I'm in the minority here, but this show is so bad! These 'chefs', while they can certainly cook better than me, are just short order cooks with their own restaurants. I mean, chicken wings? Steak and cheese? A rueben eggs benedict? A piece of meat with a stick in it?
Check out Next Iron Chef for some people that can really cook with imagination, knowledge, and skill.
And I guess Padma L was pretty hot in those Carl Jr. commercials, but neither she nor any of the judges seem that engaged by the food. #topchef
@abettertomorrow: In full disclosure, I am an unabashed fan of this show. And though I risk the banhammer falling upon me for this statement, you are horribly, horribly misinformed about the quality of the chefs chosen for these two programs, my starred friend.
Top Chef literally cherry picks the best chefs from around the country (i.e. my future girlfriend, Ms. Carroll, sous chef at Le Benardin, aka, Mr. Eric Ripert's restaurant, also known far and wide as one of the best seafood restaurants in the world.) It's okay to dislike the show, but do it for the format not the quality.
The Next Iron Chef is interesting, but mostly as hey, the remote is too far away, I can settle, kind of way. #topchef
@lionel-mandrake: I've watched the last 4-5 episodes of both shows. Top Chef is a better classic reality show in terms of personalities, conflicts, and so on. It seems to me that the chefs on Next Iron Chef have a much broader skill set. Top Chef - 30 minutes to cook an american-style breakfast. vs. Next Iron Chef - go to some random hole-in-the wall asian restuarant, eat their signature dish, then go into the kitchen and recreate it with no recipe or guidance.
And their ability to come up with inventive dishes is great.
And you've got to love a contestant that confidently admits to lying to the judges faces. #topchef
@abettertomorrow: I guess my problem with Next Iron Chef is that, they might as well call it Next Bobby Flay or Next Guy Fiore, as the Food Network's primary goal these days is to seek out and market middle-of-the-road populist food "personalities". I suspect the winner of that show was picked before they even started the cameras rolling.
Top Chef, as much as it's scripted out, like most reality programming, does seem to be more of a genuine competition. Once the winner is selected, they are not a property to be further marketed by Bravo. They're just someone who won a game show. #topchef
So. In last night's live blog post, I wished for the completion of the awesome food porn hinted at by the "breakfast in bed" scene. And Josh, I thought you had seen my plea and were about to answer it here.
But you glossed over the actual "sex" part. It's like watching the movie "Personal Best," but then finding out you're watching it on USA Network and all sex scenes have been edited out.
@Lymed: not at all, i thought he was going to make chili or spaghetti and meatballs. Those are what I think of when I hear "nyfd." But chicken wings? #topchef
Still need to know what caused Nigella's horrocious hangover and when she snuck in that medicinal half-bot of champers. No way was she keeping down Eli's popcorn souvlaki soup without that. #topchef
I thought from the comments at Judges Table that Nose-Picker Eli was going to get the boot. At least Robin's dish was edible. When they tasted Eli's shit soup surprise, the judges looks like they wanted the cameras off so they could hurl. #topchef
@pumpkinsoup: that desert was the yickiest thing I've ever heard described was food, and I've been tempted to buy that mcdonald's home maker kit. He must have taken a hit off Tommy C's bong too to come up with such a monstrosity and think it was a good idea. #topchef
These horrible made-up skits in various NYT oped pieces are, I agree, 100% unreadable. They're not even clever. Not even funny. Just awful. They're a reflection of the laziness and self-indulgences of both the writers and their editor. Barf.
@smithhimself: Apparently you think of visiting your romantic attentions on people as a way of punishing them, to ensure that they receive their just deserts.
I thought the imagined dialogue column went out with Linotype. Among her annoying habits are these nicknames that nobody really uses. That and her going on TV and mouthing her witticisms from the column as if she had just thought of them--and in that most annoying, above-it-all monotone. I can't believe Times readers are so in her thrall. She's only piercing when the target is Democrats. Then again, Times readers think Friedman is some sort of great thinker
@Preopsician: Yes, and that Kristol joke, and there is also the Post, which is the last to receive the memo that George Will is well into his long slide into dementia.
The worst offenders are always to the right, always. Their mascot is the hag who stood up before the withered old retread and offered the opinion that Obama was an Arab. Great writers with shrewd judgment on that side of the aisle, if you like comedy.
A sad fact is that most of Monty Python was dull hysterics, and many SNL skits over the years have been numbingly boring, and even the best of both go on for too long very often, and the worst of all worlds is any attempt to do it in two dimensions and not be Evelyn Waugh, bless her heart.
No, House and Cuddy can't ever have sex. Their sexual tension is what makes the show work. (She and Wilson can get jiggy, though. That would only increase the House/Cuddy tension.) The vaults of the networks are overflowing with shows that were great while the male and female leads fought and flirted and then became AWFUL after they hooked up. That event changes the dynamic of a show so much that either it has to become something new and different (NOT an easy thing for a network show to do) or it fails at being what it was.
@MyrtleWilloughby: No, I never watched that show, but I've heard others say the same thing about it. I mentioned in a thread above that the show I was thinking most about was Moonlighting, maybe my favorite TV show of the '80s. The first two seasons were brilliant and groundbreaking and then it turned to shit, literally overnight after David and Maddie (Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard) had done it.
@robotwaste: Ha. Exhibit A for the point I make in the thread that immediately follows this one. Moonlighting was terrific until Maddy and David slept together; afterwards it was unwatchable. Same for Hawkeye and Hot Lips in MASH. There are many other examples.
11/12/09
Check out Next Iron Chef for some people that can really cook with imagination, knowledge, and skill.
And I guess Padma L was pretty hot in those Carl Jr. commercials, but neither she nor any of the judges seem that engaged by the food. #topchef
11/12/09
11/12/09
Top Chef literally cherry picks the best chefs from around the country (i.e. my future girlfriend, Ms. Carroll, sous chef at Le Benardin, aka, Mr. Eric Ripert's restaurant, also known far and wide as one of the best seafood restaurants in the world.) It's okay to dislike the show, but do it for the format not the quality.
The Next Iron Chef is interesting, but mostly as hey, the remote is too far away, I can settle, kind of way. #topchef
11/14/09
And their ability to come up with inventive dishes is great.
And you've got to love a contestant that confidently admits to lying to the judges faces. #topchef
11/14/09
Top Chef, as much as it's scripted out, like most reality programming, does seem to be more of a genuine competition. Once the winner is selected, they are not a property to be further marketed by Bravo. They're just someone who won a game show. #topchef
11/12/09
But you glossed over the actual "sex" part. It's like watching the movie "Personal Best," but then finding out you're watching it on USA Network and all sex scenes have been edited out.
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/13/09
11/13/09
11/14/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
11/12/09
Or if he wanted to go the dessert route: gourmet candied apples or a fancy-dancy funnel cake. Mmmm... funnel cake. #topchef
11/12/09
05/20/09
05/20/09
05/20/09
05/20/09
But I am currently looking for a master shrink to help me answer one horrifying personal problem: why, oh why, do I want to sleep with MoDo?
05/20/09
That will be 5 cents, please.
05/20/09
05/20/09
05/20/09
05/20/09
The worst offenders are always to the right, always. Their mascot is the hag who stood up before the withered old retread and offered the opinion that Obama was an Arab. Great writers with shrewd judgment on that side of the aisle, if you like comedy.
05/20/09
There, I said it.
05/20/09
05/20/09
05/20/09
yeah.
05/20/09
I don't understand why the Times gives her precious op-ed real estate.
05/12/09
05/12/09
05/13/09
05/12/09
05/12/09