Top Chef-related stories
Posted Nov 19th 2009 2:30PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Top Chef
Okay, take the idea of
Shark Tank (or
Dragon's Den if you're a BBC America fan), mix it with the
Top Chef folks, offer a great grand prize and hope for the best. That's the recipe behind
NBC's new food competition show, United Plates of America. The network is turning to the Magical Elves from
Top Chef -- no, seriously, that's the production company's name -- to succeed in the food field where NBC has flopped in the past. Remember
The Chopping Block? Remember Rocco DiSpirito's
The Restaurant? NBC has more luck with the dieters on
The Biggest Loser.
This go-round is not about a single restaurant. It's about a chain of restaurants. To me, that's a questionable goal. Most successful chains start off with one great restaurant and then take off. This concept is go big or go home. Maybe it's more complicated, but it doesn't sound that way.
Continue reading NBC cooks up a new food reality show with a big prize
Posted Nov 19th 2009 1:05AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Top Chef
(S06E12) When I saw that the title of tonight's episode was "Culinary Olympics," I didn't really imagine what the chefs would be going through. Were they going to be pole vaulting into the kitchen, did they have to prepare a meal on an ice skating rink? What could be the Olympian angle? Well, apparently there's a culinary competition that's as intense as the Olympics -- and it's not held in a kitchen stadium with Alton Brown doing play by play.
That said, this may have been one of the toughest assignments ever on
Top Chef. I tried to envision how past season winners -- let alone the runners up -- would have done in the same circumstances that these final five faced. I can't say for sure that I can think of one that would have aced it ... and for how this five did, read on.
Continue reading Review: Top Chef - Culinary Olympics
Posted Nov 18th 2009 12:13PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, CBS has a new Old Christine, followed by new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.- NBC has a new Mercy at 8, then new episodes of Law and Order: SVU and The Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance at 8, followed by a new Glee.
- The CW has the season finale of America's Next Top Model at 8, then a new behind the scenes episode of America's Next Top Model.
- Cartoon Network has a new Destroy Build Destroy at 8.
- At 8:30, ABC has a new episode of The Middle, then new episodes of Modern Family, Cougar Town, and In The Spotlight with Robin Roberts.
- At 9, DirecTV 101 has a new Friday Night Lights.
- Discovery has a new Mythbusters at 9.
- History Channel has two new episodes of WWII in HD at 9.
- Syfy has a new Ghost Hunters at 9, followed by a new Ghost Academy.
- Fine Living has a new Whatever, Martha at 9.
- Showtime has a new Inside the NFL at 9.
- At 10, FX has a new Nip/Tuck.
- Comedy Central has the season finale of South Park at 10.
- There's a new Top Chef: Las Vegas on Bravo at 10.
- TBS has two new episodes of Meet the Browns at 10.
- Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible at 10.
- Current has a new Vanguard at 10.
- Also at 10: Travel Channel has a new Man vs. Food.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: America's Next Top Model, Mythbusters, Cougar Town, Nip/Tuck
Posted Oct 29th 2009 12:40AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Episode Reviews, Top Chef
(S06E10) After last week's restaurant wars, which I found really disappointing, I was hoping for a really tough challenge tonight. As
Hemal guessed, having Natalie Portman as a guest judge did turn this main competition into a vegetarian duel. Oooh, yum. Vegetables. More about the kale and mushrooms after the jump.
Continue reading Review: Top Chef - Meat Natalie
Posted Oct 28th 2009 12:23PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 7:30, FOX has Game 1 of The World Series.- At 8, ABC has It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, followed by new episodes of The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.
- NBC has Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space, then new episodes of Law and Order: SVU and The Jay Leno Show.
- The CW has a new America's Next Top Model at 8.
- At 8:30, Disney XD has four new episodes of Naruto: Shippuden.
- At 9, DirecTV has the season premiere of Friday Night Lights.
- Discovery has a new Mythbusters at 9, followed by a new Time Warp.
- Syfy has a new Ghost Hunters at 9, then a new Destination Truth.
- Showtime has a new Inside The NFL at 9.
- At 10, Bravo has a new Top Chef: Las Vegas.
- Comedy Central has a new South Park at 10, then a new Secret Girlfriend.
- FX has a new Nip/Tuck at 10.
- There's a new Dinner: Impossible on Food Network at 10.
- Also at 10: TCM has Harold and Maude.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: World Series, Monsters vs. Aliens, Friday Night Lights, Ghost Hunters
Posted Oct 26th 2009 10:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Top Chef
If you're a fan of
Top Chef, there's nothing tougher for the contestants than desserts. Just this past week during 'restaurant wars,' did you notice that one team decided to have no desserts on their menu at all. They just didn't want to risk blowing it.
Well, Bravo noticed, not just last week but all through the
Top Chef series.
Bravo's creating a Top Chef spinoff called Just Desserts in which chefs will have no choice, they'll have to deal with sugar, icing, cakes and struedels.
Top Chef: Just Desserts is the second
Top Chef spinoff, after
Top Chef Masters. I'm anticipating
Top Chef: Maitre D's down the road, aren't you?
Continue reading Bravo orders from the Dessert menu
Posted Oct 21st 2009 12:19PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new Hank, followed by new episodes of The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.- CBS has a new Old Christine at 8, then new episodes of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.
- NBC has new episodes of Mercy, Law and Order: SVU, and The Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance at 8, followed by a new Glee.
- The CW has a new America's Next Top Model at 8.
- PBS has a new Great Performances at 8.
- G4 has a new 2 Months $2 Million at 8.
- At 9, Discovery has a new Mythbusters at 9, then a new Time Warp.
- IFC has a new Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer's Cut) at 9.
- History Channel has a new Nostradamus Effect at 9, followed by a new MysteryQuest.
- Showtime has a new Inside The NFL at 9.
- At 10, Comedy Central has a new South Park, then a new Secret Girlfriend.
- Bravo has a new Top Chef: Las Vegas at 10.
- FX has a new Nip/Tuck at 10.
- Food Network has a new Dinner: Impossible at 10.
- TCM has The Third Man at 10.
- Also at 10: Travel Channel has a new Man vs. Food.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Old Christine, Glee, Cougar Town, Top Chef
Posted Oct 19th 2009 6:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on DVD, Reality-Free
Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.
I wasn't even aware that there was already a
Fawlty Towers complete set out. Or maybe I knew it and forgot and didn't get reminded of it until I heard about the new remastered set that comes out tomorrow. I'm gonna get that.
I'm also tempted to get
Vegas, just because I liked that show and haven't seen it in years. I hate these "Volume" sets though. Just give us the whole season!
- Black Adder - Black Adder 1, II, III, IV, and V (All remastered) and Ultimate Edition
- Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman - Complete Series (New package)
- Eleventh Hour - Complete Series
- Faerie Tale Theatre - Bedtime Tales and Magical Tales
Continue reading New TV on DVD releases this week
Posted Oct 15th 2009 1:10AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Top Chef
(S06E08) Well, things have certainly heated up on
Top Chef, haven't they? Oh, I'm not talking about in the kitchen; I'm talking about in the house. These chefs are getting testy, or some are. Eli mentioned in the open that there was a lot of "emotional stress." Well, he should know because he's behind some of it. Then there's motor mouth Robin. Could she really be as yappy as she appears to be on camera?
Continue reading Top Chef: Pigs and Pinot
Posted Oct 8th 2009 1:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Interviews, TCA Press Tour, Top Chef
Given the
popularity of the second-season opener of The Next Iron Chef, I figured it was a good time to pull out this interview I did with the show's host,
Alton Brown, at the network's TCA party in July. It was definitely the tastiest party of the tour, as each
Iron Chef contestant plied the critics with delectable morsels of their creativity at various stations.
In a bit of a surprise, one of the contestants,
Amanda Freitag, was being assisted by her friend
Ariane Duarte, one of the more popular contestants from rival program
Top Chef's New York season (I was so flabbergasted by the turn of events,
I snapped a pic of the two with my cell phone). When I pointed this tidbit out to Brown, his response was very interesting...
Continue reading Alton Brown calls Top Chef a "sous chef kind of show"... then takes it back
Posted Oct 8th 2009 11:26AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Ratings
Even though I watch a lot of programming on the Food Network, I have to admit I missed almost all of the
The Next Iron Chef in season one. Last Sunday, the second season of
The Next Iron Chef blasted off with the best ratings for a series opener in Food Network history. Over two million viewers, a 1.1 rating among adults 25-54.
Why the big jump? Well, I think a lot of other people are like me. On Sunday, before I switched over to watch pro football, I clicked on Food Network where they were showing a marathon rerun of the first season of
The Next Iron Chef. It only took half an episode for me to kick myself for not having watched the whole first season when it aired. It was terrific.
Continue reading The Next Iron Chef is sizzling
Posted Oct 8th 2009 10:25AM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Top Chef
(S06E07) Here's what I love about this episode of
Top Chef: Jen and her illness. Yes, it was lovely how she triumphed over adversity and made a kick-ass dish, but mainly, I like the way that it didn't change her at all. She had the exact same dead-eyed expression and monotone that we've all come to know and love. Sick Jen or well Jen, they're both pretty much dead inside-- and I find her hilarious.
This week's Quickfire Challenge involves a slot machine (as all good challenges in life do). I really enjoyed seeing what the chefs came up with, based solely on three random words that came up on the machine. Even when they pulled words that would seem to make it easy, like Ashley's "Blue Cheesy Middle Eastern," they still don't go in the expected direction: there was no blue cheese in her dish.
Continue reading Top Chef: Dinner Party
Posted Oct 6th 2009 9:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Top Chef
Amid the real housewives and matchmakers, millionaire real estate brokers and house flippers, there is one unscripted series that has been top shelf on Bravo. With
Project Runway not on Lifetime, the best of Bravo's reality is
Top Chef. In the five seasons past and the current season playing out,
Top Chef has been a winner for the cable net, so it's not a big surprise that today
Bravo renewed Top Chef for a seventh season.
If I were a drinker, I'd drink to that.
Top Chef is in the midst of season six, which is shaping up to be one of the best yet. The location, Las Vegas, has opened up a lot of options for challenges, including a
French food episode that might have been one of the most intense ever on the series.
Continue reading Bravo bringing back Top Chef for seventh season
Posted Oct 1st 2009 8:35PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Celebrities, Project Runway, Top Chef
Three stars have been born on Bravo! Well, at least three personalities from successful reality shows.
Bravo has plucked three stars for new reality shows, Bethenny Frankel,
Cristian Siriano and Fabio Viviani, giving each of them their own series.
Bethenny Frankel of
The Real Housewives of New York City has been rumored to be spinning off into her own show for a while. She'll be appearing on the upcoming season of
Real Housewives -- they're already filming in NYC -- but then she'll have her own program after that. It will be about her social life in NYC as well as her career as a natural foods chef. Bethenny has lots of personality and should do well on her own.
Continue reading Bravo spinning stars into three new shows
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 12:11PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
- At 8, ABC has a new Dancing with the Stars, followed by the series premieres of Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Eastwick.
- CBS has the season premiere of Old Christine at 8, then the season premieres of Gary Unmarried, Criminal Minds, and CSI: NY.
- NBC has the series premiere of Mercy at 8, followed by the season premiere of Law and Order: SVU and a new Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new So You Think You Can Dance and a new Glee.
- There's a new America's Next Top Model on The CW at 8, then a new The Beautiful Life.
- Cartoon Network has a new Bobb'e Says at 8, followed by a new Dude, What Would Happen?
- At 9, Discovery has a new Man vs. Wild.
- Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay at 9.
- History Channel has a new Nostradamus Effect at 9, followed by a new MysteryQuest.
- Also at 9: Syfy has a new Ghost Hunters, then a new Destination Truth.
- At 10, Bravo has a new Top Chef: Las Vegas.
- Travel Channel has a new Man vs. Food at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Old Christine, Cougar Town, Glee, CSI: NY, Top Chef
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