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William Shatner To Host American "Iron Chef"?
imac.usr writes "OK, I was a little concerned when I submitted the story about the "Iron Chef" movie, but even I was unprepared for this one. This is either the best or worst idea I've heard this year; perhaps both? The main fan site also has the story. Allez Cuisine ahead full!" This has got to be kidding. If they can get Morimoto to be on it, I'll watch. Once anyway.
Shatner is perfect for the job. After all, the current host is a sort of Japanese shatner - take a look at his bio for gods' sake! He's even recorded a few albums after an illustrious career of television series and musical theater. I have been a huge fan of the show since it was aired in Japanese only on the international channel, and got cable just for the food network (and Sopranos, of course). I went to NYC recently (well, just before Morimoto left, so not THAT recently) for the express purpose of eating the prix fixe at Nobu, prepared by the king himself. My pedigree now established, let me say this: the show is PURE CAMP. Shatner as host just proves that the show doesn't take itself any more seriously than it expects its audience to take it. Tonight's .... ingredient: Calf liver .... and! ... Macaroni.
Your friend,
hundertwasser@yahoo.com
Klingon Iron Chefs? Hmmm... "THIS FOIE GRAS HAS NO HONOR! RAAAGH!" I'd watch that.
Top 5 reasons this rocks:
5) double-handed axe blow across back of losing chef
4) chef assistants dressed in red die during the battle
3) celebrity panel always includes fortune telling Betaziod
2) Iron chef Nelix vs. Worf in battle to the death
1) today's theme ingredient: tribbles!
This has got to be kidding
Nice Grammar, Taco.
One thing I'm wondering is what are they going to do about the Iron Chefs themselves? Find new ones, bring over the old ones, or let Shatner bring his own?
Iron Chef Vulcan is Sabal.
Iron Chef Klingon is Ga'Rath.
Iron Chef Federation is Ken Kenichi.
and Mordal is Iron Chef Ferengi.
Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.
I read the internet for the articles.
Posted by serpens:
Is there anything that Americans don't copy off of other cultures just because they think they can make a better version of it?
I sense... a bad...
remake... coming to...
my cable... network...
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pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
Any takers? I'm surprised nobody has really asked this question yet. Here are my nominees:
Of course, since this is America, it'll probably be more along the lines of:
Without you I'm one step closer to happiness without violence.
You are so right.
:-(
I have basically given up on TV. I don't have cable and the television itself is some twenty-five years old and significantly smaller than my computer monitor. It's there so I can watch the occasional movie rental. Hell, I can't even go DVD, 'cause it'd be a crime to connect it to this P.O.S. "Electrohome" tv.
But over the past four months, I've actually *made the effort* to watch one particular show: North of 60.
It's set on an Indian reservation in the North-West Territories. It cuts no crap: there's a *lot* of humanity in it. It's written and played with honesty: life's a bitch when you're a status Indian ekeing it out in the North. In this show, children die, bodies are buried, cops collude with badguys, spouses cheat and lie -- it's gritty.
It is, in my opinion, one of the best pieces of television to ever air. It's like Hillstreet Blues or Degrassi Jr. High: shows where the characters are fully-developed and absolutely human, completely capable of being good and bad at the same time, and sometimes making disasterous life decisions with consequences that fuckin' hurt.
Is good television like that still being produced? What do we have for *great* human drama? I know ER was pretty damn great for a while -- has it devolved into the senseless comedy pap that St. Elsewhere suffered during its dying days?
Powerful hour-long human drama. An extinct species.
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Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Hmm... Or should that be "Ummm?"
:-)
Given America's love affair with the highway and the number of dents put into fenders every year, I wonder if they'll feature truly American recipes like "Sail Cat," "Armadillo pancake" and other ingredients from the flattened fauna that lies on the soft shoulder after meeting with the hard body panel...
They could host it "On the Road," and keep the production costs real low(-riser.)
Just thing that make you go "Mmm..."
(As long as they stick a sock in Shatner's mouth and threaten him with a phaser set on "calcinate" if he so much as hums.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Exactly. The show is going to flop, just like so many other American remakes of overseas shows. Iron Chef needs wierd ingredients, live eels, Chairman Kaga and strangely translated tasters waxing philosophical about the food. An American version...ick. UPN probably sees it as another "reality show", which have all ben crap so far, IMHO.
-=lx=-
Er, so? Why is one body part worse than another? It's all dead flesh, which I personally think is yum. I see a lot of Americans squirm about it - probably the same people who won't eat sashimi - when people are killing octopii, etc. Do these people not know where meat comes from?
-=lx=-
= Let's Cook!
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Make it so. . . . (evil grin)
After living in Japan for the last year you can not believe the success of this show. Just walk down the street in Tokyo and you will see Iron Chef clothing and tidbits in every shop. Many products in the stores are endorsed by "the Iron Chefs" themselves. This show is nothing in America and with a host like Shatner you can be sure that it will be as successful as the Priceline.com ads. The beauty of the show is in the presentation and style that will not come across here in the states. The dubbing at least leves much of the original flavor. Mmmmm... Time to eat!
-eric
-eric
If you want to get a better feel for what the show is like in case you haven't seen it,
here is a link to the Iron Chef drinking game. (That's http://www.ironsteph.com/irongame.shtml for the paranoid...)
Or was that Mr. Chekov? I don't remember...
--The basis of all love is respect
Here's the tough part: who plays the other roles? Who are your celebreties? Here's my vote:
Keanu Reeves:Clinton:K.R.:Rachel:K.R.:Jack:K.R.:Alex Winter:K.R.:Alex:Nameless Food Expert on Panel:
Ah yes... I can see this working quite well...
James Earl Jones would be great. He could easy fill those shoes without the overdramatization.
Besides think about him saying: http://www.best.com/~kennahm/life.wav
wave file
Lets just pray that they don't get Shatner to sing the theme song. :P I've already been scarred for life by his singing. :D
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
Who gets to play the Oto and Fukui-san parts tho?
props to all dead homiez
I threw out my TV over 5 years ago, and everything changed. I no longer found myself choosing sides in pointless debates about fluff. I found that my view of the world at large was no longer colored by the corporate angle presented by TV news reports. I learned that even without TV I still don't have enough time to fulfill all my creative projects. I discovered that indeed the art of conversation is not dead, and furthermore that there's a whole world of literature out there just waiting to be read - and not just made into a TV movie of the week.
Of course I now spend a good 4 hours a night on the internet! But here in this worldwide forum I'm discovering a multivarious universe of pluralistic view I never see on TV.
So what's SlashDot doing posting a story about a possible TV show about food-preparation that may happen to feature master thespian William Shatner?
Perhaps because Iron Chef represents the same ideals as SlashDot itself! Using weird and limited resources to produce something of dubious edibility that is summarily critiqued by a large panel of nonentities.
Perhaps because William Shatner - like William Gibson and Jerry Pournelle - has produced classic works of science fiction in a very particular idiom.
Next time couldn't we get an interview with the cast(aways) of Survivor instead?
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Yeah, I'm a Mac programmer. You got a problem with that?
-- thinkyhead software and media
Comment removed based on user account deletion
the main reason for the show's popularity is its.... well, japanese-ness.
take that away, and you've got a lot of money wasted on a failed television project. not the first, not the last, but it realy seems like there are just so many better projects otu here to spend money on.
From an e-mail from my brother about this subject:
I just hope we'll have occasional episodes that have Star Trek cameos. Here's the ones I can't wait to see:
James Doohan comes on to prove that Scottish food isn't that bad when you're piss drunk.
George Takai shows just how to make the most Americanized Chinese food in the world.
Special guest Wil Wheaton gets used for the "long pig cookoff spectacular"
And finally, Iron Chef French vs. the replicator!!!
They'll have to chuck him on an exercise bike for the hour while the chefs do their things...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
... I think they should do something more along the lines of "Junkyard Wars" meets "Emeril Live!", where they have the master chefs (emeril vs. one of the Two Fat Ladies, for instance) and each has a team of 3 amateurs.
:)
Only then could I tolerate Bill doing commentary.
$0.02 (CDN)
Unless the American show comes up with something really outrageous, it's going to be just Emeril kicked up a few more notches.
Bang!
Allez Cuisine!
we spawned the Shat-ner, but he's since left for numerous lights of the u.s.
Linus has,in fact,grown,and explosively-JonKatz
damn, should have been "no OTHER north american actor"
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
No Shatner?
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
But where does he live now? Not in Cananda eh.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
No North American actor could pull of the part of the "Chairman". The overdramatization, the weird facial expressions, the zeal with which he bites that damn pepper... Who else but Shatner could fill those shoes? Who did you want to host it? Alex Trebec? (sp?) Dick Clark?
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
It's about the Iron chefs that compete against each other in this sort of intense, very theatrical, over the top, gladiator-like style," he said.
The American version will be filmed later this summer at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and will include a new panel of Iron Chefs, Valentine said.
(1) Since when do the Iron Chefs go head-to-head against each other?!
(2) No Morimoto. Perhaps as a guest Iron Chef, or a challenger, but according to the article, we'll see all-new chefs. Shame, really...
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Please. We have to give the geriatric bastard a break. My god all the superb acting and all those Star Trek episodes. But Please Mr. Shatner no more singing (if I can even remotely call it that) like you did on the PriceLine commercials!!
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Of course, it's impossible to say what the end result will be. It could either delight or alienate fans of the Japanese show, or it could pick up enough of a new audience to make the old audience irrelevant. And, as we all know, by the cancellation of Lone Gunmen, the quality of the show won't dictate how long it will stay on the air.
I will say that the show will probably suffer if they try to copy the show exactly. However, it's taking place in Vegas, so there's a good chance it'll look like that New York Battle, which would be much much worse.
People shouldn't eat people.
1) Disease transmission: whatever disease that dead human has, you can probably get.
2) Toxicity. Average human age is quite long, so unless you get em young, they've probably accumulated tons of toxic stuff. And even if you get them young, breastfeeding will pass the moms toxins to her kids.
3) If you wait for them to die of natural causes, see 1). Forget deaths by accidents- it's like eating a chicken that's been rolled over, very negative aesthetic value. If you kill and eat people, their friends tend to be very upset and might come with guns and blow you away. Cows don't do that.
BTW feeding cows to cows was one of the stupidest ideas, worse since cow digestive systems are adapted to digesting vegetation.
Cheerio,
Link.
Translating the show as a whole to an American context is going to be impossible, as we do not have hundreds and hundreds of years of culinary cultural heritage that is our own, and although Twinkies can last that long they don't count. Game shows in Japan are different from ones here because, simply, the US and Japan are different, very different. Their food means a lot more to them than our food (and lack thereof) means to us.
"See, we plan ahead! That way, we never have to do anything now."
For the record, "split infinitives" are not actually a grammatical error. It's a style point that gets played up by misinformed pedants repeating a bit of Latin grammar that was inappropriately mapped on to English a couple of centuries ago by someone who didn't really know what he was talking about.
Diagram that!
/Brian
(ps William Shatner, food... uh... Well, I was in a bar last night that was invaded by three costumed folks passing out stickers promoting the Iron Chef special and they hadn't heard the William Shatner thing. I will say this, though -- if you need overdramatic (which I get the sense Iron Chef is; AT&T won't get off their butts and give us TV Food Network already) he's your man.)
(pps This message is boobytrapped. The pedants I mentioned above will know why but won't realize it.)
You didn't read the last line of my post, nyah nyah...
/Brian
After years of bolding going where no man had gone before, William Shatner is now what he pretended to be: a void in space.
He drifts... floating from stupid Priceline.com commercials to writing books back to Priceline.com commercials.
Now he's becoming a chef.
Let's all write him a letter, asking him to dedicate himself next to something less public. Perhaps he can be an ambassador to a small African country? Perhaps an engineer at a clean-coal plant?
I seriously fear William Shatner... and now he'll have chef knives and use of fire?!
Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
USA: 0, Canada: -1
Captain Kirk, the character he plays, is from Iowa (USA).
USA: 1, Canada: -1.
Then again, T. J. Hooker is also American...
USA: 1, Canada: -1.
And shatner is still in America, doing Priceline.com commercials.
USA: 0, Canada: -1.
Bill Shatner has nothing to do with Mexico.
Final result, Mexico kicks our asses. (Mexico: 1, USA: 0, Canada: -1) Congratulations, Mexico, for being the least Shanterist of all of the NAFTA members!
PS. I think the Iron Chef was cool before, and will probably keep up momentum if they don't change much. "Who's Line" is doing a good job on ABC proving that a good show does not need a total overhaul to work for American audiences.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
T.J. Hooker was supposed to knock the US down to 0, so USA's final score in that post should be "-1". (As will my pathetic attempt at humor, once any short-tempered Canadian moderators are done with it.)
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
The Chairman, the program's host who oversees the competition and is famous for dramatically biting into a hot-pepper at the beginning of the show.
That is a sweet yellow pepper. It's not hot at all. Damn tasty though.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
So, does this mean that every odd episode will be lousy, and every even episode great???
American Cuisine???
Competition over a Macdonalds menu? or the best Pizza and Beer combo?
the mind boggles.
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Imagine Vulcan color commentary.
This could be bad, or really good camp.
Scotty - Beam me out of here!
Check out the Vinny the Vampire comic strip
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Don't hesitate to ask any other questions relating to completely useless information that nobody could possibly care about aside from undersexed losers like myself. I'm the Cliff Claven of Slashdot.
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Slashdot: News For Zealots. Stuff That's Hypocritical.
Senitor Strom Therman "This appitizer is actually keeping me awake. Very good!"
Rock Star Jewel. "MMMMMMMMM!!!"
Actor Kirk Cameron. "Please hire me. My agent said this was better then Hollywood Squares, but now I'm not so sure".
The Internet is generally stupid
Flay/Morimoto II has already been taped, the ingredient is lobster, and Flay hands Morimoto his wasabi...
I forget the exact scores, but Flay rolls over Morimoto.
...there's a toupee in my soup!
I have Unix underpants.
I wanna see him wrestle with an octopus on live TV.
Other than that, it's a travesty.
~sabine
"Scotty, we need more power to the blender."
"Captain, I'm givin' her all she's got!"
"We need more speed or we're dead."
Who cares about Shatner! Now I want to see 7 of 9 hosting it :) (or Xena... or Buffy... or...)
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
C'mon...Just because Shatner is in it doesn't make it scifi...or does it?
AC is AC
And it's even more expecially good to know that those in glass houses are still huckin' stones! :)
FYI: Shatner is Canadian. So is James Doohan (aka Scotty.)
He owns his own business in Toronto [from his biography] so it stands to reason that he lives in the city too.
But alas, as I dig deeper, it turns out that his abode is in California.
"I AM CANADIAN!"
-William Shatner
[quote is from the same site as previous link]
The Iron Chef is really an adictive show. If this works out it'll be great but It'd be better with Morimoto. Perhaps they can bring in all the hosts of all the other TV Imports, to be judges.
I bet Anne Robinson can really pack it away.
and Regis seems to be quite the food coneseur
Jeff Probst seems like he could really benefit from eating something other that all that Vegimite he's been living on...
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--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
Dammit, Bones!
Anybody want a peanut?
Here's the setting. It's late, I'm at my grandparents' house, and I'm flipping through channels. I get to that channel that tells you what's on. (I can't remember what it's called now! You know, it's like a televised schedule for shows.) Anyway, I find this channel and see what's on. Then, it appears. IRON CHEF! (Pronounced in that weird sponsor guy's accent). Needless to say in my caffeine-heightened state I have to see what this show is. I go to the Food Network. It's late, I'm wired, and the show is the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life! If you've ever watched it you know what I mean here's an example...
In weird dubbed Chinese voices:
Announcer guy:[Chinese name]
Other announcer: Go ahead!
Announcer One: It appears the challenger is doing something unique! He's braising the shark fins in a mix of lemon juice and mango seeds! (NB: I made that up).
Third Announcer (woman): Ooooh! That looks delicious.. and the color, I didn't think shark fins were so pink!
Aouncer One:Yes, these are very fresh shark fins, look there are the sharks! (Actually, the only live ingredient I saw was squid, but shark is cooler).
Time passes until serving
Announcer One: This is delicious... I can't say I care for the taste, but this is delicious anyway!
Everybody else says, basically, the same thing
The Iron Chef then wins, by one point.
It's like a fixed boxing match. But I still love the show, it has the "All your base belong to us" side, and then it has the cool food... All in all a great show, both for comedy and for, well, general entertainment value.
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No sig for you.
I.... Think.... Our......... chefs ..... willl............ be.... cooking.........FOOOD....... tonite.......beam me up...err... i ... mean.... name.... your...errr...damn it.... just cook....angerly.....
The Lottery:
"Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness." - M
I agree with what someone else said: the show is a hit in the US because of its campy Japanese nature, the bad dialogue, and the unusual ingredients.
A US version of the show will succeed only if it is purposely campy. ...Tonight's challenger is the night manager of the Burger King on 58th street. His interest in French cuisine led him to experiment with the salt to oil ratio of the french fries. Three grease fires in as many weeks have not dampened his spirits for this battle against Iron Chef Irish, Ronald McDonald. Now, Chairman Kirk unveils the secret ingredient: COCA-COLA!
Fukai: The theme ingredient tonight is American Cheese, and with 20 minutes remaining, our challenger does not appear to be doing well with this ingredient. Wait, he's pulled out his cell phone. What is he doing?
Ota: Fukui-san?
Fukai: Yes, Ota!
Ota: The challenger informs me he has called Dominos and ordered an extra large 3-Cheese deluxe pizza with a side of fried cheese sticks. While waiting for it to arrive, he's making a dipping sauce from ketchup, ranch dressing, and salt.
Fukai: But with only 20 minutes remaining, isn't he cutting it a little close?
Ota: Fukui-san, the challenger informs me that Dominos always delivers in 20 minutes or less. If not, he gets the order for free.
Fukai: What a shrewd move on the part of the challenger!
maybe he got tired of writing novels about his *DEAD* character on Star Trek...
God I hope so... he just kept writing books explaining how Kirk wasn't dead, how he couldn't die, and everything else...
don't get me wrong.. I loved the books. But far too much Kirk!
samrolken
Except Bones is dead, Jim.
Information is the catalyst for revolution
the terrible dubbing, the faces and mannerisms of the japanese chefs all give it that special character that make it so funny to watch. I never laughed so hard after seeing a chef hang his head in terrible shame after a judge said "its just a bit too sweet"
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Romulan Bloodworms!
Which actually sounds a little more palatable than some of the things I've seen 'em whip up, e.g., squid gut ice cream.
Hell, as long as I get to see somebody bludgeon large sea creatures to death with the blunt end of a butcher's knife, I'll continue watching.
Captain Kirk:
What do think of this turkey à l'orange Bones?
The Doctor:
He's dead Jim.
"Damn it Bones! I'm a captain, not a chef!"
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Oh Shatner did get paid in Priceline stock. But he sold his shares before they dropped. He made a few million. At that time, his actions made it clear to a lot of business analysts and lay people like me that he had little faith in the business.
Aw heck, I heard he got paid for those commercials with Priceline (PCLN) stock ... which today, is trading at a whopping $4.94/share ... up from $1.06 in late December (whoo hoo!!)
In short, the guy's gotta earn a living, and with any luck, he'll get bunch of free food, too. :-)
What news?
Sigh.
CmdrTaco has eaten too many tacos
I think he actually is trying to say "haute cuisine!!," but it doesn't come out right :-)
I dunno... What do you wanna do?
well he seems to be everywhere nowadays..
bobby flay is gonna get his ass kicked again
MORIMOTO ROCKS
maybe they can do a hybrid series that has Klingon Iron Chefs
...now with toupees and corsets!!
Get 'em while they're hot!!
Aaah, please bring back TJ Hooker...
ok he may just be cheesy enough to pull off the 'bite-the-pepper-and-smile-over-your-shoulder-tric k" but other than that i am not sure he would be the best choice.
morimoto is going to make flay cry like a wee babe!
And exactly how many dishes can you make out of Tribbles?
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Stay in school, kids! Peace out, Dubya
Is he gonna finally cook up the squirl he's been sporting on his head for 20 years?
Romulan Ale!
"Iron Chef" Morimoto Masaharu (head chef of Nobu) - has been expecially successful in the U.S. It's good to know that you don't need to have a solid grasp on our language to be a journalist...
Looks like a bizarre reality instead of a weird joke. I can't really see William Shatner hosting Iron Chef--I mean, even Patrick Stewart would be a better choice. But hey, it's all opinion I guess.
Even more interesting--and better--is that on the same program I just heard that Jeri Ryan, everyone's favorite borgalicious piece of intergalactic patch, is going to be on the show Boston Public. Now, that I look forward to. I don't know how many people here watch it, but it's one of the few shows that actually looks at both sides of an issue. They portrayed a very sympathetic geek character getting transferred to another school for making questionable comments, and the teachers simultaneously thinking it's unfair and fighting to keep him, but also saying that we live in a society afraid of school violence and kids can't go around making threatening remarks. I think it covered both sides fairly, and ultimately the geek was a very sympathetic guy. Likewise, they've dealt with teen suicide and student/teacher affairs and sexual harassment in very even-hended ways, instead of moralizing.
But anyway, I look forward to Jeri Ryan's firm--uh, discipline--in the classroom. But I can't say I'm thrilled about Shatner on Iron Chef. We'll have to see about that one...
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
Chasing Amy
(We all chase Amy...)
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
T.J. Cooker!!! um... yeah.