Last night Kelly and I watched two new TV shows, Kid Nation and FOX's bastardization of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Both were a bit disappointing. The original BBC version of Kitchen Nightmares was a really compelling show, and taught me things to watch out for when eating out. But FOX took the idea and produced it just like another Survivor-type reality show with quick cuts, moronic narration, and unnecessary captions. The sad part is that the content of FOX's premier was really interesting. It was the production that ruined it. Part of the heart of the show is Ramsay sitting down with the owner or head chef and explaining what exactly is wrong with their restaurant. But with all the quick cuts, we get the feeling that we are just watching sound bytes rather than a real conversation. There was no real feeling of progress while watching the show. Instead, we saw problems, conflict, and then success. In the BBC version, we get to see the restaurant getting better and working through their problems. I mean, look at that Italian meathead in the first episode...there is no way that vain bastard changed overnight to take the restaurant seriously, but that is exactly what the show presented. Bullshit!

And don't get me started on Kid Nation. I think they designed the show all wrong. Instead of testing the idea that kids could come up with a functioning society, they turned it into another Survivor clone, except instead of voting somebody off each week, somebody gets a $20K check each week.