In the most intense season premiere of Hell’s Kitchen yet, the testosterone was so amped up that even the tight-panted Belgian maître d' Jean-Philippe Susilovic wanted to punch someone. After a two hour premiere ending on a mini-cliffhanger, I would’ve been happy to watch another episode. Always leave them wanting more is a good philosophy, but I worry that the resolution to the cliffhanger will be anti-climactic. I’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to find out.
If not for the blog I would defer watching until the season was over and then watch the episodes back-to-back, but it’s futile to blog about TV and not run into any spoilers, so my season-binging ways are over.
I know from talking to some people that some of the stuff in Hell’s Kitchen is certainly a bit staged (shocking, I know) and given the intensity of the episode, it looks as if the producers repeatedly hammered the point home to contestants to be more confrontational. Last night definitely had shades of WWE in between serving raw shrimp to pregnant women, it still worked for me, but it will be interesting to see how it worked for others. Next week's ratings might be more important than last night to see if there was good word of mouth. Though I'm not sure from an entertainment standpoint there’s now anywhere for the season to go but down. We'll see.
Because I had shielded myself somewhat in an anti-spoiler cocoon, I did not know Robert was going to be dragged back into the kitchen. I was a little bit disappointed too – not that they brought him back, he’s a very likable character and bringing him back was smart – but disappointed because he allegedly left last season for health reasons, and didn’t seem to come back even a pound lighter (and perhaps 20 pounds heavier). I don’t know if The Biggest Loser will ever have a “reality show edition”, but they should recruit Robert either way, it would be a good outcome for all involved.
I’d predicted that the Hell’s Kitchen premiere would come in around a 3.3-3.5 adults 18-49 rating, so I was already predicting it would be down from last summer’s finale adults 18-49 rating of 4.2, but in early metered market numbers (just household, not demo ratings) Hell’s Kitchen averaged a 3.9 from 8pm-10pm and on an overall household basis was absolutely trounced by America’s Got Talent in the 9pm-10pm hour. But those ratings are very preliminary and subject to change, and Hell’s Kitchen could still wind up with 18-49 demo numbers in the 3.x range. We’ll see in an hour or two.
HK averaged a 3.0 adults 18-49 rating between 8p-10p, and was narrowly edged out by AGT 3.4 vs. 3.3 for the 9pm-10pm hour…
Hell’s Kitchen should do fine. It seems to be the show even people who don’t watch reality TV love watching. Yeah, it’ll be down, but what show isn’t?
And the premiere was fantastic.
Well I did not even know that it was on again and just caught the last 15 minutes of it by accident. They need to promote is so that you know that it is on.
Anyways the computer caught it so I guess I can go back and catch the first hours and 45 minutes…
Well of course this season of Hell’s Kitchen will get lower ratings than the last one, because this one is being run during the summer while the other was run during the regular season.
But yeah, certain things are staged on Hell’s Kitchen – whenever they have like a wedding, or they put one of the chefs on service and Jean Philippe starts making up problems – but it’s still thoroughly enjoyable, even though I found the opening five-ten minutes ridiculously cheesy this year.
This vile, vulgar, man–one who is becoming far too old to blow his top on his show–is nothing but a performing monkey now. And, as such, he has left far too much excrement littering his path for anyone to have the slightest bit of respect for him or to take him seriously. He has become a caricature of himself. Certainly, he can travel the world and command expensive plates and wines be set before him, but would YOU want to share a meal with him? I certainly would not. I would feel terribly embarrassed to share a meal with him. I bet he uses a toothpick when he’s through. The time has come for some other bully to come out of the woodwork and take up his place in the coliseum for our amusement. Feed GR to the lions. Thumbs down.
Gordon clearly has some emotional issues. He may not be appropriate for all audiences. He is quite demeaning and very insulting. Who cares what his skill level in the kitchen is if he is insane? Kitchens have many large, sharp knives, Gordon. I recommend care and compassion. But then who would watch?
I am wanting to know what happened when the other man and Gordon were going outside to fight. I tried watching the following week but didn’t see it and kept changing channel to see if it was on and never saw it. Don’t know if it was on or not. If so, I missed it. Maybe someone can let me know.
Sandra you can catch the episode on Hulu (or on Fox.com) it’s at the very beginning. But the short version is lots of cursing and Chef kicked him out of the kitchen.