Customer Reviews

Chef! - The Complete Series Three

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The first two seasons of Chef! are absolutely brilliant and some of the most entertaining television one will ever watch. Season three, however, is virtually unwatchable - they changed director, changed from film to video tape, replaced many of the actors and the result is perhaps the fastest downfall of a great series in television history. I would avoid seasons three like the plague but do check out the first two seasons.

Chef, as a series overall, is simply brilliant. Henry is a brilliant actor and the character of Blackstock is a joy to watch. The plot is halfway absurd mostly all the time- but it's genius and hilarious.

Unfortunately, season 3 transformed the show into a completely different animal. Season 1 is by far the best- the look, the music between scenes, the storylines, the character development, etc. Season 2 saw the addition of a laugh track which was annoying, but the look of the series stayed the same. We saw some characters go and some new ones pop up. No big deal.

Season 3- first off, they went from shooting the series on film to video. I noticed this the second the first episode of season 3 started on the DVD. I was shocked to see such a wonderful show turned into a full-fledged, shot-on-the-cheap sitcom, instead of the semi-high brow comedy gem it used to be.

This season brought too many character changes...in regards to missing characters, new characters, and odd behavior for the already existant characters. Things got a bit moodier and darker...not as cheery, light, and just not as funny.

Worst of all tho was the look of the film and the music. Season 3 just looks terrible when you got used to a series shot on film. Most people wouldn't imagine the difference this simple (yet major) change can make. It looked like a series of slick, well shot, big budget, short films for 2 seasons...then suddenly went to a cheap-looking sitcom that seemed to be shot on a soundstage somewhere. In 1 and 2, you couldn't help but think they were in an actual kitchen, inside an actual French village, location shots galore...it was real stuff taking place that just happened to be filmed. This image was shot down with season 3, sadly.

I wouldn't say season 3 is terrible. The story gets less funny, the characters do more depressing things (Blackstock's relationship goes down fast)...but, still- you can't help but wonder if this is what did the show in. The series, overall, is still brilliant, it's just sad that season 3 had to taint it the way it did.

I had no idea what this was about when I ordered it. I loved it immediately. I loved the look of the filming, the intelligent humor, the acting, the casting. Then, season two changed the kitchen staff, but it was still enjoyable. As soon as I was 3 seconds into season 3, however, I saw some real problems. I had to wonder what in the world was going on! It was totally "STUPID" and the casting was terrible, WAY overboard, and even the main characters were not acting like they had in the first two. It was as if someone had come along in Season 3 and said "I don't like what we've been doing, so I'm throwing it all out the window and am going to do my own thing!"

Season 3 was so terrible, I had to struggle through it, 'hoping' it was going to get better and get back to what it was. It never did, and I was very disappointed.

In time, I may watch Season's 1 and 2 again, but Season 3 has already gone to the "Good Will" box, never to be seen again! (At least not by me!) Shame-shame on whoever made those "show wrecking" decisions. Boo to you.

The first 2 seasons of chef were really amazing, and exciting, however season 3 changed so much. I really didn't like the way the show went
from film to video, and I also don't like the way that the characters changed so much, (we know nothing about these people). I am glad, however, that Everton remains until the end. I was disappointed to see that gareth had sold the restaurant, and was no longer the owner, but I
was glad to see that Janice had left Gareth, because he really paid her no attention...This series was really hard for me to watch, because I hated to see Gareth's life be in the toilet the way that it was...but the last 2 episodes of season 3 were really brilliant. I was so happy to see that Janice was finally pregnant; that She and Gareth got back together.

After reading some of the reviews here I was reluctant to pick up the third series of this wonderful Britcom. I'm glad I used my own judgement instead of relying on others'.
First: The change from film to tape doesn't really change the feel of the series. It does look more 'sitcomy', but the atmosphere is retained.
Second: The Premise. It shouldn't really surprise anyone that Gareth has been dumped by his wife, you could see that in series one. Granted, Gareth is more whiney in this series, but characters are supposed to develop over time. Gareth and Everton do just that.
Although not up to the level of the first two series, series three had me laughing out loud several times and is well worth viewing.

While I love season one of "Chef!", I guess I'm the opposite of other reviewers, as I actually liked this better than season two, which bored me to death and was not funny at all. In fact, after watching season two, I wasn't expecting much when I moved on to season three. While it is definitely not as good as the first series, I thought it was funnier than the second. I agree that some aspects were depressing: Chef doesn't do much cooking, the whole divorce thing is a drag, and I hated some of the new characters--especially Savannah (? can't remember for sure if that was her name ?).

Anyway, in my opinion, season one is definitely worth watching; season two is a bore; and season three is worth watching at least once.

I have watched this so many times, I can quote it by heart. Lenny Henry makes Gordon Ramsay look like a kindergarten kid .... and Lenny is actually funny!