One thing I'd like to see on certain TV shows are follow-ups to stories. Specifically I'm talking about real-life shows like Cops or design shows. Another show I'd add to the list is Kitchen Nightmares, the FOX (and Channel 4) show that has Gordon Ramsay going into restaurants and helping them get their act together. Some episodes of the show feature Ramsay visiting the place weeks or a few months later, but I'd like to see the restaurants a year or two later, to see if they're still doing things Ramsay's way or not (and if they're still in business).
Joel Keller, whom you might know from this, visited some of the American restaurants in the New Jersey area that Ramsay helped. Are they still around? Did they switch everything back to the way it was the second the film crew packed up their things?
The new season of Kitchen Nightmares airs on FOX later this year/early next year, and they're looking for restaurants to make-over.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-27-2009 @ 5:13PM
Michael said...
The UK version of "Kitchen Nightmares" spawned "Kitchen Nightmares Revisited," which did exactly what you are suggesting here. As Ramsey learned, some of the restaurants were doing very well and some weren't.
On a side note, the UK version of the show is far superior to the US version. Ramsey narrates the UK version, and this narration is able to dampen the rampant screaming and cursing that seems to be all the US version of the show is about. Ramsey comes across in the UK version as tough but incredibly supportive and helpful to those chefs and restaurant owners he is trying to save. In the US version, Ramsey just yells at them for an hour, buys them a new kitchen, and then sets them loose.
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7-27-2009 @ 9:58PM
newmiyamoto said...
I agree completely with Michael's post (apart from the bad spelling, it's RamsAy) as I was just about to write pretty much the same thing. As usual Bob shoots his mouth off cluelessly without doing any research or even thinking about looking on wikipedia at least. It still amazes me that he gets paid for his laughable attempts at posts.
DO YOUR JOB, BOB.
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7-28-2009 @ 4:19PM
Jon B. Knutson said...
I've often thought that most reality shows should do follow-ups... I'd love to see "The Biggest Loser" do a series of follow-ups between competition seasons to see what's happened in the lives of the contestants... who's been able to keep the weight off or lose even more? Who has failed entirely and need a pep talk from Bob or Jillian to get them back on track? What have the top 4 or so been doing with their "celebrity status"? We see cameos of some previous winners, but I'd like to see more about what kind of impact the show made in their lives six or 12 or 18 months later.
By the same token, it'd be nice if we could get similar stuff on top ten contestants on "America's Got Talent" -- I'd say the same for "Last Comic Standing," but that show seems to have died, sadly.
7-27-2009 @ 7:57PM
ac said...
My favorite Kitchen Nightmare was actually a British episode where when he came back the own just gave up and baled. It was worth it to see him tell off the owner, then give the chef a job at his restaurant since he was impressed with her.
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8-17-2009 @ 10:28AM
TDP said...
Guess what, when Ramsay shows up, the restaurant owners are usually heavly in debit, often in the tune of 1/2 a mil or more, maxed out on their credit, and on the verge of failure. Ramsey gives them one week to help them turn around years of idiocy. And a lot of the time, the people who are running a grossly failing business want to argue with him and resisit any change when he is making obvious suggestions on what they are doing wrong. So, it's is no surprise that many of these restraunts fail anyway, because they don't listen and because he's trying to help a business that is literally on it's last leg. Fortunately, some resturant's he has helped turn around before it was too late. To suggest that the failures are to be blamed on Ramsay is utterly asinine.
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