NJRadioGuy

Yeah, all of the One Chicago shows are doing this now. I forget how many episodes maximum that each cast member can be in during a 22-episode season. 18 maybe? May be higher for some, fewer for others. And yeah, this was a dull episode (Med was even worse tonight). One way to maybe save a bit of production money is to eliminate one apparatus from the house. Engine would be the obvious cut if Hermann makes Battalion Chief since he's the ranking officer on E51, and rest of the crew rarely shown. I guess on the few fires they portray, a nearby engine could be dispatched for fire suppression duties. Undoubtedly that could also be a good storyline, closing E51 results in longer response times and other Bad Things that really do happen IRL when a company is closed. I've never warmed up to Carver; there's just something about him I don't like. Hard to say if it's the actor's portrayal or that he's just not being given anything meaty to tackle storywise. Either way he's forgettable and drags the story down.

Just because the owner is British doesn't mean she has a good palate, so the reason they were failing was lack of leadership and hiring a chef who simply didn't understand the cuisine. All that's fixable, and I would have thought this place should be an instant turnaround, but the fact that they're almost out of money is a huge red flag. After the Kitchen Nightmares sales bump subsides in a few weeks, they'd better keep their A game up non-stop if they even hope to have a chance at long-term survival. And if the owner can afford it, hire a general manager who can run the place while she's focusing on her corporate job. And they should be focusing on classic English beers like Fuller's London Pride, etc. A dart board certainly wouldn't be out of place either! All in all an easy short-term fix but their cash situation I think will ultimately catch up to them and will force them out of business. I certainly would love to go there if I were in Austin, and not already stuffed full of brisket from Aaron Franklin's place and LA Barbecue.

Season 10 kicked off last night at Interlude II in Kenosha, WI. Kinda weak episode but in a good way. That bar was a simple fix. No drama, no filthy kitchen/bar, excellent staff to begin with, etc. Even their stress test wasn't horrible, and you could tell John's yelling was more "I gotta yell about something for the cameras" than being genuinely pissed off at someone or something. This was just a case of putting in a few thousand dollars worth of renovations, a new sign, fresh barware and hardware, a couple of days of training and there's no question they're set up for success. They were only $60k in debt in the first place, so a couple of good months and they'll be back in the black, if they're not there already before the episode aired.

With the idiocy of that plot notwithstanding, in colder climates, hydrants are dry because otherwise they'd freeze and break in cold winters. The water remains well below ground and water flows up and into the hoses when a firefighter opens the hydrant valve. In warm climates you can have wet barrel hydrants.

My love for this show has no bounds. Even the less-interesting case-of-the-week episodes are visual and storytelling treats now, but this one was a home run. But why, show, WHY do you tease us with a Betty-and-Will face swapping app and we don't actually get to see the images‽⸘ That's just cruel, damnit!

How the heck are they going to make a dent in a $1M debt only being open for a few hours on four nights a week? I don't think this will last 6 months. I do hope the kid is able to achieve his dream of making it in sports if he has the natural talent and the drive. Seems like a good young man who's willing to put in the work.

They would be head chef, but not executive chef. They would have less control over the menu, but would be in charge of the brigade and keeping hundreds of wealthy diners happy every night. You need a solid, reliable, and experienced head chef for that kind of role.

Me too. They're ridiculous. Also what's with the lighting? It's like there are no key lights on the actors' faces in tight shots. Maybe Tim has issues with bright light close up or something?

I absolutely loved that shout-out. There was another shout-out from to LMS, albeit very subtle. The illuminated KA0XTT sign in the office, that was Mike Baxter's fictitious ham radio callsign in that show.

I did precisely that! One of the most magical TV moments I've had in a while. I didn't tweak to the Kristin/Eleanor cameo, however. I'll say this, though, Mike Schur knows how to bring out tears of happiness at just the right time.

I lost IQ points watching this episode, and my fast-forward button on the DVR got one hell of a workout.

I can't see either of the finalists being able to handle doing 500 covers a night, every night or whatever number they said if I'm honest. Egypt could have handled it, I think, and maybe either Brandon or Joe. Kyle is definitely a more creative head chef and has a better palate, and I think Hannah may be as well, but a HK job doesn't seem to be about creativity, and I posted that in a previous thread. I just don't think either of them will thrive in that atmosphere.

Accidentally posted twice

In a real scenario of this nature (i.e. without a network TV show's budget for background actors, etc) you'd have hundreds of people on the scene, dozens of ambulances staged on standby, a gazillion local cops, staties, and federal LEOs, city engineers, the entire brass of the transit authority*, sewer department officials and every media agency within 500 miles of Chicago. On the fire side of things pretty much every white helmet in the city would be on scene and everybody from the suppression side of things from HQ as well. They would be running the show. Guys like Pascal, Boden and their equivalents would be in charge of individual aspects of the suppression and rescue efforts and would report to a higher ranking official who would have overall command of the scene. Boden would be in charge of probably 4 or 5 "Pascals," to put things into perspective. * My biggest continuity error in this crossover was transit. In many past episodes of this show, they've referred to the agency by its correct name, the Chicago Transit Authority, and shown CTA insignia, etc. The suddenly started to call it by the fictitious name of Chicago City Transit instead; I guess the CTA's lawyers didn't want any part of their agency in on this. One thing I'm wondering, when Severide and the rest of R3 went into the subway tunnel portal from outside at the end of Part 1, anybody know where that was actually filmed. I don't think Chicago has any disused subway tunnels (maybe a Metra line?? But it had a third rail, so maybe not). The rails were rusted over, so wherever it was that was out of service for quite some time. The rail geek in me is curious. And do NOT get me started on the Morse Code thing. I've been a licensed ham radio operator for 45 years, I can do CW in my head at 20-25 words per minute on a good day, and what they showed was utter hogwash. Visual code takes a mountain of training to decode in your brain. Audible code is far easier, but even then, nobody is going to figure it out easily or even recognize what's being transmitted.

The other thing about Stella's ascension is that she had a hook (or as they say in the NYC region, "a rabii"). Boden. She didn't fully claw her way up through the ranks solely on her own merits. This is a very real thing in the PD and FD worlds. A rank-and-file fireman or patrolman impresses a boss who takes that young buck under his wing and fast-tracks his career. That was absolutely what happened with Kidd. Boden liked her, believed in her, gave her a lot more leeway than he probably should have at times and she never disappointed him. Her skills as a boss are now being tested by Pascal. Dramatically-speaking, things have been a bit too smooth for Stella. I wouldn't be surprised if Kidd gets the short straw in the writers' room roulette.