So who's watching the new Top Chef?

[Jenise]

Episode One was fun.

To anyone who watched: were you, like me, cheering when Tom told that arrogant guy who whacked up that subprimal to pack up and go?

And were you surprised to see a vegan chef competing? His particular problems with his soup aside, no way can a vegan effectively compete--unless all the judges are vegans too, which they're not.

A big, huge, ethusiastic YES from me. I could not wait for it to start again, and greedily watched the first episode up close and with no distractions. I think you know I am a Top Chef fan.
Totally agree with you about the dork who butchered (literally!) the pork loin. Loved, loved the way Tom handled it. Perfect.
Agree also about a Vegan. I almost think they chose him to watch him squirm. But, he didn't make it past the first show.
I can't wait until they unleash Hugh Acheson. I think he is a riot and will add the "wit factor" to the show. Can't say the same for Emeril.
One thing I could not figure out about the first episode is that they said there would be three groups. Well, after the first two groups, there are already 11 jackets given out. So they only have five left for the third group plus the "bubble" people?
Hurry up Wednesday!

[Jenise]

I knew I could count on you! I too love the show too and I'm not afraid who knows it.

The guy who got sent home is named Tyler Stone, and someone emailed me a link to his personal website. It's just as brash and arrogant as he appeared on TV, with lists and lists of every personal appearance he's ever made and every well known person he ever cooked for, a biography that makes him sound like Beethoven (started cooking at age 4, graduated from the Tater Tot Cooking Academy or something like that at 13 "and has been cooking across the country ever since"), and a place where you can order his line of celebrity knives. He really thought he was going places!

If I did the math right, there are ten contestants left to cook and five jackets left in addition to those on the bubble. That's a 2:1 ratio of chefs to jackets and lower than their initial rate of 11 jackets given to the first 19 chefs. I would guess that the programming schedule makes the bubble cookoff mandatory, so even if there were five otherwise unanimous choices, which based on the first two groups statistically there would be, they're going to have to withhold at least one jacket for the cookoff. IOW, through no fault of their own the last group has the lowest chance of making it. Would suck to be one of them!

Agreed about Hugh. He's a blast.

Nuts - missed that. Comes on tomorrow night here - will certainly watch.

I used to watch the show, some of the drama between the contestents got to me. Need to get back into it again, it is a fun show to watch.

I wouldn't miss it. But I do DVR the show, so I can fast-forward through the commercials.

[Jenise]

I wouldn't miss it. But I do DVR the show, so I can fast-forward through the commercials.

Us too. Can't stand to watch anything in real time any more let alone feel compelled to park myself in front of a TV set at an appointed time. I have a TV; it doesn't have me.

I wouldn't miss it. But I do DVR the show, so I can fast-forward through the commercials.

Us too. Can't stand to watch anything in real time any more let alone feel compelled to park myself in front of a TV set at an appointed time. I have a TV; it doesn't have me.

Same here. I must admit though, I will sometimes see an advertisement whizzing by (when Len has the clicker) that I would like to actually see (for the humor value).

Damn! Our Bravo has a different bordcast schedule than yours - don't see this one coming up yet. Guess I'll have to wait a bit. Don't tell me what happens!

Damn! Our Bravo has a different bordcast schedule than yours - don't see this one coming up yet. Guess I'll have to wait a bit. Don't tell me what happens!

I promise to do it under a "spoiler alert" heading if I want to talk more about the show. I'm sure everyone else is happy to comply as well.

[Jenise]

Okay, watched the second show. Perhaps it was the one week interval, but rather than building up to some kind of crescendo with the showdown of the bubble contestants I found the second elimination show somehow lacked the drama of the first. Perhaps it was because I was now familiar with the format, or because I didn't understand why Hugh and Emeril kept changing out.

Okay, watched the second show. Perhaps it was the one week interval, but rather than building up to some kind of crescendo with the showdown of the bubble contestants I found the second elimination show somehow lacked the drama of the first. Perhaps it was because I was now familiar with the format, or because I didn't understand why Hugh and Emeril kept changing out.

Jenise, I felt the same way. It was a bit of a let-down. However, the next episode will be like it's all just starting fresh, since they usually start with 16 anyway. I'm hoping anyway.... It should be fun to see the personalities unfold.
As for the judges changing out, I agree, it's distracting. All I can figure is that there is much more time involved in a one hour program than what they edit it down to, and so they use whomever's schedule allows. Maybe the Quick Fire takes all day to film and then the next segment takes a day or two also. It's been a long time since I've worked in TV!