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Kitchen Confidential - The Complete Series | 
 enlarge | Directors: Victoria Hochberg, Matt Shakman
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $9.99 (50%)
New (44) Used (12) Collectible (1) from $9.98
Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 4497
Format: Color, Dolby, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 325 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: FOXD2242762D
UPC: 024543427629
EAN: 0024543427629
ASIN: B000OCXLA0
Theatrical Release Date: September 19, 2005
Release Date: May 22, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/30/2008 Run time: 325 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
Having been described as "wicked" and "debauched," Anthony Bourdain's culinary memoir was bound to be a tough sell for network TV. In Kitchen Confidential's sitcom incarnation, dark-haired Anthony becomes blond, blue-eyed Jack (Bradley Cooper). In the pilot, the recovering alcoholic moves from a pizzeria to a brasserie. The catch is that he has to hire a staff in 48 hours, so he turns to pastry expert Seth (Nicholas Brendon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), seafood genius Teddy (John Cho, Smiley Face), and sous-chef Steven (Owain Yeoman). He also inherits kitchen worker Jim (John Francis Daley, Freaks and Geeks). In reality, Bourdain ran the shop at New York's celebrated Les Halles. In the show, Jack oversees the kitchen at the fictional Nolita. Pino (Frank Langella, terrific as usual) manages the joint, while the wait staff includes his tightly-wound daughter, Mimi (Bonnie Somerville, NYPD Blue) and the bubble-headed Tanya (Jaime King, Pearl Harbor). As in producer Darren Star's Sex and the City, the central character narrates, there's no laugh track, and more of the comedy revolves around sex than work. While Cooper (The Wedding Crashers) isn't the most obvious choice to play Bourdain--and although Kitchen Confidential would've made more sense on cable--he does a surprisingly credible job, even if the writing lets him down on occasion. Realistic or not, severed fingers and singed eyebrows tend to play better in print than on the screen. Of the 13 episodes produced, FOX only aired four (back-to-back with Arrested Development), which is a shame as it was just starting to hit its stride. Guest stars include Bitty Schram ("Exile on Main Street"), John Larroquette ("Dinner Date with Death"), and Cooper's Alias co-star Michael Vartan ("French Fight"). --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Slick but no bite... September 21, 2008
Ms. O. Ionova (London)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Presumably only four episodes of this series were actually aired on US Television, and watching these it very quickly becomes apparent why: it has the chique of 'Sex & the City' but none of the bite and hard-hitting wisecracking of Anthony Bourdain's original book, a major let-down for a comedy drama about a gang of professional, thuggish chefs. The dialogue is slightly skewed to please the family viewer, the kitchen and restaurant are lush, while the storylines not always fit this squeaky clean atmosphere. Nonetheless, the acting is great, some of the jokes actually work and for an evening in watching non-demanding, softcore comedy this set is not your worst choice.
 Kitchen Confidential September 3, 2008
Ian V. Millington (Richmond, VA)
The TV show was great, in fact I'm a bit angry that it didn't get off the ground. Seller was phenomenal, shipped out a few days earlier than anticipated. Cant go wrong with this one!
 Cooks Tour September 2, 2008
Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States)
KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL is as funny and as bracing as it needs to be, and everything people say about it is right as rain. I watched all 13 episodes back to back and was crushed when it sank in, there's not going to be any more.
That said, I can see why people didn't pick up on it at first. Yes, we're dumb animals who don't know what to make of satire, but the KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL satire was pretty lame. The real trouble was the writers relying on the same basic plot in every episode, which gets tiresome--the plot in question, a challenge to Jack Bourdain's kitchen superiority and consequently his manhood. This pattern lasted well behind the first four episodes, and who knows, would probably still be the master narrative of the show had it not been taken off the air.
While many of the men were perfectly cast--and we loved seeing Nicholas Brendon from Buffy and little John Francis Daley now all grown up, though he'll always be Sam Weir to me, the little boy on FREAKS AND GEEKS--Bradley Cooper is maybe a little too lightweight to play the macho, womanizing, hard-living Bourdain character.
The women's roles were more problematic. They never did figure out what to do with Bonnie Somerville, what a waste, and while Jaime King was cute and appealing throughout, she never got to play anything but the dumb dingbat--really the Gracie Allen role, but tricked and manipulated into objectification by all the guys on the show. Only Erinn Hayes, as a rival chef, got to play a more three dimensional character, but even she was sometimes hard to take with her constant, abrasive, ambition and her crass sense of humor.
But in general, the show was brilliant on many levels and it will be sorely missed. Maybe it's good it went out when it did, for how many shows suffered from sophomore slump and never cough LOST ever cough HEROES got back on track again?
Great show July 31, 2008
Snicker55 (Missouri USA)
What a great sitcom and how sad it was cancelled. I bought this show just so I could see the unaired episodes. How I wish they would have kept this on the air.
A series as delectable as its' food July 9, 2008
The Review Penguin (New Jersey)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Kitchen Confidential is light, breezy, and funny. You will adore it, because it comes in just the right amount and each of the characters is perfect in their own quirky way.
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