Becoming A Reality Junkie

It wasn't that long ago that I scoffed heartily at those folks who were so into so-called reality TV. And I still classify it as "so-called reality", cause really...it's reality like The Real World has anything to do with the actual Real World. Anyway...I have slowly been sucked in. It started with The Amazing Race, then Hell's Kitchen, then Top Chef (new season starts soon!), then Project Runway...and then, well, then I hit a new low with America's Next Top Model. Oh, what a guilty pleasure that is. I'm not sure why I enjoy it like I do...but there we have it. And a new season of backstabbing and adulation of Tyra has just begun. Woo!

In an effort to reclaim a little of my self-respect by finding a reality show that is slightly less vapid than ANTM (cause seriously? ANTM kind of embodies the definition of vapid), and because I stumbled across it just as it started (and really...what's not to love about a cooking competition?) my newest addiction is the BBC America reality show Last Restaurant Standing. Is anyone else watching this? It's super cool. (Plus it has British accents...which makes everything better...I would watch grass grow if it was narrated in a good British accent.)

Anyway, the premise is that 9 couples with no restaurant experience are given a restaurant (and presumably some start up money for various expenses) to run with the final prize being a restaurant venture backed by Raymond Blanc (who is apparently a famous chef and restaurateur, though I have never heard of him...which means absolutely nothing. I hadn't heard of Gordon Ramsay before I started watching Hell's Kitchen.) Essentially they then are in charge of putting together the menu, cooking the food, hiring the staff, and, well, running the place. They're given challenges each week (such as creating signature cocktails and desserts with an eye on making profit) and then the three worst performing couples (as determined by performance and reviews by inspectors who visit during dinner service and rate the food and talk to customers and just generally observe) are selected to participate in a challenge to prove that they deserve to stay. The couple that loses is shut down.

So far, it's really interesting to see just how little experience and know-how some of the couples participating really have...one who sticks out in my mind is the couple whose head chef would rather spend time setting up and playing with the jazz band than in the kitchen. Um. Yeah.

Anyway, if you get BBC America and are into cooking type competitions...I recommend this as a good break from the wasteland that TV has become since the writer's strike.