TVSquad

Victoria Beckham, a.k.a. Posh Spice, would have to go a long way to be compared to the foul-mouthed, in-your-face TV chef Gordon Ramsay, but that's what Fox TV is hoping for if they want her proposed new show, Fashion Nightmares, to ape Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The net is talking with the former Spice Girl and fashion "scion" with her dvb Style denim brand to do a show in the style of Kitchen Nightmares. In that US version of the BBC hit, the chef goes to troubled restaurants and diagnoses what's wrong and how they must fix it. Ramsay's way includes many expletives deleted and mucho histronics. Like the UK version, Fox's US variation has been a hit.

Remember when you were young and your parents told you things like "cheaters never prosper"? Well, it's true. (All right, not all the time, but at least this time!) As TV Squad reported recently, Chef Robert Irvine, star of Food Network's Dinner: Impossible, has been hoist on his own petard. Now that the truth is out -- that he lied and padded his resume -- the network has dumped him. His fire has been extinguished. Dinner: Impossible will go on, but not with Chef Irvine as chief cook and chef extraordinaire.

Food Network president Brooke Johnson said in a statement, "We appreciate Robert's remorse about his actions, and we can revisit this decision at the end of the production cycle, but for now we will be looking for a replacement host."

Just a few weeks ago, TV Squad reported that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia acquired Emeril Lagasse's media properties. Now, the Bam-man will be starring in a new daily cooking show. Celebrity chef and restauranteur Emeril Lagasse will star in Emeril Green, a show that will be shot entirely at Whole Foods Market. The enterprise will be shot in front of a live audience, and will air on Planet Green, Discovery Communications' new 24/7 eco-lifestyle television network, PG launches in June 2008 with a bunch of new shows, including Emeril Green which will launch in July.

After weeks of swearing and tempers flaring, Hell's Kitchen crowned its winner. Last night's installment of FOX's culinary competition saw finalists Bonnie, a nanny/personal chef, and Rock, an executive chef, run their own kitchen for an entire meal. Both chefs did not only create the menu and decoration of their own side of the Hell's Kitchen restaurant, but they also had to show their leadership skills while managing a team composed of past participants.

I don't cook much, choosing to eat all of my food frozen, but I like the idea of Pantry Raid, a new series on the Style network debuting August 29 at 9:00 p.m.

Chef Michael Schulson will go into a person's house and try to whip up a meal using only food found in that person's pantry. As a bachelor who is slowly but surely learning how to make meals that don't require reading instructions on the back of a box, I find the idea appealing. Can you make something out of applesauce, hominy, pumpkin pie filling and rat poison? Because that's pretty much what's in my pantry.

This poll in the UK edition of Esquire isn't too much of a surprise I guess. I can understand why chef and TV host Gordon Ramsay is the most admired guy, especially in a popular, "of the moment" sort of way. But what I find funny is that he beat scientist and author Stephen Hawking, a man that has literally changed the way we look at space, time, and the universe.

Other people on the list after Ramsay (17%) and Hawking (14%) are Ray Mears (a TV survival expert - probably unknown to many of us here in the U.S.), who got 11% of the vote, new James Bond Daniel Craig, who also got 11%, and comedian/writer Ricky Gervais, who somehow only got 9% of the vote.

The new season of Hell's Kitchen, the U.S. show that Ramsay hosts, starts on FOX, June 4 at 9pm.

[via TV Tattle]

Biting the hand that feeds you is a popular sport in Hollywoodland. We all know that Scientologist Isaac Hayes, the voice of South Park's Chef, parted ways with the show after its Emmy-nominated, Scientology-mocking "Trapped in the Closet" episode aired last year. Hayes was reported as saying that the show had crossed from "satire" to "intolerance," which is apparently what happens when your own belief system is mocked instead of someone else's. Following the controversy, Chef was served an unholy and definitive end in which he was burned, beaten, impaled, shot and quartered by a grizzly bear and a mountain lion. Oh, and he defecated as he expired.

Given this series of cartoon events, why the New York Post would bother to ask Hayes whether or not he planned on returning to the show is beyond me, but Hayes' answer was clear.

Professional chef / screaming manchild Gordon Ramsay is bringing his popular BBC series Kitchen Nightmares to FOX. Americans may have already caught the series on BBC America, in which Ramsay uses his incomparable people skills to whip failing restaurants back into shape. Production on the new reality series is set to begin next month. If you're a fan of Hell's Kitchen, don't worry, that show isn't going anywhere: production for the third season will begin this month.

I'd actually like to see a deal struck between Ramsay and McDonald's, resulting in a show where he yells at the wage slaves for not leaving the Big Macs under the heat lamps long enough. Also, he and Grimace get into a fist fight. Maybe that wouldn't be such a great idea; I just happen to have this reoccurring fantasy about Grimace fighting British people.

Do you love fine dining but aren't satisfied unless your restaurant is owned and operated by a screaming, gesticulating British man? Well, you're in luck because Gordon Ramsay, he of FOX's hit reality program Hell's Kitchen (which returns next year) has opened his first restaurant in the United States. The new restaurant, The London, is located in the NYC London Hotel. If you wish to eat there, you'll have to be patient, because it's booked for the next two months. Ramsay, who also owns nine other restaurants, says the New York City restaurant is his biggest one so far, and the most expensive. I'm guessing what sets this restaurant apart from others is that if you're not happy with your meal, Ramsay will personally come out and headbutt you in the face. Not that it matters, since I'm going to assume the menu is far more costly than anything I could ever afford. I guess I'll stick to staying home with a frozen pizza and not watching Hell's Kitchen.

Two chefs enter. Only one will be left standing. The reigning queens of food porn Rachael Ray and Giada De Laurentiis will go head-to-head on the November 12th edition of Iron Chef America.

Rather than have to handicap Ray's game, the Chairman will be pairing up both ladies with one of the Iron Chefs. De Laurentiis with Bobby Flay. Ray with Mario Batali.

Alright, the Chairman is actually doing all the fancy pairing because the Food Network told him to, but Ray would get trounced otherwise. Nothing against Miss 30-Minute Meals, but De Laurentiis has some serious skills care of Paris' Le Cordon Bleu and Wolfgang Puck.

Here's hoping the secret ingredient is the tears of failed homemakers.

Mean-as-hell Chef Gordon Ramsay won a libel suit against a London newspaper that claimed he faked scenes for his British reality show, called Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. (He also scares the pants off wanna-be chefs in FOX's Hell's Kitchen) In Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Ramsay helps save failing restaurants. The newspaper, The Evening Standard, claimed that the restaurants were set up to look like health hazards and that Ramsay placed an incompetent chef in at least one restaurant. The newspaper admitted its defeat after a judge ruled against it. The paper will pay $138,000 in damages to Ramsay and print an apology.

To follow up on this post I did over at Slashfood, I just got through watching Celebrity Poker Showdown (the one where David Cross won and gave bananas to the whole audience - you'd have to see it to understand), and right after the show ended, the NBC reality series from a couple of years ago, The Restaurant, came on.

Huh? Why is Bravo showing this again? I thought it was a low-rated embarrassment that the network (and Rocco DiSpirito) would want to put behind them. I know that CNBC was showing the show on a regular basis, but...well, that's CNBC, and they need all the programming they can get. Is Bravo so hard up for programming that they have to show a reality show that not many people cared for in the first place, and show it in the middle of the day to boot?

Weird.

In case you've missed it -- perhaps you were busy trying to figure out the difference between Heist, Thief, and Hustle  -- here are some highlights from the last week at TV Squad:



Chef "returns" to South Park!

• Comedy Central puts episode highlights online.
• Review of the episode "The Return of Chef!"
• "Trapped In The Closet" episode available on YouTube.
• Adam previews Chef's return.
• Fox News reporter says Isaac Hayes had a stroke and did not quit SP.

American Idol coverage

• Was Paula Abdul almost canned last month?
• Cingular will offer ring tones of the previous episodes' performances.
• Kevin's gone! Finally!
• The Wynn resort in Vegas releases AI odds.
• Lacy gets payback for making fun of everybody's "sick" excuses.
• You, too, can dress like the Idol contestants!
• AI website soliciting butt-kissing videos to air during show.
• Did Chris Daughtry steal his unique style from someone else?
  

Breaking News

• Buck Owens of Hee Haw dead at 76.
• Huffington apologizes for fake Clooney blog entry, but not to Clooney.
• American Dad comes back on April 23.
• Bones renewed for a second season.
• Dancing champ Lachey gets gig on Miss USA Pagent.
• Patricia Heaton may get her own talk show.
• 60 Minutes to air web-exclusive content on Yahoo.
• Goodbye, Love Monkey: Cavanagh signs for new pilot.
• The Simpsons to use British live-action opening... tonight!
• Veronica Mars moving to Tuesdays.
• WB website has uncut version of Bedford Diaries pilot.
• Fred Savage and his wife are going to have a baby.
• Speculation abounds that Nancy Grace will replace Larry King.
• Jon Stewart named host of the Peabody Awards.
• The kid from Love Monkey releases a new CD.
• Colbert gets a book deal.
• NBC mercifully yanks Four Kings.
• The Simpsons, King of the Hill get renewed.

Discussions

• Listen to the seventh APB podcast.
• Listen to the fourth Grey's Anatomy podcast.
• Can Spike TV get any more manly without taking steroids?
• What would Aaron Brown be like as a game show host?
• Bob wants to know what happened on The Loop.
• Is Melrose's Amanda the source of all office bitchery?
• What are the best Simpsons guest stars?
• Who is the sexiest actor on Lost?
• Are The Shield's characters unlikable? And does it matter?
• I interview Mindy Kaling of The Office.
• Which shows died before their time?

The Five

• Shows Bob would like to see combined.
• Shows that should never be on the big screen.
• Guest stars the Jonathan actually liked seeing.
  

Opinions

• Bob finds out who the hottie in the Mercury commercials is.
• Bob wants to know why his NewsRadio DVD seems edited.
• Rich discusses Gideon's Crossing.
• Here's the TVS Birthday Contest winner!
• I want to know why weather forecasters act surprised by the weather.

Episode Reviews

• My Name Is Earl: "Y2K"
• American Inventor: Open Casting Call Part 2
• Criminal Minds: "A Real Rain"
• Lost: "The Whole Truth"
• Heist: "Pilot"
• The Shield: "Postpartum"
• The Surreal Life: Premiere
• How I Met Your Mother: "Life Among The Gorillas"
• Prison Break: "The Rat"

Comedy Central has put a 'best of' Chef compilation of clips on the Motherload section of its website. If you're wondering why, read this and this. I'm assuming it includes the classic "Chocolate Salty Balls" song, but I can only speculate because Comedy Central's website doesn't like my Mac. Grrr.

Speaking of Chef and Scientology and all things wacky... South Park fans have launched a campaign to boycott this summer's release of Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise.

[Via Pop Candy]

[This episode review contains spoilers]

Isaac Hayes' time spent on South Park was no accident. He was the always the first and only choice to play Chef, and creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone worked hard to convince him their silly little cartoon would be worth doing. Over the better part of a decade, Hayes seemed to really embrace both the character and the show's brutal satire.

And until a few days ago, everything remained seemingly copacetic. Suddenly, however, Hayes left the show over its jabs at religion, leading many, including the show's creators, to believe he had actually left the show over the "Trapped in the Closet" episode which made fun of Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology, of which Hayes is also a member.