liz_marcs | Excuse me...on what planet can Futurama be confused with Kitchen Confidential?

Dear Netflix,

Plz, plz, plz send me Futurama, Season 1, Disc 3. I have tried two times to get this disc from you, only to get...something that's completely different.

The first mishap occurred when you sent me Futurama, Season 2, Disc 3. Okay, at least it's in the same family, even if it's from a different season. I have now watched Futurama out of order because I didn't realize this disc was from Season 2 until I started listening to the commentary.

Anyway, I sent you back the disc and managed to get Futurama, Season 1, Disc 3 lined up in my que so I could get it in my hot little hands.

Yesterday I got instead....Kitchen Confidential, Disc 1 packaged in a Futurama, Season 1, Disc 3.

WtF?

Some hapless Netflix patron mixing up Futuramas I can see. But how on earth would a Kitchen Confidential disc end up in a Futurama envelope?

Is there something in the universe that has decided that I'm not allowed to see Futurama, Season 1, Disc 3?

[Side note: I, unh, did end up watching Kitchen Confidential, Disc 1...yes, the whole disc. In all honesty, the series was seriously uneven until 'The Robbery' which was something like episode 7 on the disc. I suspect that a lot of the reason — please Bradley Cooper fans don't kill me — was because they were deemphasizing Cooper as the lead and were slowly turning the show into more of an workplace ensemble. Why they thought Cooper could pull off someone like Bourdain is a mystery for the ages.]

In any case, I am now returning Kitchen Confidential, Disc 1 (fully-watched...within one day of receiving it).

I really, really would like Futurama, Season 1, Disc 3 now. (Fine. And Kitchen Confidential, Disc 2 while we're at it since I might as well finish the darn thing...)

Now give me the disc I ordered. Please.

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I went through a similar period, except I kept getting destroyed discs....like really destroyed as in had either been left underneath an iron or in a vat of sulfuric acid. I kept wondering why the netflix packaging employees couldn't feel the sharp edges of the burns and cracks through the envelopes.

Well, I can see wrong disc/wrong envelope, since they're reliant on their customer base to put the right discs in the right envelopes.

It's just frustrating that I got two-in-a-row on it.

Why they thought Cooper could pull off someone like Bourdain is a mystery for the ages.

I've never seen Cooper in anything else, and he was perfectly charming to watch in Kitchen Confidential, but there's something distinctly cuddly about him. So not Anthony Bourdain.

Actually, on thinking about, I honestly didn't think Cooper was strong enough to be the lead in an ensemble. As part of an ensemble, I agree that he's perfectly charming, but the problem was that the supporting cast kept stealing scenes away from him without even trying. And the longer the show went on, the obvious it was that the other actors had stronger personalities.

I'm just baffled by the casting, because honestly Owen Yeoman would've been the better choice for the "Bourdain" role if they were going to so heavily fictionalize Bourdain anyway.

It's a clever plot to get people to rent more by getting them hooked on series that they wouldn't have watched except that it was the only thing in damn waited-for netflix envelope.

*Nods and passes out tin foil hats*

The ensemble in Kitchen Confidential is actually really good. It's the leads who are horribly miscast.

Still, there were only something like 13 episodes or so filmed, so I might as well see the last 5 now that I've seen the first 8.

I really enjoyed Kitchen Confidential. (: I'd never up to that point, seen or read anything about Anthony Bourdain so I didn't really know what he was supposed to be like. So, I didn't really compare Bradley Cooper's performance to the real life guy. I liked it more as an ensemble thing anyway. And also, I enjoyed seeing Nick in it. The show actually gave me more of a feeling like "Cheers" did and I liked "Cheers" so I liked this. The big difference was this took place in a fancy New York restaurant and "Cheers" took place in a bar. Also, the male cast on Kitchen Confidential were a hell of alot better looking. (:

LMZ

See here for my opinion. The major problem with Kitchen Confidential (at least IMHO) was that they horribly miscast the two leads (Cooper and Bonnie Sommerville). Worse, neither one of those actors were really strong enough to carry the show, especially since the ensemble supporting them was overwhelmingly strong.

I can see why FOX cancelled it, because over the short term the series had serious problems in terms of casting. Overcoming the Cooper/Somerville handicap was going to take time. They were already starting to work around Sommerville by slashing her screen time down to almost nothing. Since she wasn't the titular character, it was easier to deal with her miscasting.

Cooper is a bigger problem because you can't just toss his character aside. So, instead, the writers slowly starting shifting focus away from "Bourdain" and more on the better ensemble. To complete the shift, they would've needed the entire year, really. Maybe 5 years ago, Kitchen Confidential would've gotten that year to find its feet. Now? *shrug* Not so much.

You have provided me a great service! I didn't know Kitchen Confidential was out on DVD. Yay! Goes to order.

I know it's sad to say, but there seems to be an inverse proportion to Bradley Cooper's screentime and episode quality. As in: the less screentime he has, the better the episode.

It's also interesting to see the rest of the ensemble "looking for the characters" and it's great to seem them finally nail them down about a half-dozen episodes in. Cooper really is the only one who remains static in his portrayal, but that could be because "Jack" Bourdain is based on RL Tony Bourdain, so he might've felt constrained.

In either case, it's right about there that you can separate out the decent actors vs. the not-so-great. In all honesty, I was disappointed in the performances from Cooper (bad casting; not strong enough to carry the show) and Bonnie Somerville (unh, why was she cast again?) who played Pino's daughter.

Watch it for the supporting characters. Honestly.

Possibly I benefit from having not read the book in this instance but I truly enjoyed this series when it aired. I particularly loved the one with John Larroquette. I kept that one on my DVD for over a week and watched it multiple times. I wasn't really big on Bonnie Somerville but I liked Cooper just fine.

I watched most of S1 of Kitchen Confidential when it was shown over here last year, and I thought Bradley Cooper was quite cute in it (I liked him in Alias too) but I wasn't aware there was a real person the character was based on so didn't have your problem!

I stopped watching in the end because I simply had too many other things to watch and because I didn't like NB in it. But I thought it was OK, and yes, it might well have got really got after a couple of seasons, if it had been allowed to keep going.

I knew someone who, uh, rented something from netflix and kept the DVD by swapping something they didn't want into it.

Sadly, I think the cable station airing Futurama is in season 2 or 3, so it would be wrong to tune in. :)

In any case, I am now returning Kitchen Confidential, Disc 1 (fully-watched...within one day of receiving it)./i>

Uh . . . maybe itwould be better to keep it until you get the actual Futurama disc that you want? They might just send you Kitchen Confidential back a second time. *g*

I've never had any problem like that before!

My mother has had a problem somewhat similar with our video rental place, but that was more due to the actual packaging of the series than the competency of the rental place. Because the Sex in the City series is packaged differently in DVD form than in Video. So you'd rent the DVD's from where you supposedly left off on the video, and end up 7 episodes ahead because of how the episodes are broken up on the DVDs.

=/ You'd think that they'd check they put the right disk in there though. Like, heaven sakes! I'd ask for a refund or whatever equivalent trade you could get!

Ok. And my question is: Why do they keep sending me disk 2 of everything I want and never send me disk 1? Am I not allowed to know how everything started? *sigh* Feel the frustration. *hugs*

Excuse me...on what planet can Futurama be confused with Kitchen Confidential?

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Maybe

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o_o oh man!

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