Fox continues it's love affair with Gordon Ramsay, despite the failure of 'Cookalong Live.' This week, for example, Fox renewed 'Kitchen Nightmares' for a third season, and you know that 'Hell's Kitchen' is coming back, so Fox and Ramsay are getting along like peanut butter and jelly.

And unlike 'Hell's Kitchen,' there's a lot less yelling and screaming on 'Kitchen Nightmares' and a lot more substantive action. The premise, if you haven't seen it, is simple. Ramsay visits a restaurant that's in trouble -- food-wise, financially, thematically -- and figures out how to fix the problem. Sometimes the people involved are desperate enough to do what he suggests, but sometimes they're stubborn and fight him tooth and nail.

While the Fox version of 'Kitchen Nightmares,' is good, the UK episodes that pop up on BBC America are even better. In those, perhaps because of the European emphasis, a lot of places are attempting to get a Michelin star. That designation is the be-all, end-all for fine dining places and damn hard to achieve. Even Ramsay's struggled to get a star or two for his restaurants. That striving for excellence makes for good reality TV drama.

The American incarnation has a different tone. You get a lot of ballsy American chefs who just don't want to listen to Ramsay. Even facing economic calamity, they chafe when Gordon shows them how they're wasting money or producing crap food. So, while it's a little more basic on Fox, it still works.

That's why it's coming back for a third season.

[To catch up with past episodes of 'Kitchen Nightmares,' click on SlashControl.]