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Iron Chef USA debuts Friday
devinoni writes "Yes, the long awaited American version of Iron Chef is coming. As reported on Slashdot, William Shatner will be hosting it on UPN 9pm (8 central) on Friday. The 4 Iron Chefs are: Todd English, Iron Chef American; Jean Francois Meteigner, Iron Chef French; Alessandro Stratta, Iron Chef Italian; and Roy Yamaguchi is Iron Chef Asian. Check out UPN's site (flash required) for more info." CD: The SF Chronicle review wasn't all that enthusiastic about this, so heads up, foodies.
...tribbles!
Liberal (adj.): Free from bigotry; open to progress; tolerant of others.
I can just see William Shatner biting into a big yellow pepper already..
Yeah, I can NEVER wait until great foreign TV shows get moved over to the US, where they are immediatly ruined (eg. Whose line is it anyway, Junkyard Wars, Robot Wars, etc.) The originals are much better.
What is Iron chef American? Hamburgers and hot dogs? Why not iron chef Cajun instead? All "American" food is really mostly Italian and French anyways. I certainly don't think the Iron chef is going to be slow roasting a turkey on a spit.
If you're like me, you assumed that this was the Japanese show "ported" over to the USA, with no modifications. Don't be silly.
What made Iron Chef so entertaining? The hosts. The voice-overs. The theatrical music. Kitchen Stadium.
Guess what! They're all gone. They've been replaced by Shattner, English-speaking announcers, no sound effects, and a mock-up of Kitchen Stadium, but including screaming fans. That is NOT what Iron Chef was about.
It's lame, through and through.
They shouldn't be busting on the new show so much. Sure, it's Americanized, removing every hint of high cuisine and majesty that made the show what it was.
But Shatner will clasp his hands together and deliver crushing two handed blows to the losing chef. So it can't be all bad.
Right?
If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
Oh god. What a waste of TV space. I'm a hug fan of the original series and sure, the dubbed version on the Food Network is a little odd but that's what makes Iron Chef. The quirky commentary from the floor reporter, the goofy dubbing (and apparently brainless actions) of the food testers (1 of which is some pop star nobody ever knew, 1 is a ditzy actress, 1 is a distinguished person and 1 is a food critic). Master Takeshi unveiling the main ingrediant (which usually amounts to some endangered species where the beef of the creature is $3000/lb.) is the highlight of the program and from there on in, it's a wild ride.
UPN and Shatner? Yeah, right. Since when did putting a cooking show on UPN be something that would be a success. Then there's Shatner, who needs some serious help in the geriatric department not to mention the acting arena (T.J. Hooker, nuff said).
This is going to leave a base taste in any Iron Chef fans mouth no matter what they try to do with it. I've already seen some clips and Shatner and the floor reporter look awkward at best. Don't expect anything like the original and as someone else said, the U.S. seems to almost always ruin a good foreign show without even trying.
liB
I'm kind of surprised they didn't get Bobby Flay to be one of the Iron Chefs. He had 2 appearances on the original Japanese show against Iron Chef Japanese Masaharu Morimoto (one)(two), one of which was a bit controversial as Bobby was almost electrocuted during the battle and then at the end Masaharu claimed that Flay was not a true chef since a true chef wouldn't stand on his cutting board.
I wonder if Shatner will dress like Liberace to keep with the spirit of Chairman Kaga?
it's not going to stop until you wise up, no it's not going to stop. so just give up.
"Data-san?"
"Yes, Wesley?"
"It appears that Quark is having second thoughts about challenging Iron Chef Klingon. He's headed over to talk to him, and..."
[Half a minute later]
"Well, *that* was unexpected. Worf's display has convinced Picard to change the theme ingredient to Ferengi, which of course disqualifies all of Quark's dishes so far. Quark will have a hard time preparing more while being the theme ingredient."
"If my memory serves me correctly, this happened the last time someone challenged Iron Chef Klingon."
--- or ---
Q: "The theme ingredient..." [removes drape with a dramatic flourish] "...PARADOXES!"
I agree.
99% of the fun of watching Iron Chef is the intensity the Japanese cast gives the show. Even if it's faked, they display such an incredible depth of passion for what they're doing that it verges on being ridiculous.
And can we get Shatner into a Rhinestone-studded, sequined suit like Kaga? Well, maybe.
Americans just don't get that passionate about simple things like that, whereas I can (almost) really believe all the old grudges and tests of honor that happen on Iron Chef Japan.
Well, unlike most Japanese shows that come to the U.S. (America's Funniest Videos, ?!?!) we USians have fairly broad access to Iron Chef, both through Food Network and through the episodes that float around on FT and Gnutella. I wouldn't be suprised to see the Iron Chef Japan get quite a bit more recognition by the major players in the U.S.
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What is it about these replies complaining that the show won't be the same? Of course it won't be the same -- if it was the same show, what would be the point?
Then there's the people who say that the show won't be as good because it's the inherent Japanese-ness that makes it good. Could be true, could be true...but I kind of doubt it. The show won't be the same as the original -- it's obviously going to be far less somber and and dignified -- but that doesn't immediately translate into "bad". It's different. Give it a chance.
Is this really news for nerd? I'd rather read about working at WorldCom ;-)
Iron Chef White Trash presents four dishes showcasing the theme ingredient of squid.
First, a deep fried squid, served with ketchup and a side of fires.
Second, a squid and peanut butter sandwich, served on Wonder Bread (tm) with the crusts carefully trimmed.
Third, a delicious squid Jello salad. The squid is chopped and suspended in lime Jello with carrots. The Jello mold is topped with Miracle Whip.
Fourth, squid nachos. Hunks of squid are spread over Doritos, covered with Velveeta and Pace Picante sauce and nuked.
Okay, American, French, Italian, and... Asian. Three countries and an entire freakin' continent.
"Iron Chef Asian." How... American. Makes me proud to be a citizen. Gods bless the empire.
Karma: T-rexcellent.
"He's reaching for the ramen! It looks like it's going to be Mountain Dew and ramen!"
Mmmmm... 'soft roe' ice cream.... :-)
Actually a lot of the stuff sounded really good to me, but it definitely was always punctuated with the occasional "They're making that out of WHAT?!?!?!"...
Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
I bet by the 3rd show the producers will make Shatner say "Where no chef has gone before"
William Shatner's little speech at the end reminded me of Jerry Springer's Final Thoughts at the end of each episode.
Reality has a liberal bias
9. Show is more concerned with obnoxious video effects than with food.
8. William Fatner is a pompous ass, not a dignified chairman.
7. Can't hear the commentary through the crowd noise. (What you say again?)
6. Commentary sucks anyway -- not enough substance about the food, but plenty of information about who cuts the chef's hair. Anthony Dias Blue should be ashamed of himself.
5. Judges are obviously two-bit no-name losers from failing UPN shows (no wait a minute -- all UPN shows are failing...) that are about to be canceled.
4. No drama. No logic behind why the theme ingredient was chosen. Doesn't matter, nobody seems to notice anyway. (Since when is Dungeness crab "unusual"?
3. Chefs are more concerned with playing to the camera than with cooking -- talking on the cell phone in an obviously set up call (you could hear both halves of the conversation!) and throwing caviar to the commentators? Puh-leeze! Escoffier would roll over in his grave....
2. The three "Iron Chefs" watching the competition look like the Three (fat) Stooges.
1. Commentator's yellow blazers look like they were fished from a dumpster behind the local Century 21 office.
0. Sissy Biggers.
Maybe this was all just a bad Priceline ad. We can only hope. The show was so bad that it made Shatner's toupee look good.
On a clear disk you can seek forever
They obviously went for camp. I mean, the the Idea of "American cuisine" has only begun to be specable in recent years.
There is, for example. this guy, who claims to be Iron Chef Kentucky:
http://jeffholland.tripod.com/food.html
Worth checking out on his own. - - Some of the recipes are truly scary.
Kentucky Bourbon Deviled Crab
Bacon-Burger-Fried Okra
Chocolate Steak
Survival Biscuit Casserole
Bubblegum Sauce
and there's more!
And I wonder if the chairman in the original Iron Chef was the Japanes equivalent of William Shantner from an earlier Japanese TV show
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
The good points:
The two chefs really kind of got into it.
Shatner's natural cheeziness is perfect for this sort of production.
I thought the audience screaming, cheering, and holding up signs like it was a SmackDown! taping was hysterical.
The motorcycle entrance.
The suckitude:
Lame secret ingredient.
The announcers absolutely blew goats. Big-time.
Way too much computer graphics to distract from the action.
And not enough attention was paid to the food itself - the sheer exoticness and detail is one of the key things that makes the original Iron Chef so cool.
There's a fine line between the kind of cheeziness that comes from good intent and earnestness, and the kind that comes from a calculated effort to be cheese. Iron Chef (classic) is the former kind - the US version, while watchable, is more like the latter. I'll watch the second one, but I'm not sure I'd watch it regularly if it became an ongoing series.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
For those that did not see it: dungeness crab. Iron Chef American won (unsurprisingly, for the pilot).
Not too bad an adaptation, IMO, though there was showboating by both sides - more from the Iron Chef than his opponent. A little excessive explanation of the rules, though that can perhaps be forgiven for the pilot. Even the commentators got involved at one point (Chairman Shatner was tasting some caviar, the commentators made a quip about getting some themselves, and the Iron Chef obliged, tossing it up to them).
Overall: it could have been a little more faithful to the original - but at the risk of being nothing more than a clone/ripoff. They had fun with it, and it showed. If they can keep that up, they may well have enough audience for at least a few seasons' run.