For weeks I have been troubled by something on Last Restaurant Standing, only I had very little idea what it could be. I knew that something was off, horribly, horribly off, but I couldn't quite figure it out. Well my friends, I have solved the conundrum. I have found my answer. I realized why I felt so disjointed in the post-weekend service meetings Raymond Blanc.
The problem is that it's a weekend service. The problem is that they discover the number of patrons the restaurants had on Friday and Saturday night. The rest of the show however is made to make it appear as though it was all a single night's worth of service. Everything is cut, right up until the meeting with Raymond, that the restaurants are only open for one evening, not two. Bits and pieces of the two evenings, it seems, must be edited to together to form a single night in terms of the storytelling even though everything happens on two nights.
Now, that would be forgivable, allowing some narrative license is the norm on a reality show, if the judges didn't repeatedly reference the two nights of service when they talked with the couples at the end of the show. If the show's desire is to make it appear as though there is only one night of service they have to stick with that, they can't make it appear as though there is only a single night of service and then suddenly talk about two nights. It's just too confusing.
I like to think that I'm a smart person (occasionally I've been told otherwise), but it unnerves me to have this magic switch take place at the end of an episode. Mostly I think that's because I can't tell whether the cameras are only showing a single night of service for each team and editing it alongside a different night of service for another team or whether they're cherry-picking the bits and pieces of each night for every team. My problem is that I don't understand how I should see the episode, I don't understand how to backtrack and figure out what actually happened and not just what we're being shown.
Article comments
1 - victoria
they never hide that they are judging two services.... They only judge one service in person and the second service on numbers and profit made... Gives them a larger view of the weekend.
Smart? No not really
2 - Dave
I must be simple minded. I never caught there were two service nights.
3 - Angela
What bothers me more is the latest NBC program that is premiering tonight, Chopping Block. Why can't NBC just refer to it as the American version of the BBC program Last Restaurant Standing? Now, I probably will watch the program, since I want to see how Americans react to Marco Pierre White.
4 - scharabo
Yes, the couples are told to wear the same clothing both nights. From another site apparently they aren't even allowed into the restaurant without a film crew being present.
I get the impression each couples taping is edited down and then reviewed by the judging panel before meeting with the individual couples.
Anyone dining there has to sign an appearance release form.
I didn't see LRS Season 1 but understand it was far more focused on profitability than Season 2 - which seems more focused on marketing. I wonder what Season 3 will be.
A large part of the problem with the program is, from what I understand, it was a full hour when shown on BBC (no commercials). BBCA cut 15-20 minutes of the program to fit in commercials. As such, sometimes scenes from the promo aren't even shown during the episode.
For example, four teams participated in the cooking demo. Yet, it only showed a flash or two of Helen and didn't even say where she was.