In spite of all his success Stateside, it seems like GR is pretty anxious to break back into prime-time British TV - this is his second attempt. I like him for that. The BBC, for its part, is desperate for new formats in that 9pm slot. But it's not so easy to come up with ones that work; hence this strange hybrid of Hell's Kitchen and The Apprentice which in more prosperous times - and if it was fronted by anyone else - would have been introduced gently, at teatime on BBC2.
The problem it has is that viewers have such a clear idea what they want from him and from food-related shows. People ask, what has jumping out of helicopters got to do with food? Well, what has directing terrible TV ads, appearing on shopping channels or buying a glass teapot in Marrakesh got to do with being in business? Nobody blenches when these ludicrous tasks are set on The Apprentice. Essentially the premise here is the same, a dozen hopeless eejits squabbling for our entertainment. But because it's Gordon, we feel it really ought to be about the food and so most of what the contestants do seems pointless.
No-one surpasses him at people management, and you see that when he's giving the contestants their feedback. But that's why his best show is Kitchen Nightmares, the old episodes of which are still being endlessly repeated on E4. That's what I'd like to see him back doing.
