BBC TV Fail and Win
30 Oct 2009 02:00 pmThe Restaurant was awful. They've completely changed the concept and seem to have picked random people off the street based on looks and quirkiness rather than cooking talent/business acumen.
OK, last year's contestants weren't brilliant but most of them had at least a decent concept and some ability in the kitchen and front of house. Most of them buckled under the stress of actually running a professional kitchen (rather than producing food in the comfort of their own home) so it turned out they didn't have what it took to stay ti the end.
Almost all of this year's contestants are incompetent in both kitchen and marketing (interestingly, the pair who was sacked at the end had a reasonably competent cook but her son couldn't even think of a name or describe their concept so they went).
Cooking-wise, Chris (despite his Beef Waterloo) and the Nigerian ladies (despite the bad judgment of trying to make a mutton stew in an hour) could do well and possibly the "If she can sell good food as well as a bad house, we'll do well" couple might have a chance, with Bodger "The more it's reduced, the saltier it gets"/Badger squaddies possibly having an outside chance as they at least have attitude.
Second fail was Defying Gravity. They've now lost the plot completely and degenerated into lowest denominator pap. I stopped watching halfway through the episode and switched to iplayer to catch up on
The Sarah Jane Adventures. Now that was quality entertainment (as were the previous episodes of Series 3, still available on iplayer). The CGI was rubbish but it was funny, scary and full of suspense and good characters, too. It's a shame that it's tucked away in kids' TV on weekday afternoons but thankfully, there's iplayer. First thing when I get home tonight will be watching the second part of yesterday's episode.
OK, last year's contestants weren't brilliant but most of them had at least a decent concept and some ability in the kitchen and front of house. Most of them buckled under the stress of actually running a professional kitchen (rather than producing food in the comfort of their own home) so it turned out they didn't have what it took to stay ti the end.
Almost all of this year's contestants are incompetent in both kitchen and marketing (interestingly, the pair who was sacked at the end had a reasonably competent cook but her son couldn't even think of a name or describe their concept so they went).
Cooking-wise, Chris (despite his Beef Waterloo) and the Nigerian ladies (despite the bad judgment of trying to make a mutton stew in an hour) could do well and possibly the "If she can sell good food as well as a bad house, we'll do well" couple might have a chance, with Bodger "The more it's reduced, the saltier it gets"/Badger squaddies possibly having an outside chance as they at least have attitude.
Second fail was Defying Gravity. They've now lost the plot completely and degenerated into lowest denominator pap. I stopped watching halfway through the episode and switched to iplayer to catch up on
The Sarah Jane Adventures. Now that was quality entertainment (as were the previous episodes of Series 3, still available on iplayer). The CGI was rubbish but it was funny, scary and full of suspense and good characters, too. It's a shame that it's tucked away in kids' TV on weekday afternoons but thankfully, there's iplayer. First thing when I get home tonight will be watching the second part of yesterday's episode.
no subject
Date: 30/10/09 02:20 pm (UTC)... Welsh Wok? :-)
front of house
... and let's just not mention the Dad and daughter couple in Oxford...
tucked away in kids' TV
I still <3 my TiVo :-)
no subject
Date: 30/10/09 02:37 pm (UTC)The mother/son pairing from last night was the dad/daughter couple from last year. Decent cook paired with poor management but dad was better than son, he didn't start out too badly, just folded under the pressure later.
I get the iplayer on my V box or alternatively, I run the web/desktop iplayer on my laptop and watch it on the telly. HDMI output FTW.