Kitchen Nightmares

For the original UK version of this show, see Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

Kitchen Nightmares
Genre	Reality television
Developed by	Daniel Kay
Directed by	Brad Kreisberg
Starring	Gordon Ramsay
Narrated by	J.V. Martin (season 1–2) Arthur Smith (season 3–present) Gordon Kennedy (UK)
Composer(s)	David Vanacore
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	66 (59 original and 7 revisits)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Arthur Smith Patricia Llewellyn Kent Weed Gerry McKean Curt Northrup
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original run	September 19, 2007 – present
Chronology
Related shows	Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
External links
Website

Kitchen Nightmares is an American reality television series broadcast on the Fox network, in which Chef Gordon Ramsay is invited by the owners to spend a week with a failing restaurant in an attempt to revive the business. It is based on the British show Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. The show is produced by ITV Studios America and Optomen, in association with A. Smith & Co. Productions, with Arthur Smith, Kent Weed and Patricia Llewellyn serving as executive producers.

The show premiered Wednesday September 19, 2007. The first season focused on restaurants in the southern California and New York City areas and ended in December 2007. The second season premiered on September 4, 2008. Season two included episodes in the upper-midwestern United States as well as New York and California.

The third season was originally scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, but it was postponed to Friday, January 29, 2010, due to the State of the Union address.

In May 2010 the Fox network announced the return of Kitchen Nightmares for a fourth season. The fourth season aired from January 21, 2011 to May 20, 2011 on Fox. In March 2011 the producers of the show announced a casting call for a fifth season. The fifth season premiered on Friday, September 23, 2011 and ended on March 30, 2012.

In the UK it is broadcast under the name Kitchen Nightmares USA on Channel 4, which also produces the original UK version. Reruns of Season 1 and 2, along with the British series, are frequently shown on BBC America.

In February 2012 the Fox network announced it renewed Kitchen Nightmares for a sixth season.

Episodes

Season 1: 2007

#	#	Restaurant	Location	Original US airdate
1	1	Peter's	Babylon, New York	September 19, 2007
2	2	Dillon's	New York, New York	September 26, 2007
3	3	The Mixing Bowl	Bellmore, New York	October 3, 2007
4	4	Seascape	Islip, New York	October 10, 2007
5	5	The Olde Stone Mill	Tuckahoe, New York	October 17, 2007
6	6	Sebastian's	Toluca Lake, California	November 7, 2007
7	7	Finn McCool's	Westhampton, New York	November 14, 2007
8	8	Lela's	Pomona, California	November 21, 2007
9	9	Campania	Fair Lawn, New Jersey	November 28, 2007
10	10	The Secret Garden	Moorpark, California	December 12, 2007

^1 Renamed Purnima during production

Season 2: 2008–2009

#	#	Restaurant	Location	Original US airdate
*	*	Revisited: Gordon Returns		September 4, 2008
11	1	Handlebar	Mount Sinai, New York	September 11, 2008
12	2	Giuseppi's	Macomb Township, Michigan	September 18, 2008
13	3	Trobiano's	Great Neck, New York	September 25, 2008
14	4	Black Pearl	New York, New York	September 25, 2008
15	5	J Willy's	South Bend, Indiana	October 30, 2008
16	6	Hannah & Mason's	Cranbury, New Jersey	November 6, 2008
17	7	Jack's Waterfront	St. Clair Shores, Michigan	November 6, 2008
18	8	Sabatiello's	Stamford, Connecticut	November 13, 2008
19	9	Fiesta Sunrise	West Nyack, New York	November 13, 2008
20	10	Santé La Brea	Los Angeles, California	November 20, 2008
21	11	Cafe 36	La Grange, Illinois	January 15, 2009

Season 3: 2010

#	#	Restaurant	Location	Original US airdate
22	1	Hot Potato Cafe	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	January 29, 2010
23	2	Flamangos	Whitehouse Station, New Jersey	February 2, 2010
24	3	Bazzini	Ridgewood, New Jersey	February 5, 2010
25	4	Mojito	Brooklyn, New York	February 25, 2010
26	5	Lido di Manhattan	Manhattan Beach, California	March 4, 2010
27	6	Le Bistro	Lighthouse Point, Florida	March 11, 2010
28	7	Casa Roma	Lancaster, California	March 12, 2010
29	8	Mama Rita's	Newbury Park, California	March 19, 2010
30	9	Anna Vincenzo's	Boca Raton, Florida	March 26, 2010
*	*	Revisited #2		April 9, 2010
31	10	Fleming	Miami, Florida	May 7, 2010
32	11	Sushi-Ko	Thousand Oaks, California	May 14, 2010
*	*	Revisited #3		May 21, 2010

^2 Renamed The Junction during production
^3 Produced as part of season 2, but held until season 3
^4 Revisit at Sante La Brea and Giuseppi's
^5 Revisit at The Handlebar, Casa Roma and The Black Pearl

Season 4: 2011

#	#	Restaurant	Location	Original US airdate
33	1	Spanish Pavilion	Harrison, New Jersey	January 21, 2011
34	2	Classic American	West Babylon, New York	January 28, 2011
35	3	PJ's Steakhouse	Queens, New York	February 4, 2011
*	*	Revisited #4		February 11, 2011
36	4	Grasshopper Also	Carlstadt, New Jersey	February 18, 2011
37	5	Davide	Boston, Massachusetts	February 25, 2011
38	6	Down City	Providence, Rhode Island	March 11, 2011
*	*	Revisited #5		March 18, 2011
39	7	Tavolini	Bridgeport, Connecticut	March 25, 2011
40	8	Kingston Cafe	Pasadena, California	April 15, 2011
41	9	La Frite	Sherman Oaks, California	April 29, 2011
42	10	Capri	Eagle Rock, California	May 6, 2011
43	11	Zeke's	Metairie, Louisiana	May 13, 2011
44	12	Oceana	New Orleans, Louisiana	May 20, 2011

^6 Renamed PJ's Grill during production
^7 Revisit at Mojito, The Junction (fka Flamangos) and Bazzini
^8 Revisit at Le Bistro, Anna Vincenzo and Lido di Manhattan

Season 5: 2011–2012

#	#	Restaurant	Location	Original US airdate
45	1	Blackberry's	Plainfield, New Jersey	September 23, 2011
46	2	Leone's	Montclair, New Jersey	September 30, 2011
47	3	Mike & Nellie's	Oakhurst, New Jersey	October 7, 2011
48	4	Luigi’s D’Italia	Anaheim, California	October 14, 2011
*	*	Revisited #6		October 21, 2011
49	5	Burger Kitchen, Part 1	Los Angeles, California	November 4, 2011
50	6	Burger Kitchen, Part 2	Los Angeles, California	November 11, 2011
51	7	The Greek at the Harbor	Ventura, California	November 18, 2011
52	8	Michon's	College Park, Georgia	January 13, 2012
53	9	El Greco	Austin, Texas	January 20, 2012
*	*	Revisited #7		January 27, 2012
54	10	Park's Edge	Atlanta, Georgia	February 3, 2012
55	11	Spin-A-Yarn Steakhouse	Fremont, California	February 10, 2012
56	12	Charlie's	La Verne, California	February 17, 2012
57	13	Cafe Hon	Baltimore, Maryland	February 24, 2012
58	14	Chiarella's	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	March 23, 2012
59	15	Zocalo	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	March 30, 2012

^9 Revisit at Down City, Classic American and Davide
^10 Revisit at Spanish Pavilion, Kingston Cafe, Capri, and La Frite

Lawsuit

In September 2007, a case was filed by Martin Hyde, the former general manager of Dillon's, against Ramsay for allegedly staging disasters and hiring actors to trick the viewing audience. The case was dismissed and went into arbitration.

Reception

Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times found Ramsay's teaching methods and high standards "undeniably hypnotic" and commented that "the thrill of watching Mr. Ramsay is in witnessing someone so at peace with his own arrogance." Doug Elfman of the Chicago Sun-Times said the show is "a very entertaining public service" that "will make you laugh, make you sick and make you think". Randy Cordova of the Arizona Republic found Ramsay "just as blustery and foul-mouthed here as he is on Hell's Kitchen. But he is also oddly endearing, mainly because he genuinely seems invested in the fate of each restaurant".

Some critics found Fox's adaptation of Kitchen Nightmares strayed from the strengths of the original Channel 4 series. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune said, "Leave it to Fox to take something the Brits did pretty well and muck it up". She added, "Never mind the cooking; this edition of the show appears to be more interested in playing up the family dramas at the restaurants Ramsay visits". Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times commented, "Whereas the British Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares is fundamentally a food show — it has interesting things to show you about how a restaurant runs and a kitchen works, the wonders of local markets and what you can make from them if you're Gordon Ramsay or willing to follow his instructions — the Fox edition emphasizes mishap, argument and emotional breakdown almost to the exclusion of cuisine".

External links

• Official website
• Kitchen Nightmares at the Internet Movie Database
• Kitchen Nightmares at TV.com