New on Fox This Fall - Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares"

Who would have thought that a lewd, crude, foul-mouthed British chef would become a runaway success on American TV? Fox did, and their gamble paid huge dividends with the roaring success of "Hell's Kitchen" led by top chef Gordon Ramsay. The success of HK prompted Fox to give Ramsay another show this fall albeit one that he has already done on the other side of the Atlantic.

Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" has ran for three seasons in the UK (you can catch old episodes on BBC America) and featured the chef visiting failing restaurants for a two week period in an effort to turn around their fortunes. He changes everything from the menu, to staff, to the interior of the restaurant and offers great advice to the owners, many of whom know nothing about the restaurant industry. He returns to the restaurant 6 months later to see if they are still following his suggestions and to find out if their fortunes have turned around, which most of them have. What made the UK version of this show a success for me was that Ramsay was very different from the personality we've come to know on "Hell's Kitchen", and for the most part he was kind, caring and helpful with only small glimpses of his trademark sarcasm and temper.

From the snippets of the US version of the show that I've seen, they seem to be really focusing on arguments, yelling and blowouts between Ramsay and the restaurateurs and it's hard to tell if they are just showing that because that is what the audience is expecting or if they have asked Gordon to be more like his HK persona than showing his good side. It will be a shame if they have decided to go that route as it was nice to see him in a different light and you really felt that he wanted to help these people and had their interests at heart. Only time will tell.

For those of you who have never seen an episode of "Hell's Kitchen", or who have no idea who Gordon Ramsay is, let me give you a little background on him. He was born in Scotland 40 years ago and dropped out of school to pursue a professional soccer career which failed due to knee injuries when he was 19. He returned to school to take a hotel management course and is the first to admit that he fell into cooking by accident. Once there though, he very quickly rose through the ranks and is now considered to be Britain's best chef and one of the best in the world. He owns a chain of successful restaurants and has had TV success with shows in both the UK and the US. Famous for his temper and his scathing remarks, it may be surprising to learn that he has a very loyal staff and a miniscule turnover, something that is unheard of in the restaurant industry.

If you get the chance, you should really try and catch the re-runs of "Nightmares" on BBC America and it will give you a good idea of what to expect and I can only hope that Fox stick to the tried and true version of what made this show such a huge success in Britain. If they do that, they are sure to have another hit on their hands.