First of all re: Blogger's new style. It's a little too...BIG I guess. It's okay but I liked the old way of publishing my posts. I'll talk more on that later.

Anyway, today's rant has to do with reality television. I don't watch much of it, I've never gotten suckered into "Who Wants to Marry My Dad/A Midget/An Alien/Joe Billionaire/Gary Busey" but I do have one reality vice: The Restaurant.

The Restaurant is where it's at these days. A quick background for those not inclined to watch it. Three-star chef Rocco DiSpirito opened a NYC restaurant in five weeks (which is nearly impossible without a ton of help) and NBC is document the places development.

Rocco is an ass. He's a self-promoting jerk which is part of his charm. He's also a shitty owner and hires subpar management to help him. His best asset is his 79-year old "Mama" who doubles as the executive chef.

His restaurant is an enjoyable car wreck and right now the episodes are based around Rocco's disagreement with the guy who's funding the joint (Jeffrey Chodorow). Basically Chod owns a ton of eatieries and Rocco's joint is the only one losing money. So Chod decided to bring in his team of consultants to examine the place, this group included this 20-year old named Drew who decided he wanted to be Host and Bartender, which got him kicked out in a funny episode last week.

This week we see Rocco and Chod try to work out their differences but you can tell that Rocco doesn't take him seriously. Rocco is basically living his Emeril dream at this point. When Chod asks him to join him in a joint meeting with the staff at Rocco's 22, Rocco agrees only to stand him up when to go to a previous engagement at his alma mater (Culinary Institute of America) where he's the keynote speaker for the upcoming graduating class.

Nonetheless Chod takes over the meeting and in the process you see his consulting group starting to antagonize the staff, making sure they are committed to the restaurant rather than Rocco. Rocco meanwhile is hiring a line cook from CIA to work at his other restaurant (Union Pacific, I've been there, it's ab fab) and he talks about how much he loves Union Pacific and how well run it is (no thanks to him probably).

Nonetheless Chod's crew is ready to get hands on. They want better bar stools, a better menu, better silverware and less expenditures ($9,000 bucks on 5,000 business cards??? Who the hell approved that). Meanwhile Rocco is claiming the ownership is 50/50 and is threatening a restraining order. Of course I don't understand how you can restrain someone from an establishment THEY OWN!

Chod tries out a new chef named Ralph (nice name BTW) and he's awesome so Rocco's replacement is lined up if he can't get his shit together.

Nonetheless Rocco leaves Union Pacific to walk back to Rocco's where he sees his Mama and a staffer hugging, smiling and having a great time. Rocco tears up as the episode ends.

No clue where this is going to go (I ignored all the Smoking Gun updates purposefully). Rocco's team needs an overhaul, his managers are terrible. They have no clue how to manage anything other than their appearance in front of the cameras. One waitress is struggling with her organization but her personality is terrific. So of course they fire her. Why not...MANAGE her? That's what MANAGERS do, they expose strengths and hide weaknesses. So if I'm chod, I ax every manager at the joint and force Rocco to clear all new hirings through him.

That's just my opinion, I need to do some work and make my vacation check list.