So last night was the season finale of “Hell’s Kitchen” and with the finale of “Next Food Network Star” set for Sunday night, I’ll only have “Top Chef” to blog….what am I going to do with myself for the next month? But hey, that’s my problem, not yours!
“Hell’s Kitchen” has progressed a lot in the last few years. It used to be that the season finale was stretched out over two episodes that were usually two hours long each. Now, they have mercifully condensed that to one hour, and in the process there is far less fluff and much more meat.
Day 7 of the TCA Press Tour technically began on Day 6: just as the ABC all-star party wrapped up, Fox hosted a cocktail party which doubled as an early check-in for their day of the tour…and, better yet, it was hosted by Will Arnett and Keri Russell, the stars of one of Fox’s upcoming new sitcoms, “Running Wilde.”
You’ll get more details about the show in due time, since there was a “Running Wilde” panel as well, but for now, I’ll just mention that two other individuals affiliated with the show made unexpected appearances at the early check-in: executive producer / co-creator Jim Vallely and co-star Peter Serafinowicz.
I didn’t really get a chance to chat with Russell (she was pretty well surrounded from the moment she arrived), but I did talk to Arnett for a few minutes. Thanks to my wife, though, I ended up having a relatively lengthy conversation with Serafinowicz and Vallely. I knew I’d recognized Serafinowicz, and he quickly reminded me why: he had his own series in the UK, one which many YouTube clips reveal to be extremely hilarious. Indeed, he’s the one who told me I should check them out, particularly his Beatles-related parodies, of which he’s quite proud. No wonder he was cast to play Paul in Robert Zemeckis’s “Yellow Submarine” remake.
In a strange “small world” moment, I also learned that Jim Vallely is the father of Tannis Vallely, the actress who played Janice, the glasses-wearing, cello-playing prodigy on “Head of the Class.” She’s now on the casting side of the business, having worked on such films as “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” “Oceans’ Thirteen,” and “It’s Complicated.” Eventually, my wife and I grew tired and retreated for the evening, but it would only be a few hours until we were back in the thick of it again, this time for the real beginning of Day 7.
Breakfast was brought to us by the casts of “Human Target” and “The Good Guys,” shows which, back in the days when the networks weren’t too cheap to spread their series across a two-day period, would’ve earned their own panels. Instead, we had to settle for chatting with them over bacon and eggs, bagels or donuts, and that sort of thing. In truth, the only person I really had the chance to speak with was Jackie Earle Haley on “Human Target,” and that was mostly because I feel like I kinda sorta know him (he’s friends with Bullz-Eye’s own Ross Ruediger and, as a result, has come to recognize me on sight as “Ross’s friend”), but as you can see, everyone was in the house from both series.
Soon enough, the actors headed out to start their own days, and having finished our breakfast, we took our seats and prepared for the first panel of the morning to begin.
I say “rush rush rush” because we are already at the season finale of “Hell’s Kitchen” on Fox. All those two-hour episodes caught up to them, probably on purpose. But seriously, this season began in early June with like 17 contestants! Anyway, here we are, as last night Gordon Ramsay cut his candidates for the London Savoy gig down from four to two.
The episode began with Ramsay having one of his sous chefs call up to the dorms to have the contestants come down first thing in the morning, but asked them to dress nicely. They all did except for Jay, who wore jeans and a black shirt. Ramsay said he looked like a sack of potatoes, especially next to Ben, who wore a jacket and tie. Anyway, Ramsay brought the Savoy to Hell’s Kitchen, serving them a dish that is served in London–but of course, there was a challenge attached. They had to re-create the dish in 45 minutes. Holli, Ben and Autumn made venison but Jay used flank steak. Holli, Ben and Autumn made it on apple puree but Jay made his on pear puree. Jay was correct on that but wrong on the protein, which was venison. So Ramsay ruled him out and declared that Holli and Ben had the two best dishes…and that Holli had the better dish. Ben of course thought his dish was better and wouldn’t shut up about it.
If you’ve watched “Hell’s Kitchen” for any length of time, you know that Gordon Ramsay really is a nice guy and someone with a kind heart–not necessarily the yelling and screaming crazy man he plays on TV. I mean, he probably does have that side to him in the kitchen, but for the most part that tends to be an act. That was proven again last night.
The episode began with Ben and Jay talking about how they wanted to beat out Autumn and Holli and face off against one another in the finale. I am sure Jay wants this to be true so he doesn’t have to compete for the grand prize of a gig running Ramsay’s new London restaurant with Holli, who he is clearly falling for.
Season 7 of “Hell’s Kitchen” is a bit different. Because as we plow on through it, and I do mean plow, there are some things that have made this season unique. Mainly, it’s been unpredictable. Those who we thought were contenders (Ed) and those we thought were non-factors (Autumn) have proved us wrong. Even Ben showed last night his days are likely numbered and he can’t possibly win. And oh yeah, there is a blatant romance budding here between Holli and Jay. Big time. The clips for next week show Ramsay putting his foot down about said romance, so that should be interesting.
Anyway, we’re almost at the finale, and this show kicked off June 1…so Fox is trying to get it over with before Season 8 begins in September. Yes, that’s right. Season 8 is already in the can, too. I wonder how many more are in production, because the show is, despite the twists this season, getting really stale really fast.
