Gordon Ramsays magic touch !

bendix

Conrad wrote: »

Bendix, I find you to be incredibly insightful and lucid. Jealous I am!

Why thank you. It comes with my job as a marketing director for a large law firm. Let's face it. I'm paid to bulls**t for a bunch of highly intelligent and cynical bulls**ters. Is it any wonder I can argue the hind legs off a donkey? :beer:

Wookster

There is one ingredient that is constant in every single one of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare and that is a stubborn owner who is convinced, despite rapidly approaching bankruptcy that his way (not the way of the Michelin star Chef & restauranter) is the right way and everyone else is wrong.

The sheer stubbornness is quite incomprehensible.

If they bought everything Ramsay said then it'd be rather a dull show...

Conrad

bendix wrote: »

Why thank you. It comes with my job as a marketing director for a large law firm. Let's face it. I'm paid to bulls**t for a bunch of highly intelligent and cynical bulls**ters. Is it any wonder I can argue the hind legs off a donkey? :beer:

My business partner on some property we bought is a London corporate Lawyer. He's bloody intelligent - I think:eek:

Davesnave

Wookster wrote: »

There is one ingredient that is constant in every single one of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare and that is a stubborn owner who is convinced, despite rapidly approaching bankruptcy that his way (not the way of the Michelin star Chef & restauranter) is the right way and everyone else is wrong.

The sheer stubbornness is quite incomprehensible.

If they bought everything Ramsay said then it'd be rather a dull show...

Yes, it's a very similar formula to Beeny's programme.

ninky_2

television has become increasingly formatted and so commodified.

it all comes down to the profit motive.

one-off documentaries whether investigative or observational are far more expensive to make and historically have less financial return than 'reality' tv.

it is easier (and cheaper) to create a format, cast this from largely free talent (in the form of real people) and then force a narrative into a restricted timespan. if you look at gordon's show the number of filming days required is tiny, plus easy to plan since the story is predetermined.

formatted shows are easily sold around the world to the multichannel environment hungry for long running series (cheaper to promote, easy to brand, build up a loyal audience).

the 'format' itself is also a saleable commodity. hence you get 'pop idol iraq' and 'how to look good naked US'.

unfortunately it is now almost impossible to get single documentaries on serious subjects commissioned. the few slots that exist get palmed off as grace and favours to a small elite of preferred programme makers.

this has serious issues if we consider television to have any sort of 'democratizing' function in terms of free speech and electorate awareness.

there has also been a noticeable decline in the types of people going into programme making. the small gains that were made in the 60s and 70s in terms of social mobility and access are now i would say completely undone. as i cast my minds eye around the typical production office you find few non-public school educated people, fewer from ethnic minorities and even fewer from the regions outside the southeast of england.

the bbc is a last bastion of hope and indeed any factual inhouse beeb shows i've worked on have had a noticeably different production ethic. money will be found to tell the story. script meetings will be more considered and open to input. and the programme makers themselves will be a little more diverse.

interestingly though, the public is clearly hungry for more meaty factual programming. and this appetite has spilled into cinema. hence the success of michael moore etc.

lostinrates

ninky, can you answer a question I have about something I find deeply annoying on reality tv?

The summaries. The summaries at the beginning, five minutes in, before a break, afer a break.....its as if every couple of minutes we see the same summary f what the programme is bout/what the star of the relity tv show is hopig o acheive/has suffered.

It used to be mainly on US imports, and was obvious where the frequent breaks are, but now its on home grown shows, and on the BBC...even those morning property shows...

Seriously, I have really impaired memory and I can make it through an hour show without summary until the end....why hve this developed?

bendix

lostinrates wrote: »

ninky, can you answer a question I have about something I find deeply annoying on reality tv?

The summaries. The summaries at the beginning, five minutes in, before a break, afer a break.....its as if every couple of minutes we see the same summary f what the programme is bout/what the star of the relity tv show is hopig o acheive/has suffered.

It used to be mainly on US imports, and was obvious where the frequent breaks are, but now its on home grown shows, and on the BBC...even those morning property shows...

Seriously, I have really impaired memory and I can make it through an hour show without summary until the end....why hve this developed?

To answer your question succinctly, there are two seperate but interrelated reasons for this.

1) Because the tv makers are lazy and think they can get away with any old rubbish in this dumb-down modern society.

2) Because the viewing public are idiots, and let them.

ninky_2

as you say it's an america thing (where they have a lot of ad breaks).

it also comes from the explosion of the multichannel environment. it's seen as a way of catching up viewers who may have just flicked over. obviously the concept of everyone sitting down and watching an entire show from beginning to end is a little old fashioned.

as we move into television content being delivered through different means (internet, +boxes), these channel hopping habits will change again. and therefore the ways the shows are structured too.

one thing i hope we don't catch from the states is 'scripted reality'. this is the sort of thing you see on american version of 'extreme makeover'. the contributors will be interviewed about their reaction to particular events (house being knocked down, going in for plastic surgery etc) and then scriptwriters will rewrite what they say to make it more OTT and TV friendly. then the contributors will be given the new lines to deliver. for example, someone might say they "quite liked" their new hairstyle. in the re-scripted version they will say "the most awesome moment of my life was when i looked in the mirror and saw a princess looking back".

bleugh!

lostinrates

ninky wrote: »

as you say it's an america thing (where they have a lot of ad breaks).

it also comes from the explosion of the multichannel environment. it's seen as a way of catching up viewers who may have just flicked over. obviously the concept of everyone sitting down and watching an entire show from beginning to end is a little old fashioned.

bleugh!

I flick. I have a broken brain, I can still keep up.

reduceditem

I'm of the opinion that a cook should stick to what they are good at.