Top Chef Masters - Season 2 . . . who's watching?

Please post no spoiler information here about anything that hasn't yet aired. Anything that's aired is fair game.

Well, it debuted last night and we watched it. Can't say it blew me away but it was reliably entertaining, just as last season was. While the previews indicate that there will definitely be some chef vs. chef drama this season, it didn't come into play in episode 1. Overall, the dishes looked good and the chefs seemed to work well together. The 'gas station' Quickfire challenge is always fun and elimination challenge, in which the teams (yes, I said teams) had to prepare a duo of dishes for 15 couples on first dates, was also an entertaining concept.

As alluded to above, my main criticism about the debut episode was the use of 2-chef teams in both challenges. If I were a participant, I'd be annoyed to learn that on a show with the word 'masters' in its title, my destiny would be somewhat tied to that of another chef. As a viewer, I thought it removed a lot of the significance from the episode. Let the masters cook on their own, I say. There are 22 contestants this season, so I don't think all the preliminary rounds will feature teams but that's just a guess. I purposely avoided watching the 'this season on Top Chef Masters' previews at the end of the episode, so maybe this has already been spelled out.

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Boy, there's nothing I'd like better than to respond to Ronnie's post--but the idiot in charge of scheduling at Bravo put this brand-new show on at 10pm. I get up every morning at 4:30. I ain't watching nothing new that starts at 10.

That said, I expect that sooner or later, it will re-run. My question is: why so damned late? If I recall correctly, it was on at 9 last year, a much more reasonable time for me (and I suspect for others as well).

Still, thanks Ron, for the interesting take on the new season.

10 pm is too late for us too but Bravo typically will re-run this show next week during the day of the next new episode, kind of a reminder of what happened and a build up. They may even show it at 9, right before.

My guess is that it will revert to an earlier time slot. Last night was the finale of Sheer Genius, which aired at 9. Bravo often reserves that time slot for series finales.

Knowing Bravo, episode #2 will air at 9 pm next week, with last week's episode being shown in the hour before that (in fact, I just checked the semi-reliable tv guide listings, which confim this).

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They announced it will be aired at 9 pm from now on (with multiple reruns as always).

I'd been looking forward to the show, but the team idea left me cold. What? It's the only way they could cram in all the chefs? Then sign some up for next time and limit the number to one you can manage. Here's hoping it's not going to be de rigeur this round.

The elimination round food looked good and Tony and Susie were smart to stick with some favorite standbys. Looked like they'd watched last season!

Gypsy Boy wrote:Boy, there's nothing I'd like better than to respond to Ronnie's post--but the idiot in charge of scheduling at Bravo put this brand-new show on at 10pm. I get up every morning at 4:30. I ain't watching nothing new that starts at 10.

That's why Al Gore invented TiVo.

stevez wrote:That's why Al Gore invented TiVo.

Didn’t Al Gore invent inventing???

Not only wasn't I a fan of the teams, but I'm trying to figure out how 16 chefs competing for six remaining spots in the Champions Round works.

If only we could find a way to ship off Kelly Choi instead of Govind Armstrong

boudreaulicious wrote:If only we could find a way to ship off Kelly Choi instead of Govind Armstrong

Could they at least get a host who looks like she's actually eaten something . . . ever?!

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MikeW665 wrote:

stevez wrote:That's why Al Gore invented TiVo.

Didn’t Al Gore invent inventing???

I thought he invented global warming!

You can also stream the latest episode on Hulu (or via someone's upload to Megavideo). Search for the show on sidereel to find links.

i<3pizza wrote:You can also stream the latest episode on Hulu (or via someone's upload to Megavideo). Search for the show on sidereel to find links.

Episode #1 at Hulu.com

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I enjoy watching the cooking segments, especially with chefs as accomplished as all the "masters" are, but the judging and hosting aspects of the show(s) have become increasingly annoying.

The judges they get always seem like they're auditioning for a Broadway show or something, with each one trying to be as over-the-top as possible. The only one that didn't completely annoy me this time was that Jay guy.

I didn't see the first season of TC masters, but was it the same woman in the Padma role last time around? She's terrible. What's with that uncomfortable grimace face she keeps making? That's not good TV!

ronnie_suburban wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:If only we could find a way to ship off Kelly Choi instead of Govind Armstrong

Could they at least get a host who looks like she's actually eaten something . . . ever?!

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ronnie_suburban wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:If only we could find a way to ship off Kelly Choi instead of Govind Armstrong

Could they at least get a host who looks like she's actually eaten something . . . ever?!

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How about this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzwxmy1TWNM

hadn't seen that before but I have to say that while i want to BE Padma, I want to bury Kelly C. under a pile of rotting bacon burgers--Western or any other variety. She's just sooooo irritating.

Did anyone else notice that the quickfire points were not added to the elimination round points? The two winners ended up with 16 1/2 stars- 12 1/2 from the judges and 4 from the diners. Last year they definitely added the quickfire stars to the elimination stars to find the overall winner. I tried looking it up at Bravo.com, but there isn't a lot of info there.





The judges are even more annoying than last year.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

i<3pizza wrote:You can also stream the latest episode on Hulu (or via someone's upload to Megavideo). Search for the show on sidereel to find links.

Episode #1 at Hulu.com

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Thanks a million for the link Ronnie. Watching my former Chef was not only fun, but inspiring. I can't wait to get back in the kitchen.

Unless they add the quickfire points into the total or bestow some strategic advantage to the winner, the quickfires become pretty irrelevant. My guess is that they are there to accomplish two things: to subject accomplished chefs to the indignities of bizarre quickfire challenges and to give them another opportunity to win money for the charity.

Oh, and a bonus reason: serious product placement. I thought the first 15 minutes were particularly corporation-dense: Lexus, Flaming Hot Cheetos, Slim Jims, Clamato, Sprint, Whole Foods, etc. I understand that part of this had to do with choices from the gas station. I guess they do have to pay for the episode.

I thought it was interesting that Govind Armstrong didn't appear to pull a lot of punches when sizing up his partner. I think he'd do without teams also. I'm not sure whether it was just the surprise about the lamb carpaccio that gave it so much airtime, but given the final scores and the comments, it seems that Mr. Armstrong wouldn't have done any better if he'd been on his own.

Lastly, I am happy to see that the Hubert Keller silhouettes remain in place.

Can't say I understood the whole working in pairs thing either.

I also didn't understand why the Saveur guy was so immediately turned off by the concept of lamb tartare/carpaccio. Has he really never eaten lamb raw?

jesteinf wrote:Can't say I understood the whole working in pairs thing either.

I also didn't understand why the Saveur guy was so immediately turned off by the concept of lamb tartare/carpaccio. Has he really never eaten lamb raw?

Agreed. For a guy who edits a gourmet-oriented food magazine, he seems more than a bit persnickety. He bugged me more this episode than he did throughout the entirety of last season. Once somewhat charming, he's quickly become full-on annoying.

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And now, courtesy of the wonder of re-runs (sorry Steve, no Tivo for us):

The pair idea seems to completely undermine the entire premise of the show. Why not call it Top Pairs? So many extraneous factors go into working with someone else that the individual talent that is the premise of the show is effectively nullified. Working in any discipline--the more so in an artistic one like this--is infinitely more difficult when you have to work with someone else that the element of talent is often nullified. Personality, willingness to get along, ability to operate dependently instead of independently all become even more significant than the abilities and talents presumably called for by a top chef. Why is the show title in the singular if they're going to use a plural method of elimination? It stinks.

That said, it was intriguing to watch the people work together. To note, for example, that Tony Mantuano's first comment was to complain that his partner's sense of humor appeared to take priority over everything else. And then to hear, several times, his complete reversal of position. And while I agreed with some of what Govind Armstrong had to say, he came off as pissy and difficult.

I really hope they don't continue this approach but, given the numbers and the format, it appears inevitable.

I didn't think that working in pairs was that big of a deal. Each person made their own dish. I think it added a nice touch to ask them to compose two dishes that compliment each other. That was the extent of their teamwork. Yeah, too bad if someone who makes a great dish doesn't advance because his/her teammate made a bad dish. But so what...

I don't understant why six contestants from the first season got to return? They already lost. They can't possibly have gone through all the potential talented chefs that would like to be on this show to have to have rerun these chefs. I know two good Chicago chefs that sent in audition tapes but did not get in, so I am sure there must be many more.

Well, apparently Whole Foods sausage was the real winner tonight.

jesteinf wrote:Well, apparently Whole Foods sausage was the real winner tonight.

Heh, well said.

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Cinnamon Girl wrote:I don't understant why six contestants from the first season got to return? They already lost. They can't possibly have gone through all the potential talented chefs that would like to be on this show to have to have rerun these chefs. I know two good Chicago chefs that sent in audition tapes but did not get in, so I am sure there must be many more.

It looks like next week will be a contest among chef's who didn't make it last season. Looks interesting to me.

I don't understant why six contestants from the first season got to return? They already lost. They can't possibly have gone through all the potential talented chefs that would like to be on this show to have to have rerun these chefs. I know two good Chicago chefs that sent in audition tapes but did not get in, so I am sure there must be many more.

My guess is that they want to have chefs with some national name recognition to attract viewers and also differentiate the show from regular Top Chef. A number of contestants on Top Chef have had successful restaurants, so as Top Chef Masters goes deeper into the pool of contestants, the lines get blurred. Also it's possible a number of top rank new people they approached did not want to participate.

I'm still annoyed that this show, like Top Chef, devotes almost half the hour to judging rather than cooking.

rickster wrote:I'm still annoyed that this show, like Top Chef, devotes almost half the hour to judging rather than cooking.

Especially so last night. With all of the attention on the chef who left her stew behind, I didn't even know what some of the others were making until it was served.

I thought the editing really tipped who the advancers were going to be this time. I knew about halfway through who the two winners would be, based on the screen time they were given and how they were being portrayed (Samuelsson portrayed as catty villain, the other woman as underdog).

Lame.

I thought the judging was a lot better this week than last week, although I must say I was quite surprised at how they rated some of the dishes.