Bradley Cooper was Anthony Bourdain
You’ve probably heard the sad and devastating news. TV host, chef and gastronomic celebrity Anthony Bourdain is dead at the age of 61.
Bourdain’s longtime friend and college Eric Ripert reportedly found Bourdain dead this morning, from an apparent suicide. At the time of his death he was in France and was shooting an episode of CNN’s travel food show, Parts Unknown, his most recent travel show. Bourdain was a beloved TV host, chef and admired by many around the world for his honesty and realism in his reporting. He was also the father of 11 year-old Ariane. He will be dearly missed by everyone.
But did you know that Bradly Cooper played Anthony Bourdain? Well… Fictionalized version of Anthony? Yes back in 2005, Fox turned Bourdains’s bestseller book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly into a TV show called Kitchen Confidential. Cooped played Jack Bourdain an executive chef. Once addicted to alcohol and drugs, he is given the opportunity to run Nolita and make a career comeback.
David Hemingson created Kitchen Confidential, and Jaime King, Erinn Hayes and John Francis Daley were also in the cast.After the show’s first three episodes aired on Fox, the show was put on hiatus due to Fox’s coverage of the Major League Baseball playoffs. In November 2005, Fox announced the show would not air during sweeps and that only 13 episodes would be produced because it was only averaging 4 million viewers. The show returned on December 5, 2005, with its fourth episode, but only received 3.38 million viewers. Four days later, Fox announced the cancellation of the series.
Kitchen Confidential was actually quite good. It had young (er) and enthusiastic Bradley Cooper in the apron of one of the most iconic chefs ever, but the show had the misfortune to be released in the same year as his movie career was taking of. That same 2005 Bradley appeared in the hit comedy Wedding Crashers (in a supporting role but still), and Kitchen Confidential didn’t stand a chance. Copper by then was best know by his recurring appearance in the hit shot Alias, and this was his shot at making it big with his own TV show and with a lead role too.
I loved watching Kitchen Confidential. It was not the best show for sure, but it definitely didn’t deserve the fate it had. It’s also a reminder of how great of a writer/human being Bourdain was.
Rest in peace Anthony.
