The entertainment of reality
So first, a confession. I've been getting addicted to the Fox reality TV show, Hell's Kitchen, featuring chef Gordon Ramsay. For those of you that don't know, Chef Ramsay is a Scottish chef, who is known for two things--the fact that he has 12 Michelin Stars, a rarity in the cooking world, and his sense of perfection and utter willingness to flay anyone who falls short of his standards. In Hell's Kitchen, the chefs who serve under him get verbally shredded, and the stress is visibly horrific. It doesn't help that most of the chefs get driven to make errors that anyone with one semester of Home Ec would get shredded for.
Thing is, I like it. I really like it. I like Chef Ramsay's style, and his unwillingness to put up with the backstabbing and drama of everyone else. It's his kitchen, his rules, and as much as they play up the aspect of his nasty temper, there's only one person really in control in the kitchen, and it is he. Of course, it has a crap-ton of other RealiTV schticks, along with stupid "confessional" voice clips, narrators that manufacture drama and a soundtrack with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer hitting your head against an anvil. However, I bravely managed to sit through the assault on my senses, and I'm still waiting the season finale tonight.
Of course, like any good cultural addict should, I searched YouTube for clips of his previous reality shows, and hit upon a phenomenon. Chef Ramsay hosted a RealiTV series in Britain called "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares." In this series, Chef Ramsay goes to a restaurant that is failing, and attempts to turn it around in one week. It is this series that made me start to respect the man. You see, despite his Marine-salty language and constant berating of the staff, the man knows his stuff. He provides the narration for each episode of "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares," and first deconstructs all the aspects of the restaurant, showing the audience exactly what is wrong. Then, he works with the owners and the staff to renovate the restaurant, and it's here that his expertise becomes obvious. At least once per show, I find myself thinking "Of course! It's so obvious that this is what you do to design a menu/cook a meal/run a restaurant/run a business!"
The true suspense, though, is when Chef Ramsay pays a visit to the establishment at least a month after he's come in to turn things around. While the news is generally good, it's not always so. Some restaurants backslide, and others have closed entirely. I can guarantee more suspense throughout the series than anything Survivor has shown. Overall, it's an excellent series.
Now, though, Fox has brought it over to America and glammed it up, calling it simply "Kitchen Nightmares." While it's the same premise, the execution is vastly different. Fox has removed Ramsay as the narrator of the show, which takes away all his expertise, and leaves you in the role of a laid-back third person, instead of a more involved first person.
Instead, Fox uses the usual RealiTV tricks to make you care. Quick sound bites and "confessional" shots by the parties involved, with the exception of Chef Ramsay himself. There's more focus on personal drama instead of actually getting the restaurant up and running, and the music cues are still as subtle as a Tyrannosaurus Rex on acid. What's more, there is no visit from Chef Ramsay later on. You, the audience, are left to assume that the restaurant will do well, although Chef Ramsay does provide some narration at the very end that provides an overview of the show, along with his assessment, which doesn't matter so much. After all, it's not as though he's coming back, right?
Watching the two, I'm impressed with the little differences. Drama abounds in both shows, but the British make it informational. It's as much showing the work that goes into making a successful restaurant as it is the drama and the confrontations. With Fox, it's about high melodrama. I have to wonder if they actually go out of their way to find restaurants with an owner that is delusional or the classic Dilbertesque Pointy-Haired Boss. Because they do seem to find them. I'd like to have the owner be someone I could acutally feel sympathy for, instead of being someone who cheerily captains a sinking ship, while the staff try to rearrange the deck chairs in order to keep afloat awhile longer.
Now, of course Britain does not out-and-out trump the U.S. when it comes to the quality of its RealiTV shows, but I think the two different "Kitchen Nightmares" shows provide a powerful example in force-feeding drama versus letting the drama happen naturally. You can tell when your emotions are being manipulated, versus skillfully showing something that actually is dramatic. On further reflection, this is what I don't like about most American RealiTV shows. They're cramming days' worth of events into a half-hour/hour piece of television, and like as not, the producers are picking out the storylines for the viewers to follow.
I'll end this by listing my favorite RealiTV shows, both past and present to give you an idea of what I like.
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
Hell's Kitchen
Beauty and the Geek
Rock Star
So You Think You Can Dance
Deadliest Catch
Top Gear
Thing is, I like it. I really like it. I like Chef Ramsay's style, and his unwillingness to put up with the backstabbing and drama of everyone else. It's his kitchen, his rules, and as much as they play up the aspect of his nasty temper, there's only one person really in control in the kitchen, and it is he. Of course, it has a crap-ton of other RealiTV schticks, along with stupid "confessional" voice clips, narrators that manufacture drama and a soundtrack with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer hitting your head against an anvil. However, I bravely managed to sit through the assault on my senses, and I'm still waiting the season finale tonight.
Of course, like any good cultural addict should, I searched YouTube for clips of his previous reality shows, and hit upon a phenomenon. Chef Ramsay hosted a RealiTV series in Britain called "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares." In this series, Chef Ramsay goes to a restaurant that is failing, and attempts to turn it around in one week. It is this series that made me start to respect the man. You see, despite his Marine-salty language and constant berating of the staff, the man knows his stuff. He provides the narration for each episode of "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares," and first deconstructs all the aspects of the restaurant, showing the audience exactly what is wrong. Then, he works with the owners and the staff to renovate the restaurant, and it's here that his expertise becomes obvious. At least once per show, I find myself thinking "Of course! It's so obvious that this is what you do to design a menu/cook a meal/run a restaurant/run a business!"
The true suspense, though, is when Chef Ramsay pays a visit to the establishment at least a month after he's come in to turn things around. While the news is generally good, it's not always so. Some restaurants backslide, and others have closed entirely. I can guarantee more suspense throughout the series than anything Survivor has shown. Overall, it's an excellent series.
Now, though, Fox has brought it over to America and glammed it up, calling it simply "Kitchen Nightmares." While it's the same premise, the execution is vastly different. Fox has removed Ramsay as the narrator of the show, which takes away all his expertise, and leaves you in the role of a laid-back third person, instead of a more involved first person.
Instead, Fox uses the usual RealiTV tricks to make you care. Quick sound bites and "confessional" shots by the parties involved, with the exception of Chef Ramsay himself. There's more focus on personal drama instead of actually getting the restaurant up and running, and the music cues are still as subtle as a Tyrannosaurus Rex on acid. What's more, there is no visit from Chef Ramsay later on. You, the audience, are left to assume that the restaurant will do well, although Chef Ramsay does provide some narration at the very end that provides an overview of the show, along with his assessment, which doesn't matter so much. After all, it's not as though he's coming back, right?
Watching the two, I'm impressed with the little differences. Drama abounds in both shows, but the British make it informational. It's as much showing the work that goes into making a successful restaurant as it is the drama and the confrontations. With Fox, it's about high melodrama. I have to wonder if they actually go out of their way to find restaurants with an owner that is delusional or the classic Dilbertesque Pointy-Haired Boss. Because they do seem to find them. I'd like to have the owner be someone I could acutally feel sympathy for, instead of being someone who cheerily captains a sinking ship, while the staff try to rearrange the deck chairs in order to keep afloat awhile longer.
Now, of course Britain does not out-and-out trump the U.S. when it comes to the quality of its RealiTV shows, but I think the two different "Kitchen Nightmares" shows provide a powerful example in force-feeding drama versus letting the drama happen naturally. You can tell when your emotions are being manipulated, versus skillfully showing something that actually is dramatic. On further reflection, this is what I don't like about most American RealiTV shows. They're cramming days' worth of events into a half-hour/hour piece of television, and like as not, the producers are picking out the storylines for the viewers to follow.
I'll end this by listing my favorite RealiTV shows, both past and present to give you an idea of what I like.
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
Hell's Kitchen
Beauty and the Geek
Rock Star
So You Think You Can Dance
Deadliest Catch
Top Gear