Show: Kitchen Confidential
Episode: Series Premiere
Originally Aired: Monday, September 19th 2005
Rating 2 out of 4 stars
Quick Synopsis: Chef gets second shot after bottle rocket like rise and fall.
Long Synopsis: Chef Jack Bourdain based on the real life of Anthony Bourdain and his book of the same name, Kitchen Confidential, has hit rock bottom. His meteoric rise and equally impressive fall, drugs, girls, booze, etc. has left him slinging pasta in an Italian theme restaurant. He gets a call from a restaurant owner who needs a chef and kitchen crew for an opening in 48 hours. Jack has no idea how he got his resume but takes the job. He assembles his old kitchen crew. Other chefs that are great at what they do. Once assembled they open for business and things go wrong, critic is mistreated, someone loses part of a finger in one of the dishes, blood is squirted, people faint and slip. Yet the food gets a good review from this critic even though everything else goes wrong.
Review: This first thing I want to say is that at the end of the show my first thought was I liked the show. My second thought was that I didn’t laugh though, not even once during the entire episode. This is supposed to be a comedy, a sitcom. That is a situation comedy. For me it had plenty of situations, not much comedy. So, why was my first thought that I liked it?
It could be because I like Bradley Cooper. I liked him on Alias and he is extremely likable and fun to watch as Jack Bourdain. Just not funny, this subject matter seems to be more suited for an hour-long comedy drama than a half-hour sitcom.
Other than not being funny, it was also predictable. Obliviously they were going to get a decent review; if they hadn’t there would be no show. But beyond that, you knew the girlfriend had sent the resume, you knew the food critic was going to be treated poorly, you knew the fingertip would end up in the critics food, you knew Jack was going to go home and not celebrate with his buddies and you knew that his girlfriend wasn’t going to be there when he got home.
The first show, setup the premise nicely and introduced the characters, mainly Jack, very well. Maybe it will be built upon in the coming weeks. Maybe the people who say this is one of the best new comedies have seen more than just the pilot. After Arrested Development I think I will be turning the channel to CBS for How I Met Your Mother. I at least laughed during that show.
