9-10 PM · FOX · Debuts Sept. 19

CONCEPT In his second reality series for Fox, celeb chef and Hell's Kitchen bad boy Gordon Ramsay has one week to boot-camp miserable restaurants into shape.

THE SCOOP ''You peel back the layers and you start identifying the problems, and you have to deal with [the restaurateurs] in a very straightforward, abrupt manner,'' says Ramsay, who's already done a U.K. version of Nightmares. ''A lot of people own restaurants for vanity and they don't treat them as businesses. So once you strip them of their vanity and hit them with reality, it brings it home quicker.'' As for the poor restaurateurs who hoped for a kinder, gentler sort of criticism? ''If they wanted that kind of show, they should have picked up the phone and talked to the Food Network,'' snaps Ramsay. ''We don't d--- around.''

BOTTOM LINE Look, honey! Abrasive, overwrought punishment is on the menu!