Kitchen Confidential also airs tonight at the same time, so I may tweak your subject line to reflect that. And hey we can have a Nick and Aly discussion thread!

There we go, all tweaked.

I've read reviews where Aly's show has been compared to Friends and where Nick's show has been compared to Arrested Development. Course it's sods law that they should air opposite each other.

[ edited by Simon on 2005-09-19 18:48 ]

Simon | September 19, 20:44 CET

If thats an accurate comparison, then I think I'd probably go for KC as 'Arrested Development' slightly surpasses 'Friends' for me

(27 and half hours until Serenity. Thats tommorow! It's beginning to sink in, and therefore the euphoric music is playing)

Apocalypse | September 19, 20:52 CET

Sigh. 'Tis cruel fate that pits Aly against Nick. I have both TiVo'd, but ranked Aly's show higher. To be fair, I think I'll prefer Nick's, but they've forced me to cast me lot, so cast it I have. I hope that both kick just as much ass as they can, however. And then get a second season with new, non-opposing time slots.

Jet Wolf | September 19, 21:33 CET

I love Aly and Neil Patrick Harris, but I'm a huge fan of Arrested Development (and I'm starting to like Prison Break) so I'll have my channel set to FOX all Monday night. I can't wait to see Nick and Bradley Cooper on TV again!

Saturn Girl | September 19, 21:40 CET

I love Nick and Bradley so I'll watch KC-no question about it. My sister is d-v-r-ing Mother so I'll watch that tomorrow. I love Aly too but she's the only favorite of mine on her show while KC has two of them. There are actual football issues tonight so that may distort the ratings for both shows :)

beckyboo | September 19, 21:59 CET

Lol, my friends and I are going out tonight, but we've set it up so that one of us DVR's Aly's new show while someone else DVR's Nicky's new show - bwa-ha-ha!

Emma Frost | September 19, 23:30 CET

I'm in a bit of a quandry of which to watch. I've also added the new show "Surface" into the mix. What to do, what to do.

Desilu | September 20, 00:45 CET

Well, I watch HIMYM. It was alright. I taped KC. Who saw it and what did you think?

MySerenity | September 20, 05:36 CET

I switched back and forth with my TV remote and rather quickly chose Kitchen Confidential. Then I got distracted and didn't really watch it.

Succatash | September 20, 06:04 CET

I liked KC better. I thought Aly and the guy that played her fiance were the best thing of HIMYM but I found the lead guy and Doogie a bit annoying. But, some of that could've been that I've seen the ads for this show about five billion times and was already getting sick of the show before I saw it - and I hate laugh tracks!!

KC looks like it has some potential. I'll keep watching them both and see how it goes. But I must say, if Aly wasn't in HIMYM I probably wouldn't be watching at all.

Firefly Flanatic | September 20, 06:12 CET

Didn't see "Mother," but "Kitchen Confidential" has earned my 3 Episode View Guarantee. Althoug, if the first episode is any indication, it will be on my permanent schedule after that.

AlterLeo | September 20, 06:28 CET

KC does look promising. It's always hard to tell from a pilot, when so much time is spent just setting up the story and the characters, but it seems to have all the right elements.

Also, gotta love Bradley Cooper.

Galvatron | September 20, 06:31 CET

Yeah, Bradley Cooper was great in it! Not much of Nick but it was still nice to see him on tv again!

Firefly Flanatic | September 20, 06:41 CET

I got a DVD of the How I Met Your Mother pilot a couple of weeks ago, being a member of Entertainment Weekly's Front Row. It's pretty decent, and with some definite potential. There were a couple of bits I really loved, like the guy's perfect woman "must quote Ghostbusters in conversation"--cut to: "Ray, if someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES!", and the part with Aly's eyepatch. "Hey, I wonder..." "AHH! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SITTING THERE?!"

It's got potential. It's flawed, yes, but there is promise there.

I just watched Kitchen Confidential after Arrested Development. And while, of course, it is not as brilliant as Arrested Development (then again, almost anything would look relatively weak airing right after AD), I thought it was hilarious. I laughed my ass off several times, and it was great to see Nick back in action. Much better than HIMYM, I think, but both are good shows and I'll keep coming back for more servings of both.

Despite the fact that they air opposite each other. Grr.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 20, 06:58 CET

I loved Kitchen Confidential, I saw it a few weeks ago. I thought it was very funny, and it didn't insult it's audience.

How I Met Your Mother, I couldn't stand. I don't like shows with a laugh track, forced over acting so it's blatantly obvious what emotion the character is feeling. IMO it's a show with no trust in the intelligence of it's audience. I wanted to like it. I love Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, and the guy from "Freaks and Geek"(her fiance), but I just didn't enjoy AT ALL.

Odysseus | September 20, 07:28 CET

Aly and Neil were the only thing good about HIMYM. I'll give it one more try next week, then I may have to say goodbye. I thought the writing was pretty weak. It seemed like they were trying to match Aly's character to her character in American Pie. "Likes the Sex Girl" if you will. Did anyone else notice this?

Kitchen Confidential was really great. Glad to see Nicky getting some good work, hope he gets a good story arc. I loved Bradley Cooper's character. What a great actor! Hey, was his girlfriend the same actress who was in the Pretender? Anyone know who I'm talking about? I have posted an entry on whedonesque.org about Kitchen if anyone wants to continue their thoughts.

Harmalicious | September 20, 07:46 CET

Yes yes yes Harmalicious! I was trying to place that actress as well and I think you nailed it!

missingbuffy | September 20, 08:13 CET

Really liked KC and will tune in next week. Did not take to How I Met Your Mother, even though I like the actors. Too cutesy and too much laughtrack. Will probably give it one more chance, but if it doesn't get any better, then it's out. I'm also not sure how they can maintain the premise.

Wendy | September 20, 08:22 CET

I'm with Odysseus. Kitchen Confidential was hilarious and well thought out, while HIMYM wastes its amazing actors. I keep telling myself that if Aly, NPH, and Jason Segel all saw promise in this show, it must get better. I'll give it a few more episodes- I do love the cast!

will | September 20, 08:25 CET

I would certainly be in the favoring Kitchen Confidential camp (on the basis of the few bits I've seen, at least). Interesting, then, that the LA Times reviewers came out the opposite way today: How I Met Your Mother is enthusiastically billed as Seinfeld's Hip Replacement ("The show glows with belief"), whereas KC gets no more than a lukewarm reception ("As a comedic idea, it feels so very familiar"). I wonder who'll win the ratings battle.

SoddingNancyTribe | September 20, 08:35 CET

I liked both. Aly's show is a good **sitcom** and "Kitchen" is a good **half-hour comedy**

I have moved away from the sitcom genre since "Friends" ended and I started to tire of "Will & Grace." So the worst part for me was the laugh-track. But I still had to watch it (I think Aly's dress hypnotized me somehow during the Emmys). I watched it live while I TiVoed "Kitchen" so I can't go back and really review. She totally fits in this area, and the show was not at all bad.

A few things, well people, made me like "Kitchen Confidential" before I'd even see it. (1) Bradley Cooper (2) Nick Brenden and (3) Darren Star (Mr. Sex and the City, among others). The main flaw was that I really couldn't stand Bonnie Somerville's character and I pretty much liked her as Mona on "Friends"
One word: FUEGO! FUEGO!

Which one will I be watching? Kitchen. If it weren't for the timeslot conflict I would watch both, and both are on my Season Pass list, if nothing more than just supporting both even if I'm watching one.

Oh, and does the voice of "future Ted" sound an awful lot like Bob Sagat, or is that just my brain trying to connect sitcoms?

Arabchick | September 20, 10:58 CET

It is Bob Sagat.

beckyboo | September 20, 11:23 CET

I watched KC and liked it too, even though it seemed ultra frenetic, but I'm blaming that on the forced confines of it being a pilot. Plus, it comes on right after AD (my favorite show on TV right now), is caustic and sarcastically written, and being produced by one of my favorite TV people, Darren Star. So I'd be watching it even without NB's involvement, though that is a treat to see. Plus, there were 2 really cool guest stars, Bitty Schram from Monk and Miss Parker from Pretender. Schram has always charmed me, and I would sometimes tune into bits of Pretender even though I didn't really like the show just to see Andrea Parker strut her stuff. I'm just sorry that she was the disposable girlfriend of the pilot and not a regular; I think she's awesome.

dottikin | September 20, 14:00 CET

I enjoyed KC a lot! And it's right after Arrested so it's at a perfect time for me! *prays fox doesn't cancel it*

I couldn't watch Alyson's show though as I could only tape one (I was out drawing). I just never watch CBS anyway.

nna_funk | September 20, 14:17 CET

I watched HIMYM and did not like it. The only thing it had going for it was Aly, and even there, the writers over-wrote her character so she had to act in very broad strokes. However, what I can say is that when she is on the screen, you are watching her, not any of the other characters. The other characters are simply nobodies, even Neil Patrick Harris, who was a one trick pony in this debut episode.

Listen, there is a real problem when the funniest character is the cab driver... who is not part of the cast but only a guest for the episode.

I sure wish her well, but I think the writing has to be sharpened, and the laugh track was hideous beyond belief.

Dana5140 | September 20, 16:28 CET

Kitchen Confidential was delightful. Fun, funny, witty, and relatively unexpected, to be honest. How I Met Your Mother was. . . um. . .not so much with the funny and the wit and made often with the threatening laugh track. I expect that in a week or two, we won't even be taping it to watch later anymore.

Although, I have to say -- the guy who plays the lead, it should be Adam Busch. I watched the entire episode thinking "Man, you're a cheap imitation of Adam Busch." I know they want the lead guy to be the next Zach Braff, but he's just not going to do it. He can't carry the show and with her minimal sideline role, Ally can't either. Adam Busch as the lead, though, he could carry the show.

GrrrAargh | September 20, 17:20 CET

I did, for the record, enjoy Neil Patrick Harris's constant "Suit up" line. Because I once knew a guy like that. Always with the suit. And, strangely, always with the bachelorhood as well.

GrrrAargh | September 20, 17:21 CET

Okay, and I liked Neil Patrick Harris's line "That is so going in my blog!" (shout out to doogie!)

But KC? Really liked it a lot. More Nick Brendan!

wrecks | September 20, 20:02 CET