I like the actor they chose to play Bourdain, really I do, but Anthony Bourdain he is not. And that is what is wrong with this series. I read the book and was really excited to rent the series, but I should have known better. Someone in TV land decided that Anthony Bourdain is too abrasive, in your face and rude, so the show "softens" Tony and loses all the spirit. Yes, the real Anthony Bourdain is in your face and abrasive and is very much about How Things Really Are. That is the spirit in which Kitchen Confidential (the book) was written. So honest, in fact, that when she gets OLDER, I am going to make my 12-year-old aspiring Chef read it before she decides in fact to spend oodles of money on Culinary school. It is that very in your face honestt that is missing. Tony is nothing more than an alcoholic, excuse me, reformed-alcoholic boy scout. Yawn. Meanwhile the _real_ Anthony Bourdain has a hit show on the Travel Network doing what he does best, telling it like it is.