Is Hell's Kitchen Losing its Sizzle?

Sometimes I'm not quite sure how to approach an issue.  Take today's column for example.  There was absolutely no doubt in my mind heading into last night's Hell's Kitchen premiere that the column would be about it, that was set, after watching the episode though the only question was how to write it. 

You see, there's the traditional review path:  "Hell's Kitchen premiered it's new season last night, a season which is following quickly on the heel's of its last season.  The show, which has established a basic routine tweaked things here and there, but by-and-large maintained the status quo.  It must be said however that this time out the chefs do seem of a lower caliber than last season."

There's also the irate path:  "My goodness, what were the producers of Hell's Kitchen thinking?  That bunch of clowns they put before us last night in the season premiere has to be the most ridiculous group we've gotten in a long time.  Were they rushed into production to the point where they simply opted for rejects from previous seasons rather than actually searching for competent talent?"

One could take the slightly bemused path:  "To be honest with you, I'm not quite sure what I saw last night on Hell's Kitchen.  It was fun certainly, but the cooking seems to have been diminished this year in favor of hysterics.  I know that if it was me, I wouldn't have gone toe-to-toe with Ramsay like Joseph did, but perhaps he has an ingenious strategy.  Perhaps the producers first came up with a carnival credit theme for the season and then chose chefs who would best fit that theme."

So many choices… what to do… what to do… okay got it…

There's always a danger doing a new season of a reality show like Hell's Kitchen so quickly on the heels of the previous season.  The show could end up stagnating, doing nothing different whatsoever.  The show could also, simply not have the time necessary to come up with great new ideas and simply go gimmicky and ill-thought out.  I would have preferred the former, what we got was the latter.

I'm not even sure we can talk about the chefs.  I'm not even sure we can call them chefs.  Oh, I know that they call themselves chefs, but they don't seem like chefs to me.  There is always a lack of professionalism present in Hell's Kitchen's chefs, but last night I'm not sure we saw any professionalism.  I know that it makes sense for the producers to not show us the professionalism early on (otherwise we couldn't see how Ramsay molds the chefs over the course of the season), but putting food in a freezer instead of a fridge, not being able to section a grapefruit even after being told more than once by more than one person how to do it, and having a fight with Jean-Philippe are serious problems.  I liked Van right up until he went after Jean-Philippe – no one attacks JP in front of me, no one.  That hothead needs to go home.  And, that's not even talking about Joseph repeatedly showing his hatred of Ramsay and everyone else.  Did they just get that guy from central casting?  He's a plant, right?

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. …

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