastians is round the corner from either the studio or the director's home and was only chosen because the director knew of Sebastian's ego and knew it could be exploited.
There was no real sensse that Sebastian wanted to save the restaurant, or even that it was worth saving, it was just an excuse for the blown up ego of a failed actor and an exercise in interior decorating.
I don't think it matters whether the restaurants are made up or not. This isn't a food programme it's just entertainment, and we should just recognise it for what it is.
Some may accuse GR of selling out - again I don't think it matters. His UK shows are what he does best and he will come home eventually. Who can blame him for making a few bucks and raising his profile across the pond?
But that's the difference between this and the UK version. That was a bit more than entertainment I think, and seemed to feature people who really did want to run a decent establishment. We saw Gordon cooking with them, discussing food and the trade, not just "Here you go, new menu, new chairs, fresh flowers and a sign hand painted by David Hockney to get the punters in". The local mayor or other big wig is always wheeled in and it's so hugely contrived as to be distracting. And I don't know why the proprietors are all egomaniacal monsters with delusions of adequacy and a penchant for instant mash and permatans. It would be more interesting to seewell intentioned people for whom this is not just an ego trip.
I don't myself blame GR; people signing up for shows in the states (and remember this is a Fox show) probably end up with precious little control over them.
OMG. Did anybody else see KNUSA tonight? The Indian/Italian/Whatever restaurant called Dillon's. What a death trap that was. I have seen some dirty kitchens and no doubt we have seen some dirty kitchens in this series, this was the most disgusting. Not so much the surface stuff it was the other stuff, the fridge seals full of cockroaches, the rotten tomato freshly sliced for a customer, the maggot ridden peppers, the flies, green chicken and mouldy burgers. My stomach is turning just typing this. At least the guy pertaining to be a "Manager" walked before he was pushed. Laying there having his hair stroked, talking on his mobile when all the time he was taking a wage knowing that the place was totally rancid and a potential death trap. There should be "wanted" posters all over the town advising that he most certainly would not be wanted as an employee in any establishment serving the public with comestibles. The place looked like a laundry or the inside of a child's makeshift tent. I know a lot of it is set up but what a difference. Best of luck to them all now they have cut away the rotting flesh.
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do" Benjamin Franklin "Some cause happiness wherever they go - others whenever they go" Oscar Wilde
The general manager was appalling he had no mangerial experience and the food and the kitchen where disgusting. I think the owner Mohammed was just happy that someone was standing up to him and actaully sorting the place out. My stomach was churning.
"pass the hammer junior ~ daddy's got a fly on his head"
koko, yeah... it has been for a couple years. To me gordon has become nothing but the thing he used to pick on... celb chef.. and thats all In KN now.. he has stooped to calling people names just to get a rise out of them, and its the same exact thing over and over in each place.
I would prefer to see some shows done with Marco White, i loved what he did on hells kitchen
Icetech... stuck in detroit.. we have no produce, only crime
I ♥ loons 
