I'm watching the "Making of" for Iron Chef America right now. I'm super excited. From what I've seen it looks like they've done a really good translation for the US market. I'm planning on watching the marathon tonight. I watched the William Shatner special a while ago and wasn't all that impressed. Hopefully this one will be better.
The real clincher for me is Alton Brown. He does the play by play and is the guy doing most of the talking. I've been a huge fan of Alton for quite a while. He is the guy behind Good Eats on the food network. He is really the thinking person's TV chef.