TVSquad

For Top Chef fans, especially the ones disapointed by Top Chef Masters, tonight is a big night. It's the premiere of Top Chef: Las Vegas, when we get back to the regular version of the show. Here's a preview of the first episode (and you can meet the contestants and see more previews here).

As it turns out, Joseph really is a bitch.

So last night we had the big resolution of the Ramsay/Joseph confrontation. Kind of an anti-climax, really, though. Fans who thought that Joseph would stay around in some way might be disappointed.

But is this show getting too crazy, too predictable, too "reality show-ish?" I don't want to see swearing and yelling just to have some swearing and yelling, and most of these cooks just seem too immature. I'm actually thinking about not watching it anymore. Next week is going to have to impress me.

So we're down to two.

One thing that I was wondering while watching this episode was ... is Emeril Lagasse even on Food Network anymore? I know there are repeats of his shows still running, but I wasn't aware that he was still doing new things (his show now airs on Fine Living).

"They haven't seen me at my very best." - Jamika

Really, Jamika? Really? We're down to the final four and you still don't think the judges have seen the best you can do? You should have thought about that maybe two or three episodes ago.

Of course, just because Jamika said that doesn't mean she was the one shown the door this week. After the jump, the person who won't be back for the final two episodes.

It seems like The Next Food Network Star just started, but here we are already down to the final four contestants. One of these people - Jamika, Melissa, Jeffrey, or Debbie - is going to have their own show on the channel. The season finale is only three episodes away. Who do you think is going to win? Who do you think should win?

We're really down to the nitty-gritty on The Next Food Network Star. After tonight's elimination, we're down to four contestants, and just think: one of them is going to have their own show on Food Network.

None of these people strike me as having the presence of a Guy Fieri, but he was raw once too so maybe one of these people will really shine in the next few weeks and the coming months.

The hell? I've been really enjoying Next Food Network Star so far this season, and was all set to watch it last night. And then I just completely forgot that it was on. I can't even remember what I was watching last night at that time. I think it was another Andy Griffith Show marathon. It was the episode where Barney misunderstood something and screwed everything up.

So how was this "Dinner at Ina's" episode? This is going to be one of those times where I don't even read your comments until I watch the episode, which I'm going to do right now.

I really, really have to catch up on Hell's Kitchen. It has always been one of the few reality competition shows that I watch, and I watched the first few episodes of this season, but then for some reason I drifted away from it. I know have a ton of episodes of catch up on, so thank God for the internet.

Here's last night episode. They're down to three chefs already? Wow, I really have to catch up.

(S01E08) The kids on Kid Nation are starved for entertainment as we might all be soon. I'm already starved for it during the late night hours.

But tonight was a fun night for the most part on the show. My main little man Jared was featured fairly prominently throughout the episode, the kids had some fun, and I even had a few snickers as I watched.

I'd still like to have been a fly on the wall and witnessed how they get the kids on the topic of the journal entry each week separate from the town council leaders visiting the Shack of the Journal. I guess we might never know.

Looks like FOX likes food, reality shows, and people who swear a lot.

The network has ordered another season of the Gordon Ramsay restaurant show Kitchen Nightmares. The show is in its first season right now, and is actually doing rather well considering it has been up against the hype of the new Bionic Woman, Criminal Minds, and the Grey's Anatomy spinoff Private Practice. This means we'll see a lot of Ramsay on FOX in the future, since Hell's Kitchen is on the network and does well in the ratings too.

(S02E10) I think there should be a new rule imposed in the land of reality TV: no more two hour season finales! Seriously, they're sooooo annoying and tedious, because they just rehash everything that has happened and contain all the same predictable twists and turns that we see in other seasons (or, in some cases, other shows). Of course, maybe we could have knocked the season finale of Hell's Kitchen down to about 90 minutes if they just took out the trivial asides and the damn 11 minute opening summary of every single episode from this season. I mean, if you watch the show, you already know everything that happened. I doubt someone is going to tune into the show 10 episodes in and say "hey, I wonder who will win Hell's Kitchen?"

And then, in the second hour, they have a recap of what happened in the first hour! Gah. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It's down to Heather and Virginia...

(S02E03) If I'm ever picked to be on a reality show (in a bizarre world where I would actually want to do such a thing), I'd have to get my opening credits look down cold. I don't know what I'd pick to do, maybe just a quick turn like Jack Lord used to do on Hawaii Five-0, or maybe just a calm smile. But the contestants on this show...what exactly did the director/cameraman tell them to do? "OK, the camera's on you now, act like the biggest asshole in the world." Seriously, what's with all the cocky smirks and nods? Gah. It's bad enough that we have to sit through a way-too-long "previously on Hell's Kitchen" opening, every single week, but we have to see these people smirking at us in the opening credits each week?

(S02E01/S02E02) As the second season of this reality show begins and the players are introduced, I'm really not sure who the hell deserves a multi-million dollar restaurant at a billion dollar Las Vegas resort (Red Rock). Seriously, which of these people would you entrust that kitchen to? Maybe Heather? The others don't really impress.

Here's the rundown on the other contestants and the first meals they make for chef Gordon Ramsay: