It's not on Bravo, Food Network or one of the big networks and it's from Canada, so it's gone largely unnoticed, but Planet Green's Conviction Kitchen deserves to be on the radar. First of all, the premise alone is worth a look: a real chef (the big fella above) has to train a staff of 24 ex-cons (including but not limited to bank robbers!) with no culinary experience to open a brand new restaurant in three week and then turn a profit in three months or the plug gets pulled.
Second of all, what's not to love about redemption tales like this? Third of all, the logo is a seared tattoo. Fourth of all, check out the hairdos in the last two screengrabs above. Fifth of all, the French-Canadian accents are cool and there's lots of swearing. The first two episodes of the show have already aired, and for those curious, video highlights/snippets are on the website.
· Conviction Kitchen [Discovery Channel]