Iron Chef USA: Showdown in Las Vegas

I admit I love the Japanese version of this program, but the USA version seems to me a mockery of the original. It was a good idea to create the American version of the show considering Iron Chef's popularity on this side of the Pacific, but it is nowhere near as good as the original. In fact, its not good PERIOD!

The original Iron Chef was a great thing to behold, both because of the competition and the intertwining of Japanese culture. In the original "Iron Chef" two chefs - usually Japanese - would compete using the main ingredient specified by the eccentric gourmet authority Chairman Kaga. Kaga was a warlord-like character that had specially constructed a cooking arena called "Kitchen Stadium" in his castle where visiting chefs would compete against his Gourmet Academy, led by his several master Iron Chefs. Chairman Kaga himself was a showpiece in flamboyant, heavily decorated coats and jackets. The show had a campy charm that evoked memories of the English-dubbed kung fu movies of the 1970s.

Iron Chef USA is entirely too....American. In typical us-versus-them fashion (Note- everyone who is not "me" is "them") competitors will stoop to anything. The judges seem more like competitors in "The Hollywood Squares" game show of yesteryear than the dignified characters of the original Iron Chef. The Japanese judges would do anything to keep the competitors from losing face in the original, and it was quite comical to see them wrinkle up their faces and try to find something to complement about dishes they obviously found hard to swallow. Making fun of the dishes seems to be the point for the judges in the U.S. version.

In short, skip this entry and hold out for the original "Iron Chef" to come out on DVD some day. It was truly a unique and fun show.

This show is so incredibly bad that it boggles the mind. I'm a really big Iron Chef fan (of the original Japanese show) and this was just so bad to watch. Most of the people that watch the original consider this to be an insult to the original.

• Takeshi Kaga is the chairman of the original show. He's wacky, he wears strange outfits, and he's got a voice that they didn't dub because they couldn't find anyone to replace him. This show has.. *cough* William Shatner. He can't even begin to compare. He's fake and just not good. Pricewatch is more up his alley.

• The general feeling of the show is just bad. Kitchen Stadium is where the original show takes place. It is a place of reverence for food (sounds corny, I know); this show takes place in Kitchen Arena and is just pitiful. If you've ever watched the Japanese ones, you know how quiet the stands are because everyone is intrigued; in this, it's just people standing up and cheering for no reason.

• What kind of judges did they pick? Bruce Vilanch is just a really, really sad "Hollywood Squares" dropout, and what kind of food critic is that Playboy chick? Pitiful. The Japanese critics might be really lame (like the fortune teller, heh) but they're much better than anything you'll see here.

In general, this show is just a disgrace to watch. It doesn't have the feeling and respect that the first show has. FujiTV should be shamed for having granted UPN the rights to this show. Hopefully, it won't make it past the second show.

Being a fan of the original Iron Chef, I couldn't wait to see the Americanized version. I could have waited. Iron Chef USA was a fusion of Monday Night Football, Wheel of Fortune, and a circus act. I could not take William Shatner as The Chairman seriously. The flamboyant costumes that Chairman Kaga wears works for him. On Shatner, it made him look a refugee from an early Prince video. If you have never seen Iron Chef, chances are you would like Iron Chef USA, however, if you have seen Iron Chef, you are drawn into the melodrama and the unique dishes prepared by the chefs. Iron Chef USA proves two things: imitation is not necessarily the sincerest form of flattery and Hollywood has no original ideas.

Looks like I'm the only one, though.

I'm an addict of the original Japanese Iron Chef, and I never miss it. When I heard they were going to try an American version, I withheld my judgement. I heard they were getting Shatner for the Chairman, and I thought, 'This might have some potential'.

Potential it had, but the execution lacked. Shatner really seemed to be sincerely trying - if anything, his performance improved what the hack producers did to the format. I could be wrong, but it seemed like we see twice the cooking action on the Japanese show, whereas this version is peppered with annoying 'interviews' with the chefs and others that take up a lot of the time.

After reading the other user comments for this, it seemed to me that the elements of the American show they complained about were identical to the Japanese show, so I can only conclude that something about watching the show across a cultural divide that gives it its charm. People complained about the sportscasters in the booth, but Fukui-San is a baseball announcer, by trade. I don't find Shatner's overacting any less appealling than Kaga's, and their celebrities seem to be just as vapid as ours. Maybe it's in the dubbing.

I was disappointed with the show, but I wish it had been given a few more episodes to try to find its stride.