Just Eat the Damn Peach

Tea for the Millman: Love for Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant's "Extras."

<BACK TO INTRODUCTION TO "EXTRAS."

Years ago, while I was visiting family in Britain, I made a side trip to Southend-on-Sea, the then residence of the elegant and sophisticated Mr. Rumcove. 

It was Rumcove who introduced me to "The Office."  This was shortly after its first UK season.  Like other British comedy freaks, I shortly became obsessed with it, so much so that it took me two seasons to become fully reconciled to the American version I am now recapping.

The American show is, in the immortal words of the Pythons, "something completely different."  Because it's American, its emphasis is on the sort of redemption that the British show never really believed in, and therefore deferred until the final minutes of the last show.   I've learned to love it, but not without feeling (particularly when I watch reruns of the British version, as I frequently do) a certain sense of my own American soppiness.

Three Emmy Winners: Vincent.

Next on the list of British Emmy successes, Ray Winstone, one of our favorite all-time actors, in Vincent.

Vincent is a show about a private detective and to that extent, has a lot in common with almost every other show you've ever seen concerning a private detective.  In each episode, a case is referred to Vincent and he cracks it. 

Vincent is the traditional television (private) detective whose life is falling apart because his wife or girlfriend isn't willing to put up with the vicissitudes of a (private) detective's life.  He didn't give her enough attention.  He didn't show up when he promised.  Accordingly, his attractive girlfriend has left him for his friend, an allegedly sensitive policeman (though we certainly never see any evidence of this) called Driscoll who talks to her and listens when she talks to him.

In other words, it's the same show you've seen over and over, only none of those other shows had Ray Winstone or this attractive cast.

Three Emmy Winners: Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES.  The Brits carried off a number of the Emmys for foreign shows, and of course we are so glad that Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares took the award for best non-scripted show.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again:  I think everyone in America should watch Ramsay deal with these ailing restaurants.  In so many instances the solutions turn out to be going in the direction most business owners don't ever seem to contemplate:  from practices that are expensive and complicated to simpler, less expensive solutions. 

Perhaps I'm drawn to this sort of situation because my late husband Don was in the business.  So many people who open restaurants are blinded by their own visions, without regard to the demographics, local preferences, and local spending habits.

More Love for Gordon Ramsay (but don't try this at home, kids).

FOR DISCUSSION OF RAMSAY, JUMP TO "THE MASTER CHEF".

 

FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION OF "THE F WORD,"  JUMP TO "THE FLATLAND CHRONICLES."

People, I do not want to love Gordon Ramsay the way I do.  I hate cooking, I am uninterested in food, and I am one woman who does not want to be back in the kitchen (I am waiting for him to start a movement to teach men to cook for their working wives).   Also the notion of a "celebrity chef" (or a celebrity anything) sets my teeth right on edge.

But Nick and I can't stop ourselves from watching any show he's in.  And I might even buy his books (links on the left!)---as gifts, of course.  I might read the parts, if there are any, that don't have to do with cooking first, though.  If his shows come out on DVD, I will buy them.

And we're so very, very glad that Ramsay won a well-deserved Emmy (along with two of our other favorites, Ray Winstone and the drama series, Life on Mars!).  Well done, Ramsay!