Channel Surfing: Laura Vandervoort to Return to Smallville, Terra Nova Comic-Con Confusion, Nikki Finke on Tilda, Doctor Who and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

They have... returned? V star Laura Vandervoort will reprise her role as Kara on the CW's Smallville for the series' tenth and final season, reports Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. But don't get too excited, Supergirl fans: Vandervoort is only expected to appear in one installment of the Warner Bros. Television-produced superhero drama, scheduled to air in October. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Just what is going on with FOX's Terra Nova at Comic-Con? After the official San Diego Comic-Con 2010 schedule was announced over the last few days, 20th Century Fox Television opted to pull the panel for its upcoming prehistoric/time-travel drama starring Jason O'Mara from the convention. "Since production on the Jason O’Mara starrer isn’t expected to start until September, the producers don’t have any footage to show the fans in San Diego," writes Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice. "Plus, the writers don’t want to reveal too much about the high-concept series, which Fury promises will have an 'ongoing mythology.'" [Editor: I get that there is no footage but that was always going to be the case and no one expected a screening of the pilot or, indeed, anything.] “There are a lot of surprises, a lot of reveals that come out throughout the course of season,” Fury told Entertainment Weekly. “If we talk about the more interesting aspects of the show now, we’re afraid we’ll ruin the surprise for the audience. In this case, everything is moving along steadily, the script has been well-received. We just don’t have anything to wow anyone with. It’s still in the preliminary stage, It’s a huge undertaking." Complicating things further is the fact that the panel appears to be back on the schedule, leading several to wonder whether 20th balked at the bad publicity such a move would engender among the fanbase... or it's just an error on the Comic-Con lineup. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider, Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

Deadline's Nikki Finke has offered her "first and last statement" about HBO's comedy pilot Tilda, which revolves around a Finke-like blogger who has Hollywood trembling. Writing on her own site, Finke attempted to set the record straight about her involvement with the Diane Keaton-led project, offering the following statement after closing an agreement between herself, MMC, and Watski Prods:

"I had no prior knowledge that this show was being created or put into development. I have never written about the show. I have never encouraged Deadline.com journalists to write about the show. I had no prior agreement with HBO or anyone regarding the show. I had no creative or consulting involvement with the show... I still have no creative or consulting involvement with the show nor wanted any. I still won't write about the show. And Deadline.com journalists can still write whatever they want about the show. As for all of you who've asked for a quote from me about Tilda, here it is: 'It should have been called Toldja!' (Deadline)

Doctor Who head writer/executive producer Steven Moffat has joined Twitter, where he has begun to tease details about the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special. "Oh, he's back behind the bow tie - and better than ever," wrote Moffat about Matt Smith returning to the set. (via Digital Spy)

Looks like Larry King's successor at CNN will be Piers Morgan, after all. The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd writes that Morgan is thisclose to a deal that would see him take over Larry King's timeslot on the 24-hour news cabler. "Sources caution that Morgan is still under contract and that CNN may be unable to directly negotiate with the TV personality directly," writes Hibberd. "But if a deal could be struck between CNN and NBC, that allows Morgan to take over the position. Sources say the proposed deal allows for Morgan to remain as a judge on [America's] Got Talent, with the CNN talk show in second position for his schedule." (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Josh Stewart (Dirt) has been cast in ABC's upcoming family superhero drama No Ordinary Family in a recurring capacity as the mentor for Michael Chiklis' character. Series launches September 28th. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

BBC Two's reality series The Restaurant, which aired Stateside on BBC America as Last Restaurant Standing, will not be returning for a fourth season, according to the BBC. "The time is right for The Restaurant to close its doors after three successful series." Raymond Blanc is said to be in talks with Auntie about a new season of Kitchen Secrets and other potential projects. (BBC)

TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck is reporting several series are looking for new characters, including FOX's Glee, which is going to add a jock named Sam to the mix (who *could* be a potential love interest for Kurt), Starz's Torchwood is looking to add a series regular and two recurring characters, including the following: "Rex Matheson is a white, twenty-something CIA agent who sounds sort of like... [FX's] animated Archer spy: a fearless, cocky thrill seeker. Recurring characters include Esther Katusi, a newbie Watch Analyst in the CIA who is deeply (and secretly) in love with Rex. And Oswald Jones is the dangerous psychotic villain. He's a forty-something murderer and pedophile who gets sprung from the slammer into the spotlight." (TV Guide Magazine)

Fox Television Studios has signed a rare overall deal with White Collar creator Jeff Eastin which will keep him aboard White Collar and allow for future development of new projects for the studio. (Deal is similar to that held between FTVS and Burn Notice creator Matt Nix.) "Once the dust settles, I'll dig out the ideas book and see if something else lends itself to a TV show," Eastin told Variety. "It's about finding something else I'm passionate about. I appreciate Fox TV Studios for having faith in me to make a deal. Especially as they're few and far between these days." (Variety)

MTV is shoring up the writing staff for the upcoming US adaptation of UK teen drama Skins, hiring Mark Hammer, Matt Pelfrey, and Monica Padrick, who will join the writing staff of the series, expected to launch early next year. (Hollywood Reporter)

ABC Studios has signed a one-year overall deal with Ghost Whisperer executive producers Kim Moses and Ian Sander. The duo currently have to supernatural-themed projects in development at ABC, including reality series Ghost Town and drama Ghost World, from writer Dana Stevens, about "a ghost on the other side who helps an ambitious young female homicide detective solve crimes in the hopes of uncovering clues to his own life and death and centers on the mysterious, intense and sometimes infuriating connection the two feel toward each other." (Deadline)

Maxine Peake (Criminal Justice), Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks), Natalie Dormer (The Tudors), Tom Hughes (Sex, Drugs And Rock And Roll) and Neil Stuke (Reggie Perrin) have been cast in legal drama series Silk, from writer Peter Moffat (Criminal Justice), which will revolve around "lives, loves and hard cases facing barristers on the front line of criminal law." (Silk, of course, referring to the robes worn by Queen's Counsel members, the highest-level barristers in the UK.) "Bafta-winning writer Peter Moffat marks his return to BBC One with a brilliant new legal drama series, which takes a modern look at the genre," said BBC Controller of Drama Commissioning Ben Stephenson. "Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry-Jones lead an incredible cast and star as ambitious barristers competing for much coveted Silk." (BBC)

VH1 has ordered eight episodes of an untitled docusoap that will follow Mario Lopez and his girlfriend Courtney Mazza as they await the birth of their child. Project, executive produced by Cris Abrego, Mark Schulman, Jeff Olde, Jill Holmes, Kristen Kelly, and Lopez, is expected to launch this fall. (Hollywood Reporter)

Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has been cast as the lead of an upcoming Lifetime telepic Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story, in which she'll play a woman who underwent a daring rescue mission to locate and free her seven-year-old son Kobe, who was seized by her ex-husband during a custody battle and taken to South Korea. (Deadline)

From weird to weirder: former Monkees star Mickey Dolenz has signed on to star opposite Debbie Gibson and Tiffany in Syfy's upcoming telepic Mega Python vs. Gatoroid. [Editor: I did warn you it would be weird.] (Hollywood Reporter)

Stay tuned.

Fallen Souffle: The Winners Revealed on the Season Finale of "Last Restaurant Standing"

I'm not even sure what to say about Last Restaurant Standing at this point.

Last night's season finale of Last Restaurant Standing ("The Banquet") proved to me that the producers have irreparably damaged this once promising and engaging format.

It's rare for me to go from obsessively loving a series to loathing it from one season to the next but the third season of this culinary competition series (which airs in the UK as The Restaurant) has been so shockingly dismal and so poorly produced that it took all of my energy to keep watching it to the (very) bitter end.

Yes, a winner was named last night for the third season and I can't help but be shocked and depressed by the results, which proves the producers--and quite possibly Raymond Blanc himself--were more interested in concept and uniqueness than in finding partners who could actually, you know, cook.

Just to get to the point: Raymond offered a restaurant to the woefully inadequate JJ and James. While it's not to say that Chris and Nathan were without their faults (Nathan in particular), I have to say that I'm really, really frustrated by this turn of events, which seem to undermine everything that the series is purportedly based upon. What is the point of culinary challenges if the winner of the season didn't need to have cooked at all? What's the point of watching dinner services when the alleged chef is merely expediting orders instead of getting his hands dirty?

Throughout this season, JJ managed to get by without cooking very much... and when he did cook, it was often absolutely disastrous. Last night's banquet dinner was no exception. He produced a glue-like risotto, got lucky with the beef, and failed to produce the requisite souffle, which had been specifically requested by the clients. Yes, JJ was able to create a souffle-like cocktail using egg whites, blackberries, and champagne, which the guests adored, but that wasn't what had been asked for and it certainly wasn't even a dessert course. His lack of experience and knowledge about food was glaringly obvious to everyone he came across.

I don't deny that he can make a mean cocktail because he can; it's clearly his forte, his passion, and his knowledge base. But that doesn't mean that he should open a restaurant with James. They are clearly more suited to opening a bar than beginning a partnership with famed chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc.

But James and JJ have somehow managed to blag their way into the winners' circle. Sarah said repeatedly that they were consummate blaggers and it's true: these two have pulled off quite an impressive con, considering that they can't cook to save their lives and entered a culinary competition. They're flash showmen, charming confidence men, and exceptionally lucky that their competitors weren't flashier, more charming, or more lucky. (They're also lucky that the talent pool this season was, for the most part, rather shallow.)

Raymond, Sarah, and David seemed more taken with JJ and James' overall restaurant concept than they were with Chris and Nathan's Rags and Riches concept. The former could function--with some serious hard work, marketing, and publicity--as an offbeat restaurant chain concept, particularly if they snag a liquor license. Chris and Nathan's concept--which I take to be fine dining on a budget--doesn't work quite so well in the high street but could work quite well as a one-off with some proper attention and guidance.

But it was the awarding of the top prize to blaggers JJ and James that really made me angry and all but erased any goodwill I have towards this once-fantastic series. What is the point of a culinary competition series when actual cooking ability would appear to have no weight whatsoever? When a competitor can fail to make a risotto or a souffle and still walk away a winner? When someone can squeak out of any cooking duties on a regular basis and still wind up being a partner with Raymond Blanc?

Should the series return for a fourth go-around, I hope that the producers have a serious rethink about the format changes they made this season and the casting directors put out their feelers in more suitable directions and lure in some contestants that not only have a passion for food, and a desire to open a restaurant of their own, but also some genuine culinary skill and ability.

What did you make of this season and of the winners? Would you come back for another season of Last Restaurant Standing or are you ready for the check?

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Winners Story"), the winners of Season Two are followed as they work with Raymond Blanc to transform an old pub into the restaurant of their dreams.

Broken Airplanes: Let Them Eat Cake on "Last Restaurant Standing"

It's sad to say that I'm now completely fed up with and frustrated by BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (which airs in the UK under the title The Restaurant), with which I had been previously obsessed.

After two fantastic seasons of culinary competition, the series has completely gone off the rails this season, bringing in unqualified contestants (some of whom don't even bother to cook) and throwing all sense of production values or carefully coordinated challenges right out the window, along with the series' once winning format.

Last night's episode of Last Restaurant Standing ("The Cake") was shockingly awful. Besides for the fact that I found it inconceivable that this group of shoddy wannabe restaurateurs had made it this far in the competition (we're nearly at the end!), I felt like the series was even further undermined by the producers themselves, who created an illogical challenge for the teams--cater a tea dance in under five hours' time--that would be impossible to win unless you had purchased at least some of the cakes yourselves and which was so poorly organized that the teams were doomed to failure from the outset.

At this point in the competition, just a few rounds before the final showdown, I expected to see some real talent emerge from these chefs, which just isn't happening at all. I think that Chris is the only one even in this competition who can cook at all and he's consistently let down by front-of-house partner Nathan, who has shown absolutely no growth or remote understanding of the subtleties of service. Still, they managed to pull off a VIP dinner without a hitch--even producing a stellar cake made in the shape of a ski resort--that was diametrically opposed to their truly terribly performance at the tea dance, where they showed up 45 minutes late, didn't include any mention of tea on the menu, and didn't end up serving anyone, thanks to Nathan's lackluster approach.

JJ continues to remain hands-off in the kitchen of the picnic-themed restaurant he's meant to be running with James but he wasn't even at the pass expediting this week as he spent the entire service decorating his cake in the walk-in. Yes, I get that he baked the cake and all (perhaps the first time he's made anything since they got the keys to the restaurant) but come on. This isn't a cake decorating show; it's meant to be a culinary competition. Grr.

The cake was truly a trainwreck (or shall I say plane crash?) at The Front Room and Stephen's efforts to create an airplane-shaped confection for his VIP guests was a disaster from start to finish. The smooshed nose on the plane, the childlike writing, and the ghastly craftsmanship had me agog. Just shockingly bad.

And then there were Daisy and Nadine, who seemed to lose all focus of the fact that they were running a Westernized Nigerian restaurant and instead cooked up a BBQ for their guests and failed to register the fact that pasta, potatoes, and bread were carbs and that the rugby coach had specifically requested for no carbohydrates to be served and if they had to be that they were wholemeal-based. Instead, the ladies took this to the extreme and offered not one but three major components of the dinner that were carb-based. Argh.

No surprise that Daisy and Nadine's restaurant was closed this week as the emphasis seems to be on the overall concept and its execution. I think they failed on all points but I can't say that I am really rooting for anyone to win this at this point. It's a sad state of affairs that such a promising and exciting program such as Last Restaurant Standing should devolve into such a mess.

What did you think of this week's episode? And have you given up on the series altogether? Just what went wrong this season? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("The Singles"), the three remaining couples must create a romantic takeout dinner for two and cater a singles night at their restaurants.

Rabbit, Rabbit: Seasonal Ingredients and an Upset Badger on "Last Restaurant Standing"

I'm still scratching my head over the format changes that happened between the second and third seasons of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (which airs in the UK as The Restaurant).

I'm especially heartbroken that the series' producers opted to get rid of the intense and drama-laden Challenge in every other episode. Forcing the three lowest-performing couples to fight for the chance to remain in the competition, the Challenge element offered further opportunities to see these couples' strengths and weaknesses on display as well as see how they coped with added pressure and were able to adapt to constantly changing scenarios.

Losing this competition element means that Last Restaurant Standing has effectively been cut down in size (there are only a handful of episodes this season) and we're already now down to the final four couples. Which is shocking in and of itself as I don't feel like I know any of them particularly well. At this point in other seasons, I had a clear-cut understanding of the couples, their personalities, and their quirks. But here we're at the halfway mark already and more than half of the couples have already been eliminated. Yes, the stakes are high but I don't feel like I'm really along for the ride as much as I was in previous seasons.

Last night's episode of Last Restaurant Standing ("The Seasonal Ingredient") made me feel this more than any of the previous installments this season. With five couples in the competition, I would have expected to be connecting with them more than I am and I was surprised and shocked to see how several of the teams performed, considering they've already made it halfway to the final round.

The emphasis this time round seems to be more on the individual restaurant concepts and the success or failure of the weekend service than on the myriad challenges, tasks, and tests that Raymond throws at them. This week, the couples were told that they had to prepare local and seasonal fare at sell it at a local farmers market. Easy peasy, really. Not only would it showcase their cooking and concept, but also allow the couples to market themselves directly to the public.

It's this last thing that nearly all of the couples seemed to either forget about or never realize in the first place. Only Stephen and Rebecca brought menus and made a point about pushing bookings at their restaurant, The Front Room, and they singled themselves out by preparing two locally sourced and seasonal items that could be heated and eaten at home. (They wisely also included directions for heating.) It was a simple trick that everyone else seemed to miss out on.

That said, I thought that Chris and Nathan did the best job with the market task, preparing five offerings for the market public and foraging in the forest for wild garlic and elderflower. I thought they did the best job setting up their stall and placing the focus on the locality and seasonality of their offerings, including an elderflower lemonade, wild garlic mayonnaise, and several beautiful-looking savory dishes.

Daisy and Nadine completely missed the point of the assignment, offering up food that was neither local nor captured the essence of their Westernized Nigerian cuisine concept. Yes, the fish was line-caught but it was from Penzance and it lacked any of the heat, spice, or flavor of their restaurant concept. Likewise, JJ and James once again proved their lack of culinary knowledge by offering skewers of beef shin, a tough cut of meat that requires hours of slow braising. Instead, they cooked the beef for a half-hour in the oven and then finished it on a grill to order, rendering the meat chewy and tough. (Poor Sarah struggled to get it down.)

Of course, they all at least showed up at the market. Barney and Badger, after reeling from a cup ordering fiasco, didn't even turn up to serve the soup that Barney cooked because Badger had second thoughts about remaining in the competition and wanted to withdraw. I felt really bad for Barney; this has been the culmination of a dream of his and an extraordinary opportunity to start something new and fresh with his career, outside of the army. For Badger to just decide that he can't do it--after winning Restaurant of the Week--felt like a slap in the face. Yes, he's outside his comfort zone but so are all of them, really. Grr.

Raymond had another surprise for his couples as they discovered upon returning to the restaurants: he had sent over a slew of rabbits and pigeons to be transformed into dinner specials. Once again, Chris amazed me with his innovation, adaptation, and creative vision, transforming the seasonal ingredients into stunning dishes that demonstrated his significant skill. (Sadly, he was let down once again by Nathan in front of house.) I was pleasantly surprised by Stephen and Rebecca's performance this week; he seemed to take on the judges' criticism of the heaviness of his food and offered somewhat lighter fare this week. (Though the terrine was MASSIVE and customers still complained of being too full to order to dessert.)

Elsewhere, Daisy and Nadine once again struggled and JJ again didn't cook anything in the kitchen. To add insult to injury, he only used about a third of the seasonal ingredients that Raymond had sent over, somehow deciding to only offer eight portions of rabbit, despite having about ten of them on hand... and the pigeon they served was terribly overcooked.

Barney and Badger forged ahead, despite Badger's misgivings about remaining in the competition, knocking out a service that was their best yet and which had Raymond praising Barney for the significant improvement week-to-week (and for the deliciousness of his sauces this time around). But it was still too much for Badger and he wanted to withdraw from the competition. Given the fact that they had failed to turn up at the farmers market, Raymond closed their restaurant. I'll admit that I was sad as I felt that Barney had a lot to offer and they were a very strong team. Just a case of a bad partnership where the team members wanted different things. Sad.

But it was Stephen and Rebecca, on the other hand, who had impressed Raymond and the judges. They walked away with Restaurant of the Week, much to the surprise of the other couples. (I had thought it would go to Chris and Nathan but I think the judges are extremely wary of Nathan's less than stellar front of house skills.)

What did you think of this week's episode? Depressed by Badger's decision? Should Raymond have found a way to keep them--or at least Barney--around? Who is the strongest team remaining? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("The Cake"), the final four teams get a chance to show off their baking skills when they take bookings from VIP guests with special requests and each group wants to end their evening with a celebratory cake. But first, the couples must cater a tea dance and serve afternoon tea to over a hundred guests.

Concept Calamity: Opening Night on "Last Restaurant Standing"

I'm not quite sure what to make of the couples assembled for this season of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing (which airs in the UK under the title The Restaurant). As always, they are a motley lot comprised of people who believe that they can open a restaurant because they give good dinner party and those who seemingly have no knowledge of food, no culinary training, and no common sense.

Last night's episode of Last Restaurant Standing ("Opening Night"), the season's third, finally had the couples getting the keys to their very own restaurant spaces, picked at random and representing a number of diverse locations all around the city of Bristol, from quayside eateries to balconied high-traffic spaces.

To me, this is where any season of Last Restaurant Standing should really begin. I appreciated what Raymond Blanc and the producers attempted with the first week auditions and the second week's trial by fire on the line of three high street restaurant chains, but the format's strength lies mainly in the fact that it's essentially Restaurant Wars every week. (Or, for the first two seasons, every other episode, alternating with a Challenge, now sadly gone.)

This week, the couple's first task was to create an amuse bouche that encapsulated their restaurant concept and then hit the streets of Bristol to market their eateries ahead of opening night. But several teams' performances left me scratching my head in confusion. Shouldn't there be some actual cooking involved in these amuses? Shouldn't it showcase the skill of the chef and the charm of the front of house manager? Hmmm... Wasn't sure what to make of Barney and Badger's two dishes: a strawberry with cream and a piece of melon with some Parma ham (the latter of which Badger kept referring to as pineapple and Parmesan). Tasty? Perhaps, but anyone could prepare either of the cold dishes at home. Would it really lure any potential diners into their restaurant?

I did feel a little bad for Frances and Lucy, whose restaurant oven failed to work. Sans gas, they attempted to make a cold amuse of toast and whipped goat cheese with a shallot marmalade. Considering that their whole concept hinged on the locality of ingredients, it was shocking to me that they purchased French goat cheese to make this and then, due to the non-working oven, only whipped the cheese, plopped it on some round toasts, and put a drop of marmalade on top. Where was the thought or the reactive instinct? Surely, they could have dressed up their dish better. Why not some local roe or fresh herbs? It looked terrible and certainly didn't sum up their style of cuisine or restaurant concept.

(Meanwhile, people seemed to like Stephen and Rebecca's arancini--or "deep fried risotto balls"--but, again, an Italian dish didn't really seem to suit their hearty British grub concept.)

As for the restaurants' opening night, it was a predictable disaster. Despite Barney's manic energy in the kitchen, Badger actually managed to keep things running smoothly in the front of house, a real feat considering his lack of knowledge about cuisine and his lack of experience. (No surprise then that the duo won Raymond's Restaurant of the Week award.) Chris' calm and grit in the kitchen was undermined completely by Nathan's inexperience in front, which he compounded by not realizing the state of the chaos nor what position he was putting Chris in in the kitchen.

I'm hoping that Daisy and Nadine stick around for a while; I like the innovative restaurant concept (Westernized Nigerian cuisine) at D'Soiree though Daisy needs to stop cooking the goat to the point that it becomes overly chewy (especially as she's serving such thin pieces of meat). As for Rebecca and Stephen, I was slightly baffled by her efforts to hire a saxophonist AND a magician for their opening night and by his style of cooking at The Front Room. As judge Sarah Willingham rightly put it, the huge, sloppy portions did look like something you might throw together and then eat in front of the telly in your own front room, certainly not something you would pay for at a restaurant. I'd be surprised if they stick around for very long.

What can I say about JJ and James, whose picnic-eating concept still throws me for a loop? Once again, James seemed to be clueless about the troubles in the front of house, with many diners waiting for orders and those who did get their food being very unimpressed, despite JJ's claim to fame with the "wet" Scotch egg and asparagus. But it was JJ who truly shocked me by not actually cooking anything that went out of the kitchen, not working on any station, and remaining at the pass to expedite. Remember, after all, this is a culinary competition and he's the chef of the team. Just... wow.

Finally, there was Frances and Lucy, who basically collapsed under the pressure of the evening, sending out disgusting looking plates that were half dressed (remember the beurre noisette?) and not running anything remotely resembling a professional restaurant. It was no surprise that Raymond closed their restaurant. Frances was too young and inexperienced and lacked the authority and confidence to keep things under control in her kitchen. A shame as Lucy seemed to be quite in control at the front of house. But I can't say that I was surprised.

What did you think of this week's episode? Did the right team go home? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("The Seasonal Ingredient"), the remaining teams must create dishes using only seasonal, local ingredients while still remaining true to their individual restaurant concepts.

Restaurant Wars: An Advance Review of Season Three of BBC America's "Last Restaurant Standing"

I've long been captivated by BBC America's culinary competition series, Last Restaurant Standing (a.k.a. The Restaurant in the UK), which returns with its third season tonight.

While Last Restaurant Standing returns tonight, the series is a slightly different beast than in its two previous iterations. While chef/restaurateur Raymond Blanc and judges Sarah Willingham and David Moore all return and the overall premise of the series--"couples" compete to open their own restaurant--remains the same, there's something slightly different going on here.

For one, Last Restaurant Standing's format has changed, reducing the episode count and sucking out some of the series' nail-biting tension. In the UK, previous seasons of the competition series aired twice a week, with one episode devoted to the couples running their individual restaurants, amid frequent complications sprung on them by Raymond Blanc, and the second devoted to the Challenge, a gauntlet of fire through which the worst-performing couples would be run and by which one couple would be eliminated.

The Challenge is, rather sadly, gone. I always thought that it was one of the more interesting arenas for the series, forcing the contestants to adapt to any situation (sometimes quite mad ones) and really think on their toes. It was a good metric for understanding just how adaptable, intelligent, and determined each of the couples were, pushing them even further out of their comfort zone and forcing them to come to accept the harsh realities of the restaurant business. After all, it's not just dinner parties and shopping for ingredients at farm stores.

In the two episodes provided for review by BBC America, the new version of Last Restaurant Standing therefore places much more emphasis on the overall concept of the couples' individual restaurants and on their skills on line and in front of house. However, it's hard to judge the week-to-week tension and drama of the series as the couples don't actually move into their restaurant spaces until Week Three.

But that's not to say that the couples aren't under a great deal of strain in the first two episodes, because they are. The first episode finds them more or less auditioning for Raymond Blanc himself, as they are put into teams of three couples and tasked with organizing a three-course menu, with each couple responsible for creating a dish (starter, main, or dessert) that sums up their restaurant's concept. The second installment has the couples working on the line in a three of Britain's high street chain restaurants. It's a task that proves that many of them are ill-equipped to be running a place of their own and several seem to have little understanding of the amount of diligence, organization, and hard work necessary to run an endeavor such as that.

And, yes, some of the contestants engage in behavior that is outright shocking. Mother and daughter team Sandy and Natalie's attempts to open cans using a very sharp chef's knife (rather than, you know, a can opener) is so jaw-dropping and terrifying that Raymond is forced to take action from the start and actually intervene before one of them loses a finger. It's an eye-opening start to the season and one that makes me question the sanity of several of these contestants. Did they really not know what they were getting into? Had they never seen the series before? What did they expect that they would be doing?

There are a few that are worth keeping an eye on. One couple in particular seems extremely strong while another has a restaurant concept that is quite original... and mind-boggling at the same time.

All in all, a good start for what promises to be a fun season of Last Restaurant Standing but which so far lacks the same level of spark and heat of the last two seasons. Still, I'll be tuning in every Tuesday night to see just who walks away with their own restaurant...

Season Three of Last Restaurant Standing premieres tonight at 9 pm ET/PT on BBC America.

BBC America Announces January Plans: "The Inbetweeners," "Last Restaurant Standing," "Demons," "Top Gear"

BBC America has today announced their scheduling plans for January 2010, unveiling new programming additions and the return of several series to the lineup. (Sadly, still no mention of Season Two of Ashes to Ashes, however.)

The digital cabler has announced launch dates for comedy The Inbetweeners, drama Demons, and unscripted competition series Last Restaurant Standing, as well as the launch of Season Thirteen of Top Gear.

Having seen the first two seasons of comedy The Inbetweeners, from creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris, I can tell you that you'll likely be bowled over as much as I was by this raucous teen comedy when it finally premieres Stateside on Monday, January 25th at 9 pm ET/PT. Two back-to-back episodes will air in its initial outing before it relocates to its regular timeslot on Wednesday evenings. (You can read my advance review of the first two seasons of The Inbetweeners here.)

Culinary competition series (and Televisionary obsession) Last Restaurant Standing returns with its third season on Tuesday, January 5th at 9 pm ET/PT as restaurateur Raymond Blanc puts a new batch of couples through their paces with the opportunity to partner with him on a new restaurant.

Missing Life on Mars' and Ashes to Ashes' Philip Glenister? You're in luck as he stars in supernatural drama Demons, which launches Saturday, January 2nd at 10 pm ET/PT. Here's how BBC America describes the series: "The battle against the dark underworld of half-lives, monsters and in-humans lie deep beneath the streets of modern-day London in the U.S. premiere of Demons. This contemporary spin on the character of Van Helsing features Luke Rutherford (Christian Cooke) as an average teenager, but with the arrival of his dead father’s best friend Rupert Galvin (Philip Glenister, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes), Luke’s life is about to be flipped upside down. Galvin is a straight-talking, headstrong American who has come to tell Luke his secret destiny - he’s the real-life great-great grandson of Abraham Van Helsing, the vampire hunter in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Luke’s destined to inherit the family mantle as a warrior in the coldest of cold wars against the supernatural entities behind every myth and legend from vampires to werewolves and all things that go bump in the night."

The full press release from BBC America, with full series descriptions and TX info, can be found below.

RING IN THE NEW YEAR WITH U.S. PREMIERES OF TOP GEAR, THE INBETWEENERS, LAST RESTAURANT STANDING AND FRIDAY NIGHT WITH JONATHAN ROSS

TOP GEAR SEASON 13 – U.S. PREMIERE
Top Gear skids, roars and explodes its way back to BBC AMERICA with a new season of man versus machine experiments, exhaustive road tests of the latest cars, weekly power tests featuring the world’s most exotic super-cars and a surprise revelation. Their adventures this season include testing the new Lambo Murcielago, a terrifying French ice race, filming their own Volkswagen commercial and in a television first, the mysterious Stig reveals his true identity. All the Top Gear faves are back including Star in a Reasonably Priced Car featuring celebrities such as Jay Leno, actress Sienna Miller, Stephen Fry and Olympic Gold sprinter Usain Bolt.
Top Gear premieres Monday, January 25, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

THE INBETWEENERS – U.S. PREMIERE
Written and created by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris (Peep Show, Flight of the Conchords) and named the best new sitcom of 2008 at the British Comedy Awards, The Inbetweeners offers a painfully funny take on the squirming humiliations of teenage life. It begins with the new kid in town, Will (Simon Bird), who has unwillingly had to move, change schools and, as a result, make new friends. He soon meets Simon (Joe Thomas), Jay (James Buckley) and Neil (Blake Harrison), who are neither that cool nor that credible. The four friends get drunk too quickly, ride roller coasters and crush on the girl next door. Simon’s the first to throw Will a line—reluctantly agreeing to show him around school. He then meets Jay, who’s constantly lying about his sexual conquests and daring feats, and Neil, who’s really just out to lunch and often the butt of cruel jokes. The four of them will together try to make it through the trials of growing up in middle-class suburbia.
The Inbetweeners premieres with back to back episodes Monday, January 25, 9:00p.m. ET/PT. All future episodes premiere on Wednesdays, 9:30 p.m. ET/PT

DEMONS – U.S. PREMIERE
The battle against the dark underworld of half-lives, monsters and in-humans lie deep beneath the streets of modern-day London in the U.S. premiere of Demons. This contemporary spin on the character of Van Helsing features Luke Rutherford (Christian Cooke) as an average teenager, but with the arrival of his dead father’s best friend Rupert Galvin (Philip Glenister, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes), Luke’s life is about to be flipped upside down. Galvin is a straight-talking, headstrong American who has come to tell Luke his secret destiny - he’s the real-life great-great grandson of Abraham Van Helsing, the vampire hunter in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Luke’s destined to inherit the family mantle as a warrior in the coldest of cold wars against the supernatural entities behind every myth and legend from vampires to werewolves and all things that go bump in the night.
Demons premieres Saturday, January 2, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT

LAST RESTAURANT STANDING SEASON 3 – U.S. PREMIERE
World-renowned chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc with his industry experts Sarah Willingham and David Moore return to BBC AMERICA with another season of Last Restaurant Standing in which nine couples battle it out for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to open a restaurant with him. But in the current economic climate, Blanc is searching for a couple who proves they can tough it out in the harsh realities of working in the restaurant trade. The couple must have strong ideas, impeccable cooking skills and strong partnerships to win the ultimate prize. From their first meeting with Blanc the couples are in at the deep end facing a series of increasingly tough challenges like pitching their restaurant ideas, running a famous UK chain restaurant, making dishes to sell at a farmer’s market and even serving afternoon tea for 100 guests, to test the creativity and practical skills they need to get keys to their own restaurants. But getting the keys is only a start. Tough times on the high street means Raymond Blanc is not in the market for dreamers, and the pressure is on to show him they have what it takes to survive.
Last Restaurant Standing premieres Tuesday, January 5, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH JONATHAN ROSS – U.S. PREMIERE
Friday night’s are back with a new season of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Jonathan Ross, one of the BBC’s best known personalities, continues blending humor and pop culture every week with America and Britain’s brightest A-list celebrities and musical performances. Last season, Jonathan welcomed Ricky Gervais, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken, Gerard Butler, Shakira and Jay Z as well as musical legends Barry Manilow and Barbara Streisand and this season continues the excitement with exclusive interviews and guest musical performances.
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross premieres Friday, January 22, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT

MOVIES
THE BIRDS – BBC AMERICA PREMIERE
Alfred Hitchcock's most popular film, The Birds, is a powerful, terrifying study of paranoia and hysteria in the wake of unexplained chaos. A beautiful, strong-willed socialite (Tippi Hedren) travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a guy (Rod Taylor) she’s only just met. Once there, however, bizarre things start happening and the birds start behaving strangely.
The Birds premieres Sunday, January 3, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

PYSCHO – BBC AMERICA PREMIERE
Nominated for four Academy Awards, Psycho, made people think twice before stepping into the shower and Psycho remains one of the most shocking and frightening movies of all time. Anthony Perkins delivers a chilling performance as the nervous but amiable proprietor of the Bates Motel whose trouble with his mother and obsession with a beautiful guest leads to murder. Janet Leigh earned an Oscar nomination for her supporting role as the ill-fated traveler.
Psycho premieres Sunday, January 10, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

VERTIGO – BBC AMERICA PREMIERE
Silver screen legend James Stewart with Barbara Bel Geddes team with the Master of Suspense to play a detective who falls in love with a tortured, beautiful woman (Kim Novak) he is hired to follow. The detective lapses into obsession and desperation against the backdrop of a haunting San Francisco.
Vertigo premieres Sunday, January 17, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

REAR WINDOW – BBC AMERICA PREMIERE
Academy Award winning screen legends James Stewart and Grace Kelly star in the story about an injured photojournalist confined to his tiny, sweltering courtyard apartment with nothing to do but look out on his unsuspecting neighbors through the film's titular portal. It's all harmless voyeuristic fun until during one hot, restless night he thinks he witnesses a man murder his wife. Grace Kelly plays the fashionista girlfriend who helps him solve the crime.
Rear Window premieres Sunday, January 24, 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

STUNTS
KITCHEN NIGHTMARES SUNDAY
Gordon Ramsay heats up the kitchen both sides of the pond by helping struggling ventures all on the brink of collapse. Kitchen Nightmares Sunday features the newest shows with five back-to-back episodes.
Kitchen Nightmares Sunday airs Sunday, January 3, starting at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT

DEMONIC SUNDAY
Catch up on the first three episodes of Demons as Luke (Christian Cooke) and Rupert (Philip Glenister, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes) battle good and evil with monsters, vampires and all creatures that go bump in the night.
Demonic Sunday airs Sunday, January 17, starting at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT

GET YOUR MOTOR RUNNING TOP GEAR MARATHON
Gear up for a new season of Top Gear and relive the adventures and laugh-out-loud moments
from seasons past. Top Gear Marathon is just in time for the new season of Top Gear which
premieres the very next night.
Top Gear Marathon airs Sunday, January 24, starting at 1:00 p.m. ET/ 10:00 a.m. PT

ALFRED HITCHCOCK MOVIE MARATHON
Enjoy a Sunday marathon of Alfred Hitchcock’s most thrilling and terrifying films, including Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds, starting first thing Sunday morning and continuing deep into the night.
Alfred Hithcock Movie Marathon airs all day Sunday, January 31

BBC WORLD NEWS AMERICA - NEW YEAR’S DAY SCHEDULE
Please note that BBC World News and BBC World News America will not air Friday, January 1.

ONGOING PREMIERES
Other series that continue to premiere new episodes in January include:
Tuesdays: Britain’s Missing Top Model
Wednesdays: Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
Fridays: Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Saturdays: The Graham Norton Show

BBC AMERICA brings audiences a new generation of award-winning television featuring news with a uniquely global perspective, provocative dramas, razor-sharp comedies, life-changing makeovers and a whole new world of nonfiction. BBC AMERICA pushes the boundaries to deliver high quality, highly addictive and eminently watchable programming to viewers who demand more. BBC AMERICA is distributed by Discovery Networks. It is available on digital cable and satellite TV in more than 65 million homes.

Channel Surfing: Idris Elba Tackles Brit Mystery, ABC Encodes "FlashForward," Vincent Kartheiser Dances Around "Mad Men," and More

Welcome to your Friday morning television briefing.

The Wire's Idris Elba (last seen on the small screen in a multiple-episode story arc on NBC's The Office) has landed the lead in new BBC One crime thriller Luther, where he will play John Luther, a "near-genius murder detective whose brilliant mind can’t always save him from the dangerous violence of his passions." Series, which has been commissioned for six episodes, is written by Neil Cross (Spooks) and each episode will invert the familiar tropes of crime drama on its head: the murderer will be revealed at the beginning of each episode and the focus will be the dynamic between Luther and his perpetrator, who aren't quite so different from one another. "Luther is a challenging and exciting character because he’s so complex," said Elba. "While he’s capable of great kindness and loyalty, sometimes he steps over the edge of madness – simmering with anger and rage." Luther will air in autumn of 2010 on BBC One. (Broadcast)

Taking a page out of its Lost handbook, ABC is turning to some rather unique marketing opportunities for its upcoming ensemble drama series FlashForward. The network has begun including codes in its most recent print ads for the ABC Studios-produced series. According to Variety's Michael Schneider, "When users hold the black-and-white codes up to a webcam, the picture on their computer screen turns into a 3-D ad for FlashForward, featuring photos from the show. And if clicked, the pics turn into minute-plus clips from the show." Those ads will be placed in niche publications that, er, shall we say cross over with the series' intended audience, such as Wired, Popular Mechanics, and several gaming publications. And if you're not a subscriber to one of those magazines, fret not: you can download the ad here. (Variety)

Vanity Fair has a fantastic interview with Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser, who plays the petulant Pete Campbell on the AMC period drama series. "I think one of the things Matt [Weiner, the show’s creator] really wanted with Pete was someone who didn’t villainize him from the inside out," Kartheiser tells Vanity Fair's Bruce Handy. "Take the pilot, that scene with Peggy, where Pete’s kind of dressing her down—he really thinks he’s being helpful and actually we had to do that scene quite a few times just to get that tone right for me. It was something that Matt and [director] Alan Taylor kept trying to finesse with me, to get to that point where it is rude but it’s really said from this helpful place. But I’m constantly reminding myself with Pete Campbell that the words kind of do the work for me. I don’t have to add any sort of emphasis to it—it’s there... the characters are written with such humanism. So even though, like you say, Pete comes from this place of being a villain, that’s something Matt carefully writes away from." (Vanity Fair)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan waxes enthusiastically about the fun and loopy charms of HBO's vampire drama series True Blood, which she says isn't "a carefully assembled feast," but rather an "enjoyable jambalaya packed with every thing the chef had close at hand. It's a jam-packed, all-you-can-eat buffet served with a side of crazy." You know you want to sink your teeth into this piece. (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

FOX has given a script order to multi-camera comedy Extended Family, about a blue-collar woman who raises foster children. Project, from Sony Pictures Television and Apostle, is written and executive produced by According to Jim's John Beck and Ron Hart. The duo have also sold a pilot script for multi-camera comedy Many Wives of Jon to TV Land; that project is about a young couple whose lives change when the wife's family moves in. (Hollywood Reporter)

Recasting alert! Bella Thorne (My Own Worst Enemy) will replace Jolean Wejbe on HBO's Big Love, where she will recur as Tancy (a.k.a. Teeny) Henrickson. Thorne was originally cast as Christie, the anger-prone daughter of Barb's sister Cindy (Judith Hoag). It's not immediately clear whether that part has been scrapped or will be recast as well. (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC Two has ordered two spin-off series from its culinary competition series The Restaurant, which airs Stateside under the title Last Restaurant Standing. The first, Plate Expectations, will follow Season Two contestants James Knight-Pacheco and Alasdair Hooper as they launch their own catering company. The second, Step By Step, will show Raymond Blanc demonstrating his own recipes. Both are set to launch on the UK channel in October to coincide with the launch of the third season of The Restaurant. (Broadcast)

Food Network has renewed daytime cooking series Ten Dollar Dinners, which features The Next Food Network Star's fifth season winner Melissa d'Arabian, for a second season. The series will tape thirteen additional episodes in December and the network will launch the series' second season in early 2010. (via press release)

Documentary shingle Ten Alps, owned by Bob Geldolf, has signed a three-year distribution deal with BBC Worldwide. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

Murder on the Orient Express: The Final Teams Go Head to Head on the Season Finale of "Last Restaurant Standing"

The dream has been achieved for one team.

On last night's season finale of BBC America's deliciously addictive culinary competition series ("First Class Service"), the final two teams faced off against each other as the prize--the chance to open a restaurant with famed chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc--was within their grasp.

But before Raymond Blanc would make one couple his partners in a future restaurant venture, he would be putting both teams through their paces with one of their toughest challenges yet as Blanc tasks them with devising and serving a lavish five-course meal to the passengers aboard the famed Orient Express.

No mean feat this. The well-heeled clientele of the Orient Express expect the very best in cuisine, service, and atmosphere and, if that weren't enough for the teams to worry about, they also have to contend with the fact that they are preparing this meal in a small, cramped kitchen aboard a moving train. In other words: this could be a disaster.

So how did the final two teams fare in the final challenge? Let's discuss.

Overall, I have to say that I was both impressed and disappointed by both teams, both of whom made a wide array of errors in the final challenge. That said, I do think that they were both way out of their depth in such an elaborate and complex challenge such as this. Raymond Blanc really stacked the deck against them with the Orient Express challenge and that was the point: it wasn't to see who could pull off the better meal (though, certainly, that was part of it) but really to see which team was more adaptable, more flexible, more ready to roll with the punches... or at least the turns in the train tracks.

Alasdair and James. Throughout the competition, this team of best friends has been rightly slated by all and sundry for the lack of communication between kitchen and front-of-house and their side has often been let down by the inattention to detail shown by Alasdair. However, over the last few weeks, I do have to say that Alasdair has taken on board all of Raymond and the inspectors' criticisms and has shown more confidence and skill in front of house. The lack of communication, however, is felt all the more in this final challenge as bulldogish James keeps railroading Alasdair's efforts to know what is going on in the kitchen, resisting his requests for information about timing, etc. If these two have any hopes of eventually opening a restaurant of their own, they have got to work together better and learn to talk amongst themselves without getting defensive or aggressive, as they have in the past.

The duo started off the train journey on the right foot, offering guests aperitifs, champagne, and canapes... but their decision to offer travelers a bowl of mixed olives and a cheap disposable camera reflected a disconnection from their clientele. These weren't appropriate "gifts" to give customers aboard the Orient Express and James and Alasdair should have realized this. Nothing wrong with olives per se, but it lent the proceedings the atmosphere of a corner Italian trattoria rather than the lush excess of the fabled Orient Express. Likewise, the camera was the wrong signal to send. I get what the guys were going for but again wrong audience here. They should have offered something simple and elegant to takeaway from the train, not a cheap disposable Kodak from the local corner shop.

Big mistake trying to make risotto on a train and getting it out to customers on time. Risotto has to be eaten piping hot and there was no way that James could serve the risotto to all of his guests without it getting stone cold in the process; additionally James overcooked the rice, turning it to the consistency of porridge. (Ouch.) I understand why he thought--conceptually, anyway--that a summer vegetable risotto with broad beans would be a showcase dish but it failed on all fronts. Likewise, the ghastly lobster Thermidor and its accompaniment of bitter vegetables (loved the face Raymond made describing the bitterness of the turnip). This was intended to be a showstopper and instead the lobster was overcooked and rubbery and just looked... not right. This should have been elegant and refined but lacked any real panache. Not improving things was the fact that Ali never took a headcount of the guests aboard the train and told inspector David Moore that he had run out of lobsters... even though he actually hadn't.

The guys did make some good decisions, however. The idea to book a close-up magician was a good one and showed that they were looking to think outside the standards and they offered a superior cheese plate and a vastly wider selection of wine than their competitors. Additionally, James' dessert, a duo of strawberry and champagne soup and lemon posset, struck the right chord as a final course. But would it be enough to put them over the top?

Michele and Russell. I've been pretty hard on this couple throughout the competition because Russell is just so damn talented and Michele often lets him down with her scattershot attention to front-of-house details, frequent histrionics, and inability to receive criticism of any kind. To me, Michele is not the ideal business partner in any venture. She's far too given to make emotional outbursts and become bitterly defensive when faced with any sort of negativity. Her entire purpose of being is seemingly to create a welcoming atmosphere for the customers of The Cheerful Soul but she lacks the business acumen and the culinary knowledge to truly achieve that goal. Russell has been a patient and level-headed chef for most of the competition but recent weeks found him becoming self-doubting and slightly whinging at times. (Last week's risotto plating, for example.) Still, they've clearly been doing something right, winning Restaurant of the Week more times than any other couple and wowing the judges with their well-executed dishes that reflect the bounty of the English countryside. Would it be enough for the discerning palates of the Orient Express travelers, however?

Russell was extremely wise to offer a delicious broad bean and pea veloute served in a tea cup as a first hot course. Able to prepare the soup ahead of time, all Russell had to do was to simply warm the soup and serve it; the choice of a tea cup as a vessel for the green elixir was a stroke of genius that left diners wanting more rather than leaving them with a bowl of half-eaten cold soup at the end of the course. Sarah Willingham waxed ecstatic about the veloute, saying that she could have eaten a whole bowl of it. (Always keep them wanting more!) Up next was a spice and nut-crusted goat cheese salad which seemed fairly fomulaic and straight-forward. None of the wow factor of the previous dish and it screamed dining room standard, not Orient Express dining car.

The same was true of Russell's poached salmon with cucumber and dill salad, sauteed potatoes, and a lemongrass broth. Many complained that the dish was very cold and the flavors bland. Again, this is the sort of thing that would work quite well in the casual atmosphere of The Cheerful Soul and less well aboard an elegant train ride when customers are paying an arm and a leg. Likewise, I thought that their choice of entertainment--a musician and accompanist playing some songbook standards--was unoriginal and didn't quite match the theme or tone of their venue. (A train ride to Venice through the English countryside and the singer is crooning "Lullaby of Broadway"? Really?) At least the musicians got on the train. Michele failed to check to see that they did climb aboard the Orient Express and she last left them a long time before departure in the waiting lounge and then never checked up on them, only realizing after the train pulled away that she never double-checked to see they were on board. Fortunately, for her, the musicians were paying more attention than she was.

Russell did, however, prove himself willing to roll with the punches. Discovering that there were no freezers aboard the Pullman car, he still went ahead with his grapefruit sorbet, turning the dish into a lovely and delicious granita, which Sarah raved about ("you can taste every grapefruit") and which seemed to please the travelers as well. And when the biscuits for his double-decked dessert went crashing onto the floor, Russell didn't let it derail him, instead opting to transform the dessert into an elegant single-layer. Michele's gift boxes which tied in the English country theme of the evening were a little too down-home for my liking but Raymond seemed to appreciate the little touch of the countryside aboard the train. Still, not sure why Michele found it necessary to call Russell--while he was trying to prep all his dishes alone--when she couldn't figure out which tissue paper to purchase for the gifts. Priorities, anyone?

All in all, I thought that Russell and Michele winning was really the only plausible outcome here. I've thought that Michele and Russell were going to walk away from this competition with the big prize for quite some time now. In fact, they seemed like the front-runners since nearly the very beginning of the season, although they did make some pretty big missteps along the way. I do think Russell is extremely talented and Michele is a welcoming presence in the front of house; they both have a ways to go to become the professional restaurateurs that Raymond is expecting them to become but that's part and parcel of the learning process.

As for Alasdair and James, they both have a lot of growing up to do before they are anywhere near ready to take on a challenge of this magnitude. I would have been amazed if Raymond had decided to open a restaurant with them. They've proven that they are adaptable and take on criticism and suggestions but a partnership with them would be a hands-on operation, with Raymond pushing and pulling them constantly in order to get them anywhere near the level they need to be at.

What did you think of the final outcome? Would you have awarded Russell and Michele the top prize? Did the teams perform to the standards you thought they would in this final challenge? Discuss.

BBC has commissioned a third season of Last Restaurant Standing, which airs in the UK under the name The Restaurant. Stay tuned for news about when BBC America will schedule the third season.

The Sea Bass is Actually Oysters: Teams Struggle to Get the Details Right on "Last Restaurant Standing"

I thought that last night's episode of BBC America's deliciously addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing ("Masterclass") was a fantastic way for the three remaining teams to prove their mettle to the master chef himself. For far too long this season, the chefs--and indeed their front-of-house counterparts--have been able to hide in the confines of their kitchen without Raymond looking over their shoulder too much. No more.

This week, Raymond put each team through a mini-masterclass, with the chefs cooking with him in the kitchens at the exquisite Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons (and undergoing an impromptu blind herb taste test) and the front-of-house staffers working a busy lunch service at perfectionist David Moore's London restaurant.

It was a suitable challenge for both teams, who would have to make sure that they got all of their details right, whether that meant cooking their turbot to the very point of perfection or making sure the chairs didn't touch the tablecloths at David Moore's restaurant. While some might quibble that you aren't going to get customers by being so punctilious about tablecloths/chair proximity, I would say that it's the details that matter: the little touches, whether they're elegant or just memorable or comfortable, are what keep happy customers coming back time and time again.

This week, something a little different as I want to take a closer look at the two remaining teams entering Raymond Blanc's final challenge, battling it out for the opportunity to go into business with the famed restaurateur.

Before we get to that, I just want to say that I wasn't at all surprised that Tim and Lindsie were the ones to get cut from the competition this week. While I really do like them quite a lot, they've been struggling since the beginning, though it was heartbreaking to see Tim give up quite that easily when Raymond asked him, if the tables were turned, if Tim would go into business with someone in his position, especially as Lindsie has rallied in recent weeks and blossomed into her role in front-of-house at their restaurant, True Provenance. That Tim would say "no," without thinking about the ramifications showed just how lost he'd become. For all of his business acumen, he was running True Provenance with an absurd 92 percent food cost, an astronomical figure that really does boggle the mind. There was no way that Raymond would go into business with someone who had that much in food cost and couldn't find a way to lower the percentage, even by increasing the prices on the menu. I'm sad to see them go but I think it was rather a done deal.

Which brings us to our two remaining teams, who couldn't be more different from one another: The Cheerful Soul's Russell and Michelle, who have won Restaurant of the Week more than any other couple this season, and The Gallery's James and Alasdair, who... just keep making mistake upon mistake.

Russell and Michele. Throughout the competition, I've been keenly aware of this team's strengths and weaknesses. It was easy fairly early on to peg these two as the strongest contenders for the title but they've been undone several times by Russell's lack of exterior passion and Michele's inability to handle criticism or grow a thicker skin. Russell has typically remained confident and unflustered in the face of stress, but this week showed a very different side of Russell: one that was whiny and uncertain about his abilities.

The dithering in the kitchen last night when it came to plating his risotto (for Raymond's Michelin-starred guests) was shocking to me as was the poncy manner with which he was attempted to present the dish: not in a bowl, piping hot on its own, but with squiggles and flourishes on the plate, all of which looked ridiculous. Raymond has been upfront about his desire for clean flavors and presentation: risotto, by its nature, should be served hot, slightly oozing, in a bowl. Not molded and upended on a plate surrounded by slashes of color. I'm not sure what shook Russell's confidence, but I am hoping that he regains it by the finale. I think he's an extremely talented chef and runs his kitchen efficiently and creatively.

Michele, on the other hand, I'm still not too sure about. She definitely lacks the culinary knowledge necessary in a quality front-of-house manager and she's far too easily flustered by criticism. In other words: she means well and tries to please but she can't quite muster the ability to get the details right. At David Moore's restaurant, she couldn't recall the names of the cheeses, dropped the bread on a customer, and just seemed frantic and in over her head. The same applies to her role at The Cheerful Soul. Tasked this week with getting the details painfully right, she let all quality slip: plates went uncleared, bottles of water sat empty, wine glasses piled up... when they arrived at all. If these two are going to win, they have to get it together and pay attention to the small things as well as they do the big things.

James and Alasdair. I'm sure a lot of you are wondering just how these perpetual ne'er-do-wells have ended up in the final challenge... and you're not alone. Throughout this competition, these two have danced so perilously close to the edge of the precipice that it seemed a foregone conclusion several times that they'd be sent packing. And yet here we are, about to go into the last round, and they're still standing. Somehow. James is an exceptionally gifted chef; he's proven that over the last few weeks and erased from my memory his first painfully awkward performance with that awful mash in Week One. It's pretty impressive all the more when you realize that he's only 25 years old. His skills, however, are matched by his ego and his lack of communication with his partner, best friend Alasdair. Slated for their lack of conversation between them time and time again, they still haven't quite taken this lesson to heart. There needs to be clear lines of communication between the kitchen and the front-of-house and on that front they are falling way short.

Alasdair has come into his own a little more each week as a front-of-house manager, gaining some much needed confidence and attempting to oversee the dining room with more authority. Last night's episode showed him trying to train his young waitstaff about wine, which was a very good thing, but then he failed to introduce himself to Raymond's guests until halfway through their meal, a very bad thing.

The problem with these two overall is that they continually make the WRONG decision: instead of making takeaway meals, they try to sell overpriced sandwiches to regatta attendants; instead of making bread (or bringing it in), they make canapes, which was unnecessary for their new brasserie-style service; instead of offering people a taste of James' cooking at a demo, they think it's unnecessary; instead of prepping for a private dinner, James takes off to pick up more chairs, leaving everyone scrambling. The list goes on and on, really. Whenever they are faced with a problem, they pick the the least correct solution. If they are going to win, they'll have to (A) work as a team, (B) balance out each other's strengths and weaknesses, (C) communicate, and (D) think things through before reacting.

Who do you think will win this final challenge? Who will become partners with Raymond Blanc and achieve their dream of owning their own restaurant? And which team will go home empty-handed? Discuss.

Next week on the season finale of Last Restaurant Standing ("First Class Service"), the final two teams must create and serve lavish five-course meals to extremely discerning passengers aboard the Orient Express before Raymond Blanc announces with which team he'll be going into business.

Petit Fours, Cherries, and Radish Seeds: Customer Delights and Disasters on "Last Restaurant Standing"

As a restaurateur, you do need to be prepared for anything, whether that's the appearance of vegetarian, a celiac, or a group of discerning--or rowdy--diners. You need to keep your cool, keep the dishes flying out of the kitchen, and keep the quality up. You can't be distracted or indeed derailed by unusual requests.

On this week's episode of BBC America's deliciously addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing ("Tricky Customer"), the past came back to haunt the three remaining teams as Raymond tasked the couples with creating some special offerings in their restaurants and... and accommodate a slew of customers with some strict dietary needs at the very last minute.

With only three teams left in the competition, the pressure is on each of the couples to perform well above expectations, even when Raymond Blanc throws a spanner in the works and pushes, say, a table of vegetarians and vegans into your restaurant at 8 pm on a weekend. In this day and age of serious food allergies and dietary restrictions, diners expect a level of service, even when making specific requests and they expect those requests to be carried out in a professional and courteous manner and, above all else, they expect that their dishes still be at the same level of taste and presentation as everyone else around them.

So how did the teams perform this week when faced with some very tricky customers? Let's discuss.

Tim and Lindsie. Tim and Lindsie really had a mixed bag this week. I thought their idea of giving a rustic-looking little packets of radish seeds and a recipe for the warm radish salad created at True Provenance was a nice touch that spoke to their cooking aesthetic and the mission and brand of the restaurant. And I was really quite happy to see that Lindsie, while emotional at seeing her son Noah for their weekly visit, didn't let her sadness derail her from the competition as she placed her focus on attempting to create a better life for her son through this amazing opportunity. Even when faced with mounting pressure, Lindsie kept her cool and dealt with putting out the many fires that broke out over the evening, the biggest of which was that aforementioned table of vegans and vegetarians. The duo offered an amuse bouche of an essence of tomato with soft herbs... which Raymond quickly recognized as one of his own recipes that he created eight years earlier. Eeek.

What upset me was just how completely Tim underestimated how many vegetarian or vegan guests they might have in that evening as guests. With several hours to go before service, Tim opted not to bring in any additional vegetables or create several dishes that would work for vegans or vegetarians. Hell, he could have just created one dish that might work for both sets of dietary restrictions, offering up a tasty--and filling--vegan dish that lacked any meat or meat by-products such as butter or cream. But to offer them a dish of sauteed cabbage, which at the best of times would only really count as a side dish, and a warm radish salad? Really? As an actual entree?

I understand that True Provenance serves mainly meat but Tim only created three of those portabello mushroom and creamed spinach pies and quickly devised a turnip bake for the vegetarians and didn't even consider the vegans at all. He had time to get out there (or send someone) to pick up some local veg to create a new dish that would have worked but he definitely should have been better prepared overall for any contingency, considering he did have notice of this occurrence in advance. One diner goes so far as to leave to buy a packet of nuts from a local shop because she was so hungry, while another said described Tim's attempts at vegetarian cooking as "school dinners." Ouch. And then he ran out of poached pears for the vegetarian dessert. And Tim ran out of most of his proteins on the menu and ice cream, which is a serious problem that they seem to encounter time and time again. Badly done, really.

Russell and Michele. The duo offered cocktails with champagne and hand-picked cherries for their little customer delight, as well as a delicious fava bean crostini amuse bouche that looked absolutely amazing. Plus, they offered a little gift at the end of the meal: a recipe from The Cheerful Soul, tied with a ribbon, so that guests could recreate one of the dishes at home.

What irked me was that Michele knew that that least one celiac was coming in for dinner that weekend. She should have been much, much better prepared for this situation in advance, had reviewed the menu ahead of time with Russell to determine which dishes were suitable and which contained wheat, and had been able to talk to the celiac diners without having to leave to consult Russell every two seconds. The entire ordering process took no less than twenty minutes. (Unacceptable in my book.) And even after all of that, they still were served a complimentary amuse bouche starter of favas and peas on top of a crostini... which, yes, contains wheat. Rather than make them a separate dish of just favas and peas--without bread--as would have been normal, the celiacs' dishes were whisked away and they didn't receive any amuse bouche. Which is slightly odd, given that this whole exercise was about pleasing the customer. Argh.

James and Alasdair. The guys offered guests a photography competition, in which they were giving away bottles of house wine to customers who correctly guessed the subject of some abstract photography, which was a huge hit. And complimentary glasses of wine to every table. And canapes. And petit fours. And lemon posset as a pre-dessert. Inspector David Moore found it incomprehensible that James and Alasdair would be giving away the delicious posset rather than charging for it, while the petit fours were basically inedible and should have been thrown away. They got reamed by Raymond and the inspectors, however, for giving away too much: offering wine on the house cannibalized their sales of alcohol; offering free canapes cannibalized sales of starters.

They also had to contend with a group of supper club fine diners who criticized James' cooking in terms of taste and presentation, which they found disappointing overall. A real shock, which is surprising, given that The Gallery's typical complaints don't involve the food whereas Alasdair usally gets slated. In this case, it was Alasdair getting the praise for a change.

The boys meanwhile also had a celiac diner, a seven-year-old girl, whom James went out of his way to make sure did NOT receive any gluten... but, still, a dessert containing crushed biscuits on top still went out of the kitchen and over to the table. Was it James' fault? Not really, though he should have double-checked that ticket before it went out of the kitchen and Alasdair should have especially made sure that she wasn't getting ANY gluten and briefed the waiters accordingly. Overall, they did pretty well though I am surprised once more about James' cooking coming under fire. Hmmm.

What did you think of this week's episode? Would you have put all three couples into the challenge next week? Who do you think will win this competition? And whose dreams are likely to be dashed on the rocks? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Masterclass"), the three remaining couples are put through front-of-house boot camp under the strict tutelage of perfectionist restaurateur David Moore while the chefs must prepare dishes to Raymond Blanc's satisfaction in the kitchens of Le Manoir aux'Quat Saisons.

"Last Restaurant Standing" Update: Nel's Stephen and Helen

Longtime readers of this site know of my near-obsession with British culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing, currently airing its second season on BBC America.

Fans of the series will know how much I adored Season Two contestants Helen and Stephen, who ran family-style restaurant Nel's and were eliminated from the competition in last week's episode. While I had a feeling that this supportive and determined couple would unfortunately not end up becoming partners to restaurateur Raymond Blanc, I couldn't help but be charmed by their can-do spirit and innate confidence.

I had wondered just what Helen and Stephen had gotten up to since the second season of Last Restaurant Standing had wrapped, so imagine my surprise when I received the following message from Stephen himself.

"Hi Televisionary

This is Steve from Nel's.

Been loving your blogs and reviews of the show. Now it seems that we have been eliminated from the show in the US its safe for me to comment!

Far from running a bakery, Helen and I are now running a 31 bed hotel with 2 bars, 2 restaurants and 2 function rooms. We've been here 7 weeks and currently have increased the business by 50% over the previous year. So the show did change our lives. It was only after completing my diaries about our time on the show that I worked out our big mistake. We thought the competition was to run the most successful restaurant every week. In reality the competition was to prove that you could be the best partner for RB and we were probably not cut out for that.

Keep up the good work. Have really enjoyed the reviews and some of the comments here. And we're determined that Conquering Cabbage will have its day!!

Steve"

I have to say that I am absolutely thrilled that Stephen and Helen have found their niche and have launched what sounds like a highly successful business venture, especially one that seems so cut out for their trademark brand of hospitality. Given the warm welcome that customers received at Nel's, their Last Restaurant Standing eatery, I know that the patrons of their new business are bound to feel right at home thanks to the generosity of Stephen and Helen.

Best of luck to you both and I too think that we haven't heard the last of "Conquering Cabbage"!

On tonight's episode of Last Restaurant Standing ("Tricky Customer"), Raymond invites back the least-satisfied customers from previous weeks, hoping that the couples will ensure that these guests have a more enjoyable dining experience the second time around.

"Scalloops" and "Mayognaise": The Art of Food on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Scalloops. Mayognaise.

No, these aren't some bizarre ingredients to be discovered in the pantry of some molecular gastronomist but rather the most unintentionally hilarious bits from last night's episode of culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing ("Cook Book") on BBC America.

This week's episode found three couples entering Raymond Blanc's latest challenge: to conceptualize a cookbook that ties in with their restaurants' brands, work with three sensational food photographers, design the layout, and pitch the book to buyers from three of the UK's biggest book retailers. At stake: a chance to end up in the final three teams competing to open a restaurant with Raymond Blanc.

So how did the three teams do when under pressure? Let's discuss.

Russell and Michele. I'm still not sure that Michele has what it takes to make it in the cutthroat restaurant world. She's far too fragile--brittle, even--to really run a successful restaurant, if she can't even handle constructive and gently phrased criticism from Raymond and the inspectors. Russell clearly has heaps of talent and I wish they would cut Michele loose and pair him with the usually unflappable Stephen from Nel's instead. (Alas.)

I was completely stunned with Michele's decision to stick some ghastly childhood photos and tacky design elements on their cookbook rather than actually, you know, showcase the food. Especially as their photography was absolutely gorgeous and Russell had done an impeccable job at styling the food. This was a miscalculation that once again points to Michele's lack of food knowledge, expertise, or business acumen. Thinking that their cookbook could be placed in bookstore sections OTHER than the cookbook section showed a wanton disregard for their business, their concept, and their book. Head-scratching, really. Likewise, her abrasiveness towards Raymond when he criticized her presentation to the buyers--which neglected to mention anything about their restaurant's food--was mind-boggling to me. Does she not realize that this could be her future business partner? That maybe he knows a hell of a lot more than she does about being a restaurateur and about cuisine in general? That maybe she should try to be more civil and less gallingly defensive?

Michele was irritated that the buyers asked too many questions of her during the 20-minute presentation window and that she was unable to cover everything she set out to recount to them. Um, that's the prerogative of the buyers. If they want to ask questions about the book, they should be able to ask them. And if they don't like your cheesy, kitschy cover? They sure as hell are going to tell you that in no uncertain terms.

Helen and Stephen. As much as I love these two, I had a feeling that this would be the challenge that did them in. And sure enough it was. I think the cards were stacked against them in this challenge. Helen's home cooking might be tasty to her loyal customers but it sure wasn't very photogenic and Helen did little to (A) style her food differently to make it appear more appetizing, (B) listen to her expert food photographer (who, for god's sake, has shot Jamie Oliver's books!), and (C) think about how said photographs might appear in the book, using yellow plates and blue gingham tablecloths.

It was going to be an uphill battle in order to win with a photograph of a smiley face of red plastic cups filled with Mexican condiments on the cover of their cookbook, entitled "Conquering Cabbage." (I will say, however, that everyone seemed to be critical of the title, saying it was vague, but I instantly got what she was going for and found it cute.) But they didn't make things any easier for themselves by actually refusing the advice offered by their photographer, which was a real sin. And Helen didn't earn any points by badgering the poor woman handling the book's layout, either. Rather than split up, Helen and Stephen opted to stay together throughout the challenge and, although she denied it, I do think it was because Helen wanted absolute control over every single element of this challenge. Which is terrifying to me because at no point did Helen think that the food looked unappealing or that their photographs would actually be a turn-off to the buyers.

As much as I might love these two, it was definitely time to send them packing. I can see Helen opening a small cafe/bakery somewhere but I don't think she was quite cut out for partnering with Raymond Blanc on a High Street eatery, sadly.

James and Alasdair. And then there were James and Alasdair, whose cookbook, entitled "The Art of Food," would have perfectly showcased their restaurant concept and style of cuisine with easily the most gorgeous photographs and food of the bunch... had the book not contained so many ludicrous spelling errors. Yes, there were no less than 20-odd misspellings--some of the hysterical variety--contained in the book, many within the same recipes. Like "scalloops" and "mayognaise" standing in for scallops and mayonnaise.

Alasdair has been heavily criticized in the past for a lack of attention to detail and this shone through tremendously in this week's challenge. He was responsible for proofing the pages and making sure everything was correct, yet he never bothered to run a spellcheck (and actually allowed scalloops and mayognaise to go into the book) and actually included a recipe that called for adding water to water and then boiling it. (Ahem, it was meant to be water and wine.) Should James have typed up that recipe quickly and emailed it rather than wasting 15 minutes dictating it to Alasdair over the phone, especially as he knows full well that Alasdair can't spell to save his life? Definitely.

It's rather sad, really, as the misspellings and odd instructions detracted from what was easily the best-looking cookbook overall. The cover alone made you want to pick it up and buy it (even if the recipe layouts left a lot to be desired) and the photography was stunning. Had these two paid closer attention to the finer details, they would have won this challenge easily, leaving the other two teams in their dust. The lesson learned? Alasdair has to step up, make smarter decisions, and they need to work together on crossing their t's and dotting their i's.

What did you think of this week's episode? Should Helen and Stephen been the ones to go home? With only three teams remaining, who do you think will take home the top prize? And which team should win? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Tricky Customer"), Raymond invites back the least-satisfied customers from previous weeks, hoping that the couples will ensure that these guests have a more enjoyable dining experience the second time around.

Dinner Theatre: Demonstrations and Recriminations on "Last Restaurant Standing"

It's good to know that I'm not mad (or in this case anyway): a cooking demonstration is actually meant to encourage people to sample your food. After all, it's a promotional event to get bodies into your restaurant, to showcase your cooking, and to put forth your restaurant concept and identity.

So how did James and Alasdair yet again manage to get it so wrong on this week's episode ("Cookery Demonstration") of BBC America's deliciously addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing?

This week's task was pretty damn straightforward: the teams were assigned to four different locations--a regatta, farmers' markets, and a shopping center--and were instructed to perform cooking demonstrations in an effort to increase bookings and spread the word about their restaurants. Granted, some of these locations were harder sells overall (Michele and Russell drew the short straw with the mall) but the emphasis was on luring customers in by offering them a literal taste of their restaurant concept.

And, afterward, Raymond Blanc himself would be stopping into each of the restaurants for the first time, to explore their kitchens and sample their dishes. And, oh, keep an eye on what's actually going on at each eatery.

So who sank and who swam this week? Let's discuss.

Lindsie and Tim. At the cooking demonstration, Tim definitely had the upper-hand and used his previous experiences as a stand-up comedian to his advantage at the farmers' market, luring customers in with jokes and a booming voice and then offering up tasty treats after each demo. Lindsie, meanwhile, made up 300 fliers to promote the business and walked away with a staggering 27 bookings as a result. (Well done, Lindsie!) Tim's affable nature and calm demeanour definitely played a role in the success of their demo, which attracted a large crowd and definitely achieved exactly what Raymond was looking for them to do. Loved that he described their stall as being on "bruschetta street," between the bread and tomatoes. (And, having had those very tomatoes at the Marylebone farmers market, I can attest to just how delicious they are.)

Back at the restaurant, it was a different story, however. I was mortified when Tim served Raymond a duck egg with asparagus soldiers... and hard-boiled the egg. Not exactly the first impression of your cooking you want to leave the master chef with after dining at your restaurant. The second attempt yielded a yolk that wasn't solid but was still overcooked, much to Raymond's dislike. Still, the duo did better overall than the other couples and seemed less frazzled and harried when Raymond came in; Lindsie in particular now seems to run that front of house effortlessly and seems less panicked and floundering. It was no surprise then that these two should win Restaurant of the Week... and walk away without having to even participate in Raymond's latest Challenge.

Stephen and Helen. Helen also did a good job at the cooking demonstration. Her homey style of cooking may have placated an audience hungry for free samples but I am not sure that her demonstration would have made me go to her restaurant. And that's perhaps the most difficult thing that Helen and Stephen have to overcome: the notion that guests can likely cook these very things at home themselves rather than go out and pay someone to do it for them.

Not unsurprisingly, Raymond was less than pleased with his dining experience at Nel's. Helen manages to run that kitchen with an iron fist, despite being one sous chef short that evening (she quickly drafts her kitchen porter to also fill in as a commis chef), but the food quality still leaves a lot to be desired. Raymond was very disappointed with her fish pie, which underneath the sweet potato topping was watery and runny; the carrots were virtually raw; and the broad beans--in season and available fresh everywhere--were frozen. Unless they can once again manage to dazzle the inspectors during next week's Challenge, I think Nel's days are numbered.

Michele and Russell. Oh, Michele and Russell. I'm really of two minds about you. On the one hand, Russell appears to be a phenomenal chef, he's thoughtful and precise, and has heaps of creativity and passion, even if he doesn't wear that on his sleeve. Michele, meanwhile, is a whirligig of emotion, unable to suppress herself from saying awkward things, a bouncing ball of nervous energy in the guise of being as cheerful as, well, their namesake restaurant. As I said before, they did draw the short straw with their cooking demonstration as the bottom of the escalator at a shopping center isn't exactly the most conducive spot for a cooking demonstration... if you want to lure more than local teenagers, that is. Because that's exactly what happened. After getting a late start (thanks to Russell leaving behind all of the food for the demo back at the restaurant), they seemed to only attract children to their demonstration... who didn't really seem to be the ideal audience for Russell's high-end chicken livers. (Although inspector David Moore said they were "delicious.")

And Raymond did drop by at The Cheerful Soul at a very late hour, when they had basically packed up the kitchen already. Still, while he thought the food was excellent (except for the sea bream's fatty skin, which didn't quite crisp up as hoped), the service was extremely lackluster and Raymond was kept waiting for 30 minutes for his main course and no one notified him of the delay. Adding insult to injury, Michele couldn't answer his questions about the source of the aubergines (read: eggplant), demonstrating a lack of culinary knowledge that Raymond found distressing. When asked where the aubergine came from, Michele replied (on camera, mind), "We get them from our supplier in Surrey, but they're not grown there." Later, when Raymond called her on this in front of the inspectors, Michele started to cry and ran out of the room after she claimed to tell all of their customers that the produce was from "Sacred's Farm in Surrey." Which is not what she told Raymond at all. But far worse than lying about it afterward was the fact that she very unprofessionally ran out of the room to cry rather than face Raymond and the inspectors' criticism. I find that extremely troubling, especially as she can be heard saying that she wants to throw the towel in.

Alasdair and James. And then there were Alasdair and James, who turned their waterside cooking demonstration into an art show and decided before beginning that they weren't going to allow demo viewers to taste the food... which then sat around uneaten. James' rationale was that if people wanted to try their food they would have to come into the restaurant. Um, what? Isn't that the entire point of a cooking demonstration? To demonstrate how to cook these dishes and then let the audience have a taste of the finishing product? You know, as an incentive to come into the restaurant and have more? It boggles the mind, really. Once again, Alasdair failed miserably on the marketing front, luring ONE person in for the cooking demo and then transforming the demo into an effort to sell art, rather than The Gallery itself. Badly done, guys.

At the restaurant, James once again created some delicious dishes but was let down badly by front-of-house, especially the waitstaff (who lacked any knowledge of the dishes), the slowness of service (at one point, Raymond told Alasdair that he needed to be out of there in 20 mins and still hadn't gotten his main course), and the lack of communication between him and Alasdair. Raymond was right when he predicted that James would quickly run out of steak, having only eight portions available for 38 guests, but I don't think he foresaw that James would run out of nearly every single protein on the menu. Wow. I don't know why James can't seem to get his ordering done correctly, but that is absolutely shocking to me.

What did you think of this week's episode? Should Tim and Lindsie have gotten a pass from the Challenge and a guaranteed spot among the final three teams? Who do you think will take home the top prize, the opportunity to open their very own restaurant with Raymond Blanc? And who will be the next to go home? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Cook Book"), the three teams entering the latest challenge set forth by Raymond Blanc must develop cookbooks that promote their restaurants' concepts, oversee photography and layout, and pitch the book to buyers from three of the UK's largest book sales outlets. Whose dream will go up in smoke? Find out next week.

An Englishman's Home is His Castle: Dinner Party Disasters on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Organizing a dinner party is never simple, especially when you're thrown into it at the last second... and aren't exactly professional caterers. That's right: there's no hiding anymore, as Raymond himself put it.

On last night's episode of Last Restaurant Standing ("The Dinner Party"), the three couples placed into Raymond Blanc's latest Challenge were in for the toughest trial of their lives as they catered three separate private dinner parties for three very particular (read: difficult) clients at their homes, which include a neo-Georgian mansion, a Tudor stately home, and a waterside chalet overlooking the Thames.

I have to say that this was definitely their toughest task to date and I am glad that Raymond pushed them into the deep end at this point in the competition. In particular, Helen and Stephen's couple were excessively demanding about presentation, cutlery and stemware, and the food itself, which had been shot by the lord of the manor that very day... and would be prepared by Helen that evening. (Talk about pressure.)

So did the couples sink or swim when faced with demanding clients and impossible odds? Let's discuss.

Alasdair and James. Once again, I was left scratching my head as I couldn't understand just what the hell was running through the minds of James and Alasdair again this week. They managed to luck out and get the most easy-going of the three clients (despite them being event planners themselves), which was a good thing as any other client would have eaten them alive after the way they behaved. Showing up several hours late and making the clients help unload food and equipment from the truck? Unacceptable. The chef leaving to drive 80 minutes roundtrip--TWICE--to pick up the rest of the chair roughly 30 minutes before the guests were due to arrive without preparing any food? Even more unacceptable! Running out of wine because front-of-house knowingly didn't buy enough (budgeting only £200) and then using the clients' personal stash? Outrageous, especially as Alasdair made a point of saying how embarrassing it would be if they ran out of wine.

I'm still not sure why someone other than James couldn't have driven and gotten the chairs from The Gallery while James got on with the cooking. This to me seemed the very essence of foolishness. Had they been on time, it would have been one thing. But to turn up two hours late and then disappear again and leave everything sitting on the kitchen counter is just pretty cheeky, not to mention completely unprofessional. Had these two landed the aristo couple that Helen and Stephen been saddled with, heads would have rolled. As it was, I was impressed that the couple took it quite so much in their stride. But really what else was there to do? You don't want your guests going thirsty, so of course you're going to offer up your own expensive cache of vino to your guests, despite the fact that the damn caterers should have anticipated that people might want more than 2 1/2 glasses of wine over the course of evening, especially as the dinner was significantly delayed in the first place. I can grumble all I want but James and Alasdair are lucky that James' food, which included Wiener schnitzel and other Alpine-themed treats, is as fantastic as it is; otherwise, these two would have been booted from the competition a long, long time ago.

Helen and Stephen. Helen and Stephen got saddled with the toughest clients of the bunch: Mr. and Mrs. Spencer, a judge and his wife who will be hosting a luxurious six-course dinner for their well-heeled friends using fish and game caught by Mr. Spencer himself. It's the type of function where the caterers aren't to speak to the guests, as Mrs. Spencer tells Stephen in no uncertain terms. I'll admit that I had my worries here. If there was anyone whose food wouldn't mesh well with the type of cuisine and presentation that the Spencers were anticipating, it would be Helen but she managed to pull it off admirably. She was very lucky to land workhorse Russell, who I am sure helped her keep the quality of her dishes very high and the two of them seemed to work extremely well together. And, let's not forget: these were demanding and particular clients. Mr. Spencer himself phoned Helen to tell her that there were to be no roast potatoes served... even though that's exactly what she had planned to serve with the venison. But she managed to cook the venison--and the pigeon--perfectly AND even had the guests (including hard-to-please Mrs. Spencer) raving about the crayfish risotto that she makes at home for her family.

Meanwhile, Stephen kept control in the dining room, despite the many issues that sprang up during the evening. And there were many: from the quality of the cutlery and stemware (Mrs. Spencer ended up nixing the rented one and brought out her fragile antique glasses) and the odious ornamental placemats. But Stephen very cannily arranged for the placements from Nel's to be brought in and taken away with the venison course itself. Very, very clever. He was the perfect mix of attentive but aloof, the perfect footman for such an evening. No wonder the Spencers were so very happy with the evening, moldy cheese couriered in from London be damned.

Laura and Peter. And, finally, there was Laura and Peter, who once again failed to deliver on his promise of fine dining. Was he stumped at first about his client Helen's request for South American cuisine at the dinner party? You betcha. And that's fine but you need to be able to be flexible and, most importantly, you need to be able to deliver when it comes to the food. Once again, Peter's presentation was haphazard and slapdash, and I still can't quite figure out what's South American about brownies for dessert. Plus, they managed to not serve their hostess last several times over the course of the evening, resulting in the guests all staring at each other, waiting to eat until she had been served. And they definitely overcooked that spiced rack of lamb. There was not an ounce of pinkness to the meat; it was well-done. And well-done, lukewarm lamb? Not exactly the height of culinary achievement. Even for a man perpetually unable to cook rice perfectly.

It was no surprise to me that Laura and Peter would be the ones to be sent packing. These two have managed to squeeze by elimination several times now and I had yet to be impressed by anything they'd managed to cook. In this case, that lobster salad looked absolutely awful (despite Peter's efforts to nail a "wow factor" on that dish), the lamb was woefully overcooked, the brownie looked absolutely forlorn on a plate with melted ice cream (no one bothered to put it into the freezer when they arrived), and they managed to run out of their sweet potato mash. Appropriate for their client's guests, members of the jetset including a celebrity photographer and a celebrated artist? Not quite. And it was hardly a surprise that most of the food came back into the kitchen uneaten. Badly done, guys.

What did you think of this week's episode? Should Laura and Peter have been the ones to have their restaurant closed for good? Will Alasdair and James ever manage to get it together? Who do you think will go home next? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Cookery Demonstration"), the remaining couples are tasked by Raymond to put on cooking demonstrations in order to promote their restaurants and secure more bookings. Which unlucky teams will be placed in Raymond's next challenge? Find out next week.

Sail Away: Teams Attempt to Grow Takeaway Businesses on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Talk about heat in the kitchen.

This week on BBC America's deliciously addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing ("Takeaway"), the five remaining teams were tasked by Raymond Blanc to offer takeaway options from their restaurant, given them motorcycle couriers to deliver food to customers' doors. The one catch: they'd still have to run their restaurants with a normal weekend service and keep profits up. Not an easy one.

It was made especially more difficult by the fact that several of the restaurants don't really have concepts that are easy to translate into takeaway. I don't really know how fine dining, for example, would be able to be created, delivered, and enjoyed in the same fashion as in the restaurant. James and Alasdair's The Gallery was especially at a loss as to what to do and, faced with yet another difficult decision, took the wrong path.

So how did they do overall? Let's discuss.

James and Alasdair. Let's be honest, this week brought us yet another catastrophe from these two, whom Raymond said had to "grow up." I have to say that I was completely flabbergasted by their performance this week, especially as they ended up having their best weekend yet, in terms of filling the restaurant. But they once again tried to cut corners by opting to not offer an actual takeaway menu but instead creating some rather subpar picnic boxes--little tea sandwiches, a brownie, some fruit, and water--and offering them to attendees at the local regatta. Which was a monumental error in judgment, as Raymond later told them. I've been to the regatta at Henley myself and these events are high-end affairs. People bring their own tents, their own exquisite food, and at times their own china and silver to these things. Offering such an upscale clientele a boxed lunch (itself meant to be a marketing exercise) was just foolhardy and doomed to fail. They sold ONE box the entire time they had been there.

If they were looking to lure customers into the restaurant (rather than fulfill the brief this week), I would have hoped that they would have thought things through more clearly and instead offered something like passed canapes to regatta attendees before they entered. Something that would have painted The Gallery in a good light and perhaps brought in more customers later on. Anything, really.

I felt bad for James, who had to get through a weekend service after learning that his father had suffered a heart attack. He soldiered through and that showed grit and determination. But these things matter little when the person in question shows such poor judgment to send out some ratty 14-hour old sandwiches that have been in the refrigerator to a customer looking for a nighttime takeaway. So it was no surprise to me that Raymond would place these two into the Challenge. They really do need to prove that they have a handle on running a restaurant and the maturity and levelheadedness necessary to do so. Will they sink or swim next week?

Helen and Stephen. Having seen the UK version of this episode ahead of time, I have to say that there was A LOT cut out of this episode that spoke to why Helen was so defensive in front of Raymond and the inspectors this week. For her part, Helen was so proud of the improvements she made in quality over the last few weeks (including altering recipes and attempting to lift her standards of presentation) that she felt really personally attacked by Raymond's criticism of her food. Was it a HUGE improvement in terms of the dishes' looks at Nel's? Perhaps. But it's also a matter of her cuisine's taste, which Raymond said many customers were complaining about. I have to say that Helen is trying really, really hard but I don't know if it's going to be enough to win this competition in the end.

I was also really surprised that Raymond didn't seem to find any positives in Helen and Stephen's efforts on the takeaway side. Stephen made a deal with a local market to offer Helen's ready-made meals to heat at home and he sold out completely... and they then proceeded to ALSO offer traditional hot takeaway for delivery during the nighttime service. I understand that Raymond wants a partner who is flexible, mature, and passionate and I feel that Helen is all of those things. But she did shoot herself in the foot a little bit when she said that she "wasn't a chef." Ouch. I was not surprised, but a little saddened, that these two were also placed in the Challenge.

Tim and Lindsie. I really feel that Tim and Lindsie should have gone into the Challenge, no doubt about it. The fact that they chose to do the clangers--with sweet and savory ends--was a gargantuan error in judgment on their part. As Sarah Willingham pointed out, just because Raymond mentioned that Cornish pasties used to sometimes--rarely--and not any more offer that combination doesn't mean that they should offer that today. There was no way of telling which end was savory and which was sweet but that's also beside the point: why would anyone ring up True Provenance and expect a clanger for their takeaway offering? It bore no relevance to the restaurant's concept, ethos, or style of cuisine and was just odd.

Somehow these two managed to squeak by without getting placed into the Challenge, which really shocked me. They only managed to fill nine tables and had to deal with a table of five walking out without paying on top of that. Yes, that man was beyond rude and OTT and I credit Lindsie with dealing with him in a mature and controlled manner, but that doesn't erase their errors in judgment with this latest task. Especially when compared with what Stephen and Helen offered for their takeway offerings. Slightly head-scratching, this one.

Laura and Peter. If ever there was a couple who should have been booted from the competition weeks ago it's these two, who run the Welsh Wok. It's taken them this long to get a grip on their restaurant's concept (Asian, finally!) and Peter still has no control over his kitchen whatsoever, despite the fact that he's the only one in there who knows how to prepare Cantonese food! (Cut from the US version of the episode: Peter telling his sous chef that he wants to be in charge... and then still taking a backseat to him when they find themselves in the weeds.) I'm glad that Raymond placed them into the Challenge as I don't think that they have a shot in hell of running their own place. Certainly not the way that they've been performing so far.

Russell and Michele. I felt a little bit like the Restaurant of the Week decision was a case of producer interference. It would have been a foregone conclusion that Russell and Michele are the team to beat if they won for the third straight week in a row so Raymond and the inspectors made an example out of them for the frozen chips, even though it wasn't the most egregious error made this week. Should it have been enough to keep them from winning the prize again this week? I don't think so. Yes, they made a huge deal about their sustainable takeaway fish and chips and offered a choice of poached, fried, or pan sauteed fish but so what if the chips were frozen? As Russell put it, he couldn't afford the wage expenditure to have his commi or sous chef peeling and cutting potatoes all day. Which is a valid point, really.

But to not give anyone the Restaurant of the Week, after Russell and Michele did a brilliant job this week running their restaurant and offering a successful takeaway service (even if Michele wanted to discontinue it straightaway), seems wrong to me. I do think they did the best and at this point could win this entire competition. I knew they were the one team safe from the Challenge but I do think that the inspectors made an error here by not giving them the prize. Would Russell have preferred to offer fresh chips? Absolutely. Did he get reamed for not doing that? Indeed he did. But he also made a valid case why he didn't that was based on profits and time management. Which alone points to him being by far the most qualified chef in the mix.

What did you think of this week's episode? Should Tim and Lindsie have been placed in the Challenge? Who will be the next team send home? And who do you think has the chops to win the competition at this point? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("The Dinner Party"), the three teams placed into Raymond's latest Challenge must cater private dinners for three very demanding and discerning clients. Whose dream will go up in smoke? Find out next week.

First Class (Air) Fare: Teams Take Flight on "Last Restaurant Standing"

It was definitely sink or swim time on Last Restaurant Standing this week.

On this week's episode ("Airline Food") on the deliciously addictive culinary competition series, Raymond Blanc offered his toughest Challenge yet to three teams: they would have to design a three-course meal for first class airline passengers that would define their brand and style of cooking and present said menu to airline reps and Raymond and his inspectors while simulating a first class cabin meal service.

No easy task that. Especially as two of the three teams in this week's Challenge have some pretty subpar cooking skills... and the chefs themselves wouldn't be on hand to reheat and plate each dish, but would have to rely on their front-of-house counterparts to effortlessly carry off service. In other words: ouch.

Tim and Lindsie. I knew from the start that these two would be safe from elimination if Lindsie could keep her emotions in check and focus on the task at hand, rather than think about how much she misses her one-year-old son. And when the duo landed Helen and Stephen as their helpers on this Challenge, I knew they pretty much had it in the bag. For one, Stephen is the ideal front-of-house manager, polished and poised, and he was able to lend his considerable skills to aid Lindsie during service; second, Helen works extremely well in a team setting and it was an absolute hoot to see her and Tim working together shopping and cooking.

While Tim was criticized by Raymond for spending so much time shopping (when he should have been back in the kitchen prepping for the following day), he was correct in taking the appropriate time to correctly source seasonal and local fare, being sure to discover the provenance of every ingredient that was going on the plate. After all, he had gotten attacked in the past by Raymond, Sarah, and David for calling his restaurant concept True Provenance and then failing to follow through on that promise. Still, the Jeremy Barber breed/farmer gaffe was their only (minor) misstep in an otherwise polished and elegant performance this week. Their pork rillettes and saddle of lamb looked absolutely appropriate for first class passengers, was fresh and seasonal, completely on target with their brand and customer, and tasted divine. Lindsie and Stephen prepped the cabin for service together and were the only team that managed to do so and get the food out on time to boot. Well done all around, guys.

Laura and Peter. I'm still not sure what to make of the Welsh Wok. This week, they did manage to somewhat boil down their confusing restaurant concept into a precise message (Asian dishes in a relaxed, casual environment) but failed to deliver once again on the food. Peter and teammate Russell went to great lengths to source high-end traditional ingredients from a far-off Chinese market but then cut corners by buying frozen king prawns rather than fresh. Yes, they would have to shell them but first class passengers should expect fresh shrimp (and rightfully so) rather than frozen ones. Additionally, there were issues once again with Peter's rice this week, which was completely overcooked and sticky (and couldn't be extracted from their reheating tins), and his starter dish of noodles were soggy and swollen. I knew right away that both Raymond and Sarah would know that the prawns were frozen and, sure enough, they did within one bite. (Loved that Sarah looked over at Raymond to see his reaction.)

Laura meanwhile promised the execs a "speedy service" but the problems with the rice and the slowness with setting up the cabin meant that the food was alarmingly delayed until the last second. And her severe unfriendliness, coupled with her nerves, didn't do much to allay the judges' concerns about her front-of-house charms or her understanding of this challenge. Did the rice cause a problem? Definitely. But Laura could have smiled and tried to make the passengers comfortable at least... rather than once again defend husband Pete's rice-making abilities.

Chris and Caroline. And then there was Chris and Caroline, who found themselves in Raymond's Challenge for the second time. I've never been convinced that Chris really can cook or understand how to run a higher-end dining establishment and he proved that completely this week, purchasing all of the ingredients for the first class passengers' dishes at Asda, cutting corners and costs the whole way, and then presenting a dish that was really only appropriate for casual pub food and certainly not for fine dining.

As soon as he said he was going to do a Lancashire hot pot, I was concerned that he had missed the point of the Challenge all together. If he had somehow managed to pull off the dish in an elevated, more elegant fashion, it could have worked. But instead, he offered something that looked like a dog's dinner (which David Moore criticized was more like beef bourguignon than a true, traditional Lancashire hot pot), topped with some awful looking potato rosti: charred on the outside and raw on the inside. I saw that the rosti were burned as soon as he pulled them out of the oven at the prep kitchen; trying to convince the judges that they got burned during reheating on the plane was utterly ludicrous.

The pastry and creme anglais with berries dessert, made by James surprisingly, was inedible. Did James somehow knowingly sabotage Caroline and Chris' chances? I don't know but I wouldn't put it past him. He is a far superior chef to Chris in every regard so I don't quite know how some of those dishes went out the way they did without him stepping in. But at the end of the day it was Chris who was in charge of the kitchen and his decisions, concepts, and tastes defined what the team was preparing. Any responsibility for the final product does rest squarely on his shoulders.

So it was hardly surprising that Chris and Caroline's restaurant would be closed. They've managed to squeak by too many times already and I haven't seen any real promise of improvement from Chris' cuisine, which had been criticized as bland, underseasoned, and tasteless. I didn't see any possible way for Raymond to open a restaurant with them under any circumstances.

What did you think of this week's episode? Would you have sent home Chris and Caroline or the wobbly Peter and Laura instead? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing, the five remaining couples are challenged by Raymond Blanc to create the perfect take-out menu, while still running their restaurants at full efficiency.

Channel Surfing: FOX Gets "Mental," HBO Defends "Big Love" Controversy, BBC to Dine Again at Blanc's "Restaurant," and More

Welcome to your Wednesday morning television briefing.

FOX has acquired US rights to FTVS' thirteen-episode medical drama Mental, starring Chris Vance (Prison Break), Annabella Sciorra (The Sopranos), and Jacqueline McKenzie (The 4400), which it plans to air this summer. Series, created by Deborah Joy LeVine and Dan Levine. Project, from Fox Television Studios and Fox International Channels, was shot last year in Bogota, Colombia as part of a international co-production business model that produces fare internationally and then sells it back into the US market. (Variety)

HBO has defended its plans to air a March 15th episode of drama Big Love, which features a sacred Mormon endowment ritual, despite encountering criticism from Church of Latter Day Saints officials who claimed to be "offended" by the inclusion of such a ceremony, said to be viewable only by LDS church members in good standing. "Obviously, it was not our intention to do anything disrespectful to the church, but to those who may be offended, we offer our sincere apology," said HBO in a statement. Series creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, meanwhile, said that the ceremony was vetted by experts for accuracy. "In approaching the dramatization of the endowment ceremony, we knew we had a responsibility to be completely accurate and to show the ceremony in the proper context and with respect," said Olsen and Scheffer in a separate statement. "We therefore took great pains to depict the ceremony with the dignity and reverence it is due." (Hollywood Reporter)

BBC has commissioned a third season of culinary competition series The Restaurant (which airs Stateside on BBC America as Last Restaurant Standing) and plans to air the third season later this year. Raymond Blanc and his two inspectors, Sarah Willingham and David Moore, will return for a third season, which will see nine couples compete for their own restaurant. "This year will be survival of the fittest," said Blanc. "I am not looking for dreamers, I want to see couples with fresh ideas and a partnership that will flourish under pressure." (BBC)

Pilot casting alert: Tyler Labine (Reaper) has been cast as the lead in FOX comedy pilot Sons of Tucson; Natalie Dormer (The Tudors) has snagged the female lead on FOX drama pilot Masterwork, from Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring; Sara Rue (Less Than Perfect) has been cast in ABC's drama pilot Eastwick, Drake Bell (Drake and Josh) will star in CBS comedy pilot The Fish Tank; Eion Bailey (ER) and Kristin Bauer (True Blood) have joined CBS drama pilot House Rules; and Richard Schiff (The West Wing) has been cast in FOX drama pilot The Reincarnationist. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello has a sneak peek at two clips from this Thursday's return of Smallville on the CW. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

NBC has ordered eight episodes of reality competition series Great American Road Trip, in which seven families will drive cross-country to various well-known US landmarks and compete in challenges against the other families until only one remains. Series, from BBC Worldwide, will launch this summer. (Hollywood Reporter)

Is the long-rumored Star Wars live action series finally in the works? Damages' Rose Byrne, promoting Knowing, her new film with Nicholas Cage, allegedly revealed that the series is currently casting. “A lot of my friends have been auditioning for it,” said Byrne of the series, which is said to focus on minor characters during the time period between Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars. (MTV Movies Blog)

Ousted NBC Universal executive Katherine Pope will oversee television operations for outgoing News Corp chairman Peter Chernin's new production company, says Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke. (Deadline Hollywood Daily)

MTV has ordered 20 episodes of animated series DJ and the Fro, about two office workers who trade viral videos while chaos reigns around them, and has ordered five scripted pilots, said to be a mix of live-action and animated fare. Among them is Private High Musical, an adaptation of the web series that spoofed Disney Channel's High School Musical, Long Distance Relationship, about a couple who try to stay together when they attend different universities, and sketch comedy Popzilla. (Hollywood Reporter)

NBC Universal has signed a deal with Sony's PlayStation Network that will enable users to download its movies and television episodes on PlayStation 3 and PSP devices. Television episodes from such series as Battlestar Galactica, The Office, Heroes, 30 Rock, and Eureka will be available for download 24 hours after their linear transmission; both television and feature offerings will be made available in both high-definition and standard-definition options. (Variety)

The Hollywood Reporter's Steven Zeitchik looks at what the proposed and "nearly unpredecented" merger between William Morris Agency and Endeavor would mean for the industry and the shared appeal it has for both companies. However, given the current duplication of work at both companies, job cuts are to be expected following the merger. (Hollywood Reporter)

Following several cost-cutting measures, Sony Pictures Entertainment will layoff roughly 250 employees and cut another 100 open positions, reducing their overall workforce by five percent worldwide. (Hollywood Reporter)

Former Kaplan/Perrone talent manager Justin Killion has been hired as VP of development at Thom Beers' Original Prods., where he will oversee reality programming but also make a push for the company into scripted series. (Variety)

Stay tuned.

White Flag: Contestants Tackle World Cuisines on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Was it just me or did nearly every team seemingly fall apart this week on BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing?

On this week's installment of deliciously addictive culinary competition series Last Restaurant Standing ("Flags of the World"), the remaining six couples were tasked with introducing various world cuisines to their individual menus, ranging from Swedish and Mexican to Japanese and Spanish. This was definitely a tricky task as many of the contestants were pretty unfamiliar with the cuisines in question (just look at Helen and Thai food for an example) and several teams faced external problems that would either derail their progress in the competition or crystallize their commitment to Raymond and this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

So were they able to inject some foreign flair into their restaurant concepts or did it get too hot in the kitchen for several teams? Let's discuss.

Michele and Russell. I have to say that I wasn't a fan of Michele and Russell at first: she seemed too flighty and way in over her head and not cut out for the restaurant business. But then a funny thing happened as the challenges went on and they gained control of their restaurant, The Cheerful Soul: they figured out how to make it work. There's a reason why they won Restaurant of the Week two weeks in a row. Michele has finally asserted herself in the front of house and seems more relaxed and knowledgeable about Russell's food; Russell has control over his kitchen and is turning out inventive and delicious dishes with precision and flair.

I never thought that I'd see The Cheerful Soul looking quite so, well, cheerful. But this week, faced with offering Swedish cuisine, this duo did the right thing: they slightly tweaked their British menu to reflect some Swedish flavors and ingredients and offered some special dishes that played off their regular offerings. Even notoriously hard-to-please inspector David Moore was won over by their delicious reindeer dish and Russell continued the theme throughout some other carefully selected dishes. Well done, you two.

Laura and Peter. Honestly, I don't know how these two have managed to skate by without getting called out by Raymond and the inspectors. There's the matter of their schizophrenic menu at The Welsh Wok, the matter of the woefully undercooked rice, and the fact that Peter's sous chef has complete control over the kitchen, from expediting at the pass to devising this week's Spanish-themed menu. I was glad that they opted not to include Spanish dishes alongside Welsh and Chinese ones but they really dropped the ball when they decided to let the kitchen staff flesh out their menu rather than retain ownership and control of the endeavor. It's one thing to be open to suggestions but it's quite another to let the restaurant be run by someone else. Peter is taking far too much of a laissez-faire attitude in the kitchen and it was clear that he was entirely out of his element this week. I'm glad that they'll have to earn their place in the competition... if they can emerge unscathed from Raymond's latest Challenge.

Stephen and Helen. I have to say that I was pretty disappointed with Helen's performance this week. Stephen is such a natural in front-of-house and Helen is a workhorse when it comes to getting her home-style meals out to diners. However, she seemed absolutely rigid and unyielding this week when faced with the notion of having to cook Thai food... and merely added some Thai spices to her regular dishes. Which would have been a problem in and of itself but no one in the restaurant--least of all her Thai guests--seemed to notice any sort of Thai-inspired flavors. It seems to me that Helen didn't like Thai food, had little experience eating the cuisine, and didn't want to try to get it right in any meaningful way. Which is sad because (A) Thai food is wonderfully rich and complex, balancing sweet, spicy, sour, and salty in each heady bite, and (B) because Sarah Willingham already thinks that Helen isn't flexible or adaptive in the kitchen. Uh-oh.

Tim and Lindsie. I was really disappointed when Lindsie wanted to throw in the towel after a month of competing in order to see their year-old son. Yes, I understand that she misses her child dearly but she went into this competition in order to see Tim attempt to achieve his dream. And, once again, I can't help but be reminded that this is HIS dream and not hers and that she doesn't share his passion for food or his depth of knowledge.

Tim, meanwhile, continued to soldier on despite some sort of stomach bug (or food poisoning, either of which seems to be sweeping through the contestants this season), overseeing his kitchen though unable to get in there and cook his food. I'm glad they didn't quit the series but decided to stay on and see what happens; it would be a shame to make it this far and then just give up. And, even though Tim was unable to cook (or help his kitchen get out of the weeds), True Provenance did turn out some exceptional Japanese dishes that even the native diners seemed to appreciate. Sure, it wasn't quite the same exact food you might find in Japan, but Tim's dishes used the traditional flavors, textures, and cooking techniques of Japan. I just hope they can hold it together as I think he does show some real promise. It will be interesting to see if they sink or swim in the Challenge next week.

Alasdair and James. I'm really disappointed with this pair (or it is pear?) this week. Once again, they've shown a shocking disregard for the attention to detail that Raymond keeps slating them for and this week that was clearly shown in the errors on their written menu. Errors in both the French AND the English portions, I might add. The substitution of "pairs" for "pears" was an egregious one as was the misspelling of many familiar French culinary terms. I was surprised that Raymond didn't chastise James for calling his tomato chicken dish "coq au vin," despite using a white wine base rather than the traditional red wine. His French guests were right when they said that he should have called the dish something else rather than open it up for comparisons to the much beloved (and difficult to correctly achieve) traditional coq au vin. Especially as he knew that it was a tricky dish to pull off correctly. There's an arrogance and cockiness here which I don't like, especially as they continually seem to lack the skills in execution to back it up.

Caroline and Chris. And last there's Caroline and Chris. If I'm being brutally honest, I probably would have closed their restaurant right then and there. These two have no clue how to run a restaurant and Chris has been censured by Raymond several times for serving bland, underseasoned food. (Which they even offered--along with snuff--to the dons and fellows of Oxford last week.) I completely understand that they suffered a major setback from the loss of the oven but their range was still fully functional... and they completely missed the very spirit of Mexican cuisine. There was no soul, no thought involved with any of their "dishes," just purchased fajitas and tortilla, a bowl of chips, and some sour cream. Really the worst offering out of any team this week (or, really, most weeks).

There was something incredibly pathetic and unimaginative about their "cold buffet" and they never even thought to use any of the traditional ingredients of Mexico. Where were the avocados, the chili peppers, the beans? While enchiladas were clearly not possible without the use of the oven, where were any soft tacos with chicken and beef? Or refried beans? Burritos? Tortas? Arroz con pollo? Chicharrones? Or, hell, ceviche? One doesn't need any cooking agents other than the acid from limes or lemons to prepare the raw seafood dish. My point is this: they never even bothered to think about anything once they settled on cold offerings with some fajitas and didn't seem at all concerned that they'd have some very unhappy customers (not to mention inspectors) with their idea of cold offerings, a white flag if there ever was one. I'm very glad that they're going into the Challenge and I really do hope that, after seeing their performance this week, Raymond decides to close their restaurant for good.

What did you think of this week's episode? Do you agree that Michele and Russell deserved the top spot? Would you have sent any other teams into the Challenge? Who do you think will emerge victorious... and who do you think will be sent packing? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Airline Food"), the three couples selected by Raymond to enter the Challenge are tasked with catering for first-class passengers on an airline.

Oxford Blues: Raymond's Challenge Has Teams Scrambling on "Last Restaurant Standing"

Last night's episode of BBC America's Last Restaurant Standing ("Oxford Formal Halls") was a personal one for me and not just for the Oxford setting but specifically because the college that James and Alasdair had to prepare a meal for was the very one that I attended: Wadham College.

I had the opportunity as an undergraduate to dine at the High Table for Christmas dinner with the dons and fellows. It was an occasion that I will remember for the very rest of my life and it was made especially memorable by the fact that my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) was there beside me. Oxford is steeped in tradition and everything, even the way meals are conducted in hall, have an elaborate sense of precedence.

So I was extremely excited (and a little terrified, frankly) to see just how the three teams in Raymond's latest Challenge would conduct themselves when faced with the daunting task of preparing a fine dining experience for the High Table and another fantastic meal for the roughly 150 undergraduates as well.

So how did they acquit themselves? Let's discuss.

James and Alasdair. I was extremely curious to see whether this duo would be able to communicate more effectively this week, especially after the bollocking that Raymond gave them in last week's episode. James is an extremely capable chef but hasn't yet proven that he can (A) cook for a large group of people or (B) that he can run a restaurant in an equal partnership. He completely blew the opportunity to prove both of those things this week by only focusing on the High Table dinners (and wrongly leaving the Herculean task of feeding all of the undergrads to Helen) and by spending nearly all of the budget on the food... without consulting Alasdair, who was then left £58 to spend on wine. Which wouldn't be a Good Thing under normal circumstances but it was most definitely not good here, when the dons have their pick of some of the world's very best wine cellars in Oxford. Serving them barely potable swill didn't do them any favors, no matter how well crafted their dining experience may have been.

Also a glaring error: not following protocol and serving everyone on time. The Wadham team seemed to be very much behind schedule (so did Mike and Harriet as well) and that didn't exactly endear them to the dons or students. Still, I would have been surprised if Raymond had closed their restaurant this week. Was it wise not to go overbudget? Perhaps, because Raymond and the inspectors would have seized upon that fact during the judging. All in all, I think they definitely made mistakes but were at least focused. And it helped that they had Helen and Stephen; Helen was able to crank out 150 meals without breaking a sweat and Stephen had attended Cambridge and was able to help them out with some of the protocol issues. But the prime numbers "theme"? Invisible.

Caroline and Chris. As soon as they decided to make the evening about Sir Walter Raleigh and then opted to hire a potato juggler and hand out tins of snuff to the students, I had a sense that this was all going fairly pear-shaped. Chris did take Raymond's critique about his under-seasoned, bland food to heart and used a lot more herbs and salt this week. But he completely missed the point about High Table and Low Tables not getting the same food, serving everyone from dons and fellows to undergrads 70 pence chicken legs that did, as one fellow admitted, "look like blue-collar food." There's no elegance or drama to Chris' food and it does look fairly pubby on a regular basis. Unless these two can get their act together quickly, it's only a matter of time before Raymond takes the keys to their restaurant away.

Mike and Harriet. And then there was Mike and Harriet. Once again, they tried to overthink the issue and focus on competing "smartly" instead of thoughtfully. There was no reason to cook beef bourguignon for six hours. Or steam a lamb for four hours. Harriet's strength has been in her cuisine and she made some spectacularly wrong-headed choices this week. Once again, her father Mike did her no favors either. Facing an increasingly impatient crowd, he seemed as effective a front-of-house host as a headless chicken and his rudeness when dealing with the college's officers was shocking. Cutting off a discussion by saying he wanted to stay on agenda? Yet another example at how this man has no social graces whatsoever. Cooking in an Oxford dining hall was an extraordinary opportunity and one that outsiders normally don't receive; to throw that back in the faces of the people who made this possible was charmless, foolish, and just plain rude.

I knew that these two had managed to squeeze by elimination for the last time. After being on the chopping block twice before, I had a feeling that Raymond and the inspectors would swing the axe this time. And, despite the promise that Harriet showed with the cooking, I can't say that I am sad to see them go.

What did you think of this week's episode? Do you agree with Raymond's decision to send Harriet and Mike packing? Who are you rooting for to win their own restaurant? And which team will be the next to get cut from the competition? Discuss.

Next week on Last Restaurant Standing ("Flags of the World"), the remaining teams must incorporate the cuisines of foreign countries into their menus, while maintaining their own concept and identity.