I'd previously read that Onion A.V. Club interview with Bourdain, where he mentioned that he didn't put much stock in the attempt to dramatize his book:
Better writers than me have been smashed on the wheel when their work went out to Hollywood. Unlike me, they drank the Kool-Aid. So when people were telling me all along that it was going to be a David Fincher picture and star Brad Pitt, I never believed it. I always figured it would be a David Hasselhoff vehicle or something. So in the end, I was happy to see a reasonably entertaining half-hour sitcom about some smart people. Like I said, it was over fast. I feel a sense of relief that I emerged unscathed from the experience.I'm amused by the idea of Fincher and Pitt doing a film version; did whoever floated that idea just think of the restaurant stuff in Fight Club? At least Bourdain got paid, and I don't begrudge him getting paid, and the sitcom (I see from the IMDb listings; I never watched the show) at least gave some work to actors I've liked like Buffy's Nicholas Brendan and Harold and Kumar's John Cho. Still: huh?
P.S. I mentioned this last night to
slipjig (while I was on the phone with him and his girlfriend rafaela) and his comment was "Hey, they made M*A*S*H into a sitcom."