(Yes, I know that the last post should have said seven years and not seventeen years. You can stop emailing me about it. Especially those of you who threatened to call up the University of Illinois so that they could reclaim my engineering degree. When you do complex calculus for a living sometimes simple math can become rather difficult.)
I apologize to those of you who look to this space for coverage of all things relating to reality television and are shocked to find no reference to the events on The Bachelor. I’m sorry but that show does not make my DVR cut. If I want to watch a show about numerous women vying for a guy’s attention I prefer to watch The Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels. At least on that show the former porn stars are up front about admitting to being former porn stars and they get to travel to such exciting locales as Indianapolis and Peoria.
Still, The Bachelor dumped his fiancée on national television and pretty much immediately started macking on the girl who came in second? That is pretty incredible (and sleazy) even by reality TV standards. I’m trying to think of worse ways to be dumped and that one may beat the current clubhouse leader of text message while in the office. Though I still feel that singing telegram or person in a gorilla costume carrying balloons might be even worse ways of getting the point across.
Since I am on the reality TV swing I might as well talk about the finale of Top Chef. First off, props for them doing the last two episodes in New Orleans and having the chefs stay at Hotel Monteleone, which is one of my favorite hotels in the city just because of their revolving bar. You have to love any bar that is already spinning before you even start drinking. Plus, they did a really nice job in promoting the rebirth of the food portion of the city and John Besh was able to make an appearance and that guy is simply brilliant with food. Even Emeril’s appearance was well done and spot on with his commentary.
As for the crowning of Top Chef, based on what was shown I have to say that Hosea was the right choice in winning the final competition. I think that his meal was better overall than Stefan’s and was cohesive even without a dessert. (Poor Carla. She just fell apart at the end even though she overachieved like mad and probably has a long career ahead of her as a result of this show.) The interesting thing is that this season is a complete reversal of the ending from two seasons ago. In that one the super efficient and clinical Hung beat out the more expressive Dale. I bring this up because it asks a question about what makes a Top Chef. I would hire Hung and Stefan to be the head chefs at my restaurant but I would want to eat at Hosea’s and Dale’s.
I think that is what makes Top Chef such a good show when it works properly. We all know what good food should be like and we all would like to think that we could run a restaurant properly. Of course, most restaurants crash and burn in the first year so you shouldn’t let that be taken into account. But it is a competition that we can all appreciate and at least have a sense as to who is the best. And it is a real skill as well, as opposed to being able to convince the guy you met two weeks ago on a soundstage that you should be life partners. Well, that is a skill in a sense but not one you can openly promote.
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