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| Jon Taffer. |
About two years, I wrote about one
of my favorite reality TV shows, Hotel
Impossible. Spoiler alert! It’s still an incredible show, and it finished
up its sixth season in November. That season is downloadable from iTunes, and
season seven premieres within the next few months, according to the Internets.
But, my focus today isn’t on that wonderful show. Instead,
it’s on Bar Rescue, which has gotten
really stale and boring. The main issue, as I see it, is that they ‘unfortunately’
hit upon a major controversy when they
did a show about a pirate-themed bar. It was a huge mess, but, it was sort
of the beginning of the end, as the whole thing ultimately felt a bit staged
and destined for failure.
The owners were clearly delusional and probably beyond help.
However, Jon Taffer’s theme was also a complete dud, and they had to have known
that replacing a pirate theme with a corporate theme – literally – was a recipe
for disaster. I think they went through with it anyway though, knowing it would
be a good TV.
The problem now though is that every episode is an attempt to
recreate that ‘shock’ from the pirates episode. It’s 45 to 50 minutes of Taffer
yelling at an owner for unsafe liquor service, obvious sexual harassment or
ridiculously dirty kitchens. All of these are valid concerns, but the show was
much better in earlier seasons, when there was a focus on the business aspects.
(i.e. How do you properly setup a bar menu? What are the demographics of an
area? What’s the best food to serve with beer?)
Anyway. The show returns on March 6, per
Wikipedia, with its 100th episode. (Actually, it’s 101, but one
episode won’t ever air because
of bizarre circumstances.) However, if you’re looking for better “turnaround”
television, Hotel Impossible and The Profit (CNBC) are much more
compelling. I’ll have more on the latter show in a future blog.
Side note – If you do like Bar Rescue, or liked it at one point, one site definitely worth
checking out is Bar Rescue Updates.
It’s maintained by a fan of the show, and it’s quite thorough, since other
viewers submit news items and other tips.
The picture of Taffer
is from his website.
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