There is a long history of television shows that originated in the United Kingdom and then made the jump to American airwaves. For most of that history, the show idea was reworked for American audiences and, and in the end, barely resembled its British kin. This began to change in the last decade with the attempt to tie American productions closer to their overseas counterparts and the debut of BBC America. An examination of the truly great American television that we can attribute to the British would take dozens of columns.

The next chapter in this process could be Gordon Ramsay, who has wisely remained the center of both his British production as well as his American one. While Ramsay left the British Hell’s Kitchen after its first season, the American version is much closer to his original vision of the show (which he detailed in his autobiography “Roasting In Hell’s Kitchen.”) The UK’s “Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares” has always been the Ramsay production that I most enjoyed, because I believe that it was here that we were seeing the “real” Gordon Ramsay instead of the caricature of him on “Hell’s Kitchen.”

So, while it has been evident here on this page that I have been excited about the premiere of the American version of “Kitchen Nightmares,” I will now admit that I also had a great deal of worry about it as well. American television has a way of dumbing down British series and making them not worth our time or attention. Happily, this is not the case with FOX’s “Kitchen Nightmares.” The show has wisely maintained the formula and structure of its predecessor, albeit with a distinctive American flavor. In addition, Ramsay decided not to begin with an easy project, instead jumping in head-first into a restaurant fiasco that rivals any show on the UK version; an Italian family owned eatery where the older brother runs the place like something out of “The Godfather.”

Is it as good as its English brethren? Almost.

One of the best parts of the British version of “Kitchen Nightmares” is when Ramsay returns weeks (sometimes months) later to see if his changes stuck. We really didn’t see anything like this in the premiere episode and I gather that we won’t in future episodes. While I initially saw this as a major omission on FOX’s part, I am beginning to think that this may have been on purpose, providing FOX the perfect opportunity to air a “very special” episode later in the season allowing Ramsay an entire evening to slice and dice his past endeavors. This could be a great sweeps month stunt that could generate buzz for the show long after its newness has worn off.

For now, “Kitchen Nightmare’s” is the show I hoped it would be and has left me salivating for next week’s episode!

This post was Authored by Rob Walley, Our Resident Authority on all things NCIS and Kitchen Nightmares