Check Please! re-runs: shouldn't they date them?

Recently I stumbled on the episode that included a visit to Pizza DOC. My wife was watching with me and got all exited by the b-roll, which did make everything look great, along with the mostly very positive commentary.

I told her that the buzz on-line had been that DOC had gone precipitously downhill and that some change or shift in ownership and prioritities had been cited by those in the know.

This led me to wonder just how old the episode being shown actually was and to reflect that I have seen several of the shows re-run several times and some of them are quite old indeed.

Does WTTW have any obligation to let people know that the opinions being broadcast may be utterly obsolete?

I've skimmed their website and they don't seem to list the shows or restaurants reveiwed by date at all, and the promos on WTTW don't seem to indicate even that the episode is a repeat, let alone how old it is.

Seems to me that a casual viewer is in danger of being seriously misled.

Or am I trying to hold them to a journalistic standard when they are really just "entertainment?"

mrbarolo wrote:Does WTTW have any obligation to let people know that the opinions being broadcast may be utterly obsolete?

This is an interesting question. They would probably tell you that they have zero obligation. I would say that they have an obligation when it comes to hard facts about a restaurant: hours, address, etc.

Perceived quality is subjective. I don't think that they have any obligation to stay current to the public's perceptions. The show's producers make no judgements about the restaurants or about the guests' reviews, so I can't hold them to this standard.

That being said, obligation or not, it would be nice if they simply flashed an "Originally Aired on...." title at the beginning of the show. Unfortunately, television stations have become increasingly shy about publicizing the fact that they're showing re-runs.

Should we start a campaign to call or write WTTW?

I think that there simply is no consensus on DOC. Some folks love it. Others, including me, were so revolted by one visit there that we'd never go again. There are very few places about which I will say that.

When I lived in New Jersey in the late 90s, one of the little Chinese restaurantys in my town boasted a three star rating from the New York Times which they proudly displayed in their front window. Excited by the prospects, I stopped in one night on the way from work only to find that they had none of the dishes mentioned in the review and what they did have was some of the worst Chinese I had ever eaten.

After eating there once, I looked closely at the review in the window only to find that it was nearly 15 years old.

eatchicago wrote:That being said, obligation or not, it would be nice if they simply flashed an "Originally Aired on...." title at the beginning of the show. Unfortunately, television stations have become increasingly shy about publicizing the fact that they're showing re-runs.

Should we start a campaign to call or write WTTW?

WTTW is extremely lax about listing whether shows are first run or reruns. I usually TiVo Check Please and it's the only show on TV on any station where TiVo tries to record every showing because it can't tell the difference. If I don't manually delete the scheduled recordings of Check Please, I will end up with 4 or 5 recordings of every episode because of the number of times it is shown during the week.

YourPalWill wrote:I think that there simply is no consensus on DOC. Some folks love it. Others, including me, were so revolted by one visit there that we'd never go again. There are very few places about which I will say that.

As you suggest, the opinions I've heard about DOC vary between the ecstatic and the emetic. By the way, there was on the CH Chicago board for a short time yesterday a thread on DOC. The original poster had pretty much nothing good to say of the service and the food (though his complaint that the insalata caprese should perhaps have had balsamic vinegar on it was off the mark-- no vinegar goes in the traditional version of that dish).

[By the way, that thread disappeared and left me curious as to why it had been pulled. Anyone know if they have been banned for shilling? Not that it matters... just curious...]

When I lived in New Jersey in the late 90s, one of the little Chinese restaurantys in my town boasted a three star rating from the New York Times ... After eating there once, I looked closely at the review in the window only to find that it was nearly 15 years old.

Will:

Which place was that and where is/was it?

A

It was the China Inn that fronted Ames Avenue and had a back door on Union in Rutherford. Down near the train station.

Antonius wrote:[By the way, that thread disappeared and left me curious as to why it had been pulled. Anyone know if they have been banned for shilling? Not that it matters... just curious...]

That post ended with a recommendation of Piece -- is that on their shill list? I don't remember it being particularly enthusiastic beyond in a "their pizza is so much better" way.

Antonius wrote:

YourPalWill wrote:I think that there simply is no consensus on DOC. Some folks love it. Others, including me, were so revolted by one visit there that we'd never go again. There are very few places about which I will say that.

As you suggest, the opinions I've heard about DOC vary between the ecstatic and the emetic.

I was disappointed by DOC recently; I believe the source of their pizza error lay in their dish, as in what plate they serve pizza on. I think they took the pizza right out of the oven and put it on a plate without cooling. The plate is smaller than the pizza, sloped on the side with a flat depression in the center, which is where all of the cheese and much of the sauce had slid down to when I received the pizza.

They could easily correct this, but the fact that they served it, with such a visible error tells me something about how they care for their food. Check, please!

I agree with eatchicago. Yours is a tasteful suggestion. I think most people who watch this show care about food enough to want to know the date of the original show. Otherwise, it's like going on Match.com with a 10-year-old photo. Not good.