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The original British Hell's Kitchen was awesome. It had a hilarious host (Angus Deaton) and there was no prize for the B-list celebs, so it was much more amusing.

i miss the japanese "iron chef" intensely. it was so awesomely silly and weird. the american version just isn't nearly as fun.

Food Networks' show has become Top Chef. It couldn't have been more TC if it was TC. Having them do a wedding; that is right out of a TC script. I liked the old format much more. I watched both TC and NFNS because they were different formats; but not anymore. And is it just me, or all of these pretty people posers or what? It's like the 1st and 2nd seasons of "Real World" were real, and edgy. After that, it became a formum for wanna-be performers because they WERE on camera and had to perform. I have a bad feeling for this season for both TC and NFNS.

I actually liked NFNS better than previous years. However, TC tanked for me this past season--unless they redeem themselves in season 3 by choosing grown-up, competent competitors.

I liked this first episode of NFNS better too, A N M. Seemed to me like there was more cooking, less celebrity chefs inserted as blatant ads for their shows.

The first episode of the new Hell's Kitchen wasn't so hot last night. A crying cook from a retirement home, a scared short order cook . . . the contestants seemed placed out of Reality Show Central Casting so far, but I felt like I couldn't stop watching the show. It is edited like a roller coaster ride to keep our attention.

My peeve with Hell's Kitchen is how they repeat the last 30 seconds of the previous second each time they come back from a commercial break.

Being a food professional, to me, Hell's Kitchen is difficult to watch.

If the contestants were all experienced food professionals and were getting verbally abused I'd still think Gordon Ramsey is an asshole but at least a professional would know why they were being yelled at.

From what I remember some of the cooks on this show had little to no experience. I'd guess after being treated like crap they'll probably never want to be a chef.

Did anyone watch the PBS cooking contestant show "Cooking Under Fire"?

I saw cooking under fire and thought it was fun to watch. I definitely wanted to follow and see who won. It was a straightforward cooking competition which appealed to me. It was short on Hollywood drama (except for Todd English) and very nuts and bolts cooking.

I don't really seem to care who wins in these other shows. Although I'm going to have to watch Top Chef because I think Dale from Chicago certainly has the skills to win a competition like this. But who knows where the cameras will take this one, this time. It's also a little tough to sit through a whole episode having to listen to Mrs. Rushdie's enlightening comments.

I have a hard time because I love Gordon Ramsay, .... probably more than a married woman should, although I feel secure in saying that because my husband has a man crush on him as well.
However, I will gladly watch "The F Word" on BBC anyday before I watch the US Hell's Kitchen, it seems beneath him, like we have to have the lame version because all Americans are campy and not worth a damn.

As far as Gordon Ramsay goes, I much prefer Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares to Hell's Kitchen. Iron Chef America gets a lot of viewing in my house.

I agree with sprinkledpink. I really enjoy watching Kitchen Nightmares because Chef Ramsay doesn't yell as much. We have a show like that in Toronto called Restaurant Make-up. They have a chef to redefine the menu and a designer to improve the look of the restaurant. It's a pretty good show, plus I can actually go to these places and eat there:)