New Scaratings

Has anyone been watching the show Bar Rescue on Spike TV? I've watched about 5 episodes but last night was the first one where I saw him recommend putting in Buzztime trivia. The episode is titled "Chumps". It's in the Burbank area, anyone been there?

Here is a description of the show:
Bars mean money, but they also mean stress if they aren't properly run. Jon Taffer is a bar and nightclub owner who has started, flipped, or owned over 600 bars and clubs in his career and currently owns one of the most highly respected consulting firms in the bar and nightclub industry. Jon will travel around the country and employ his expertise to return struggling bars to the cash cows they once were. Everything from the science of the perfect pour, to the height of the bar stools is a key factor in making a bar the hottest place in town.

.

_________________
liljol, still residing in a humble lil abode in Buzztime's Backyard, San Diego County, in The Horribly Site-Poor Golden State, California...

<--805 NTN Buzztime sites visited as of 11/13/2018...

F CUBS!!!!! FBOSOX!!!!!

FPDRES!!!!! FCHGRS!!!!!

I saw the episode on Angels. Not a single employee knew what the hell they were doing. In fact, one of he waitresses and the "bar manager" were fired on the spot.

I could not imagine anyone in the place being able to fix a BT problem, from what I saw on that epsiode (let alone any of them being able to earn maximum P+Ps on any game).

If he could order and get Buzztime installed in under a month I would be impressed. Then would they send the old blue boxes (99%) or the new blue boxes (100%)?

Or the boxes Bungalow Joes got when they started. They went "100% -- SCREEN GO BLANK."

After it got down to 4 boxes, we just stopped playing there, which was a shame, since I really liked the place.

Brandy, it's Champs not "Chumps" lol(though I think the owners being chumps is what led them to call for Jon's help in the first place) . . . unfortunately it looks like they dropped BT at some point after the episode was filmed(and to be specific Jon didn't recommend BT he simply added it himself as part of the general bar makeover his design team did), but it WAS great seeing Buzztime get a prominent mention . . . I love Bar Rescue, it's insightful for anyone who frequents bars/clubs and should be required viewing for anyone thinking of opening a drinking establishment that aspires to be more than a neighborhood dive . . .


Darrell/GAMBIT

_________________
"He is a creative man of many interests . . . film, poetry, karate, music, dance, and TRIVIA. He is a man of passion and mystery. He is a man of lust."

Thanks Gambit but I was talking about the episode title "Chumps" and not the bar name itself Brad and I have really enjoyed it also. All of the science behind it from the barstool height, to where one's eyes hit the menu, to the cooling systems they have for the beverages is fascinating. I loved the episode "Swanky Bubbles" and thought they'd succeed, but I couldn't believe what had happened when they checked back in.

Bar Rescue, Restaurant Impossible and Kitchen Nightmares are all really the same show. Ramsay started it with Kitchen Nightmares in Britain and the concept has spread. People have lost control or never had control of their business and the expert comes in and puts them back on track. The common thread is the owners lack basic common sense and in many cases are blindly arrogant. Even after the place is "fixed" I would never go to one where the show host exposes a filthy kitchen with spoiled food just to protect my own health. The "Swanky Bubbles" guys reverted to the old format in the face of a turn-around success; stupid.

On adding Buzztime, is this really a fix for a passive owner. Buzztime doesn't bring in new dollars unless the owner really works hard to make it a success. It's easy to find a Buzztime bar where you are the only player. The value many times is non-players follow the game and it becomes a topic of conversation and amusemant among them.

Wow you're right Brandy; I DVRd that episode, checked the schedule description again and sure enough it did say "Chumps", then I looked at SPIKE's episode list and yes, all episodes make unflattering reference to the featured bar . . .



They all share the same basic concept but I don't consider them the same show . . . I like Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen but for some reason not so much on Kitchen Nightmares, I'm a big fan of Chef Irvine and love Restaurant: Impossible(though not as much as Dinner: Impossible); the time/budget constraints Irvine faces on his show differentiate it from Ramsay's, and the way Taffer delves into "bar science" makes his show appealing and unique(I applaud Taffer on 1 frequent common thread on HIS shows thus far: the toll "overpouring" takes on a bar's business, would love to hear feedback from more BTers on this particular aspect) . . . while it was great to see Buzztime mentioned on the Champs episode I did find it curious that Taffer spoke enthusiastically about all the business it had generated for TGIF's, like it was 95' and not 2011 . . .


Darrell/GAMBIT

_________________
"He is a creative man of many interests . . . film, poetry, karate, music, dance, and TRIVIA. He is a man of passion and mystery. He is a man of lust."

My wife is addicted to the shows where Gordon Ramsey, and another similar guy, go in and redo restaurants (and their owners). Thanks to your recommendation, we've added Bar Rescue to the DVR.

I much prefer Ramsay's UK shows over the American versions. By the time Hell's Kitchen or Masterchef USA reach the finale you really wonder if any of the contestants were qualified. Several Hell's Kitchen winners never received the promised positions.

Agreed. The UK Kitchen Nightmares was excellent.

His best show is The F-Word. It's a competition/celebrity/variety show.

I have driven by but never been in there (fortunately). IIRC, sometime earlier this year, or late last year, Champs was listed as "coming soon" on the site finder- then was shown as being on the system for a very short time before it was gone. Maybe they only hooked it up for the show then dropped it...?

http://www.spike.com/full-episodes/08rwk7/bar-rescue-chumps-season-1-ep-108

The link to the episode is up on the Spike TV site.

_________________
Mitch (MTCHWF/WLFFLY)

Co-Home Bar: Buffalo Wild Wings Edwardsville, IL and Time Out in St Louis, MO

I watch the 'Bar Rescue' marathon yesterday and seen there was a bar near Cincy. The Black Sheep in Chevy, OH was rescued by Jon and turned into a Irish/German bar called The Public House. The main owner has made loans to keep it alive, but with new concept, he has paid back his loans.

Now in the season premiere, Jon rescure a copy cat bar in NOLA and help the owner make the bar unique to the rest on Bourbon St. The owner once own a bar and was bought out from him so he opened a new bar but copied a drink and cup he made from his old bar....and was losing money. Jon found a historic fact to the building and with creating a new drink and cup, it help the bar, Turtle Bay, into Spirits on Bourbon.

here is the interview of the bar owner talks about experience of 'Bar Rescue'

http://www.nola.com/drink/index.ssf/201 ... erien.html

_________________
Mitch (MTCHWF/WLFFLY)

Co-Home Bar: Buffalo Wild Wings Edwardsville, IL and Time Out in St Louis, MO

I've been to this bar and the other one they did in the Cincy area (Win,Place, or Show). The Public House is still doing well and even have a "Bar Rescue" night every Sunday. The Win, Place, or Show, (which is about a half mile down the street from Bargo's) closed before the episode even aired. Win, Place, or Show had Buzztime at one point.

I'm reviving this thread, in anticipation of next week's episode, to be aired on Sunday, March 29, 2015.

The place they are going to is The Holding Company, located in the Embarcadero section of downtown San Francisco.

I actually went to the place, but that was way back 1989 and the early-1990's. At the time, they had NTN Trivia. It wasn't a bad place at all, but I saw it as more of an after-work type of bar that people who worked in the downtown area go to enjoy a drink and a meal, before going home. The Holding Company discontinued NTN sometime around the early-2000's.

I actually like Bar Rescue, even though the formula has gotten too stale in the last couple of seasons.

_________________
"My mechanic told me, 'I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder'." - comedian Steven Wright

Found a story of all the failures of Bar Rescue. Besides the Win Place or Show failure. There was 13 others from the past 3 seasons that was closed after the TV cameras has left.


http://theinterrobang.com/bar-rescue-fa ... map=%5B%5D

_________________
Mitch (MTCHWF/WLFFLY)

Co-Home Bar: Buffalo Wild Wings Edwardsville, IL and Time Out in St Louis, MO

There's another website, independent of Spike-TV and the Bar Rescue crew, that provides updates on what happened to the bars long after their episode aired.

Of all the bars they have renovated, 26% of them have since closed down. One bar still in business has relocated, another one sold to new owners, and two are up for sale.

http://www.barrescueupdates.com/

_________________
"My mechanic told me, 'I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder'." - comedian Steven Wright

Well, the title of that episode was called "Chumps", but the actual sports bar name is called "Champs". And yes, it's in the Burbank area. That episode was aired in 2011, as part of the show's first season.

The host, Jon Taffer, did show a Buzztime playmaker after the renovation and said that it is designed to make people stay longer. But after I saw that episode, I looked up the NTN Buzztime Sitefinder, and it was never listed. I can only imagine that it was mentioned simply for product placement reasons. And according to NTN Buzztime's Facebook page, the system was offered to Champs free of charge for 6 months. But for some reason, Champs declined the offer. So, Champs never really signed on with Buzztime at all. Not only that, Champs' Facebook page indicated that they hated Taffer's ideas, the makeover, decided to "undo" the changes, and started to badmouth him and his crew on Facebook.

As for some other former and current Buzztime bars which have been featured on Bar Rescue:

In the second season, they went to The Olive Pit in Orange, CA. The show did not feature NTN at all, but I seem to vaguely recall that place being mentioned on the Countdown leaderboards about 10 or so years ago. It was renamed as The O.P.

In the show's third season, they did an episode at Lona's Wardlow Station in Long Beach, CA. It was renovated as Lona's City Limits. NTN Buzztime was not specifically mentioned, but the episode did feature a few of NTN's playmakers on the bar top. They already had the system even before the makeover. As of this writing, they still have NTN.

In the same third season, they did a makeover on a place called Characters Quarters in Garner, NC. It was remade as Moonrunners, with a moonshine theme. NTN wasn't mentioned because long after their episode aired, they installed NTN.

I love watching the TV show, even though I have some complaints about it. But maybe that's for a later post.

_________________
"My mechanic told me, 'I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder'." - comedian Steven Wright

Their next destination is a place in San Mateo, just south of San Francisco. I'm looking forward to it.

_________________
"My mechanic told me, 'I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder'." - comedian Steven Wright