I promised a posting about Top Chef and here goes.
One of the things I find irritating about Top Chef is the blatant product placement. Uncle Ben's Rice, Glad products, GE stovetops....Come on already. Bravo has clearly and very cleverly put together a show that is addictive. I remember when it first debuted, lots of people, including me, predicted it would fall short as a reality show because you really couldn't taste or smell the food and thus how could you really be sure what was being judged? Clearly, I was wrong in my prediction. But Bravo has done a great job upping the celebrity chef quota and figuring out how to make all the drama override the need of viewers to really taste or smell what's cooking. So one would think, they'd figure out a way to be more subtle when it came to pushing glad tuperware on viewers. Apparently not.
The finale of Top Chef rubbed me the wrong way overall. The lesbian turned out to be the villain. Granted, I hated her just as much as everyone else. I kept screaming at the TV screen, "jesus christ, can't you represent the peeps (other gays) better!!!". Clearly she never listened to my recommendations because every single time she came out for judging, she always had her peevy face on. Throughout any criticism she looked like she was about to jump over the judges' table and cut people. She looked irked and irritated to be judged by people she didn't respect. And don't even get me started on her bad lesbian haircuts or her near obsession with Asian food (lucky for her there is no adopted Chinese baby chatter because that would have made any cliche very complete).
Then there is poor Richard. I had to admit, I thought he would take it and be the next Top Chef. But as he puts it, he did "choke". The under seasoning of his dishes seemed weird and out of place with the consistency of the dishes from before. And um, pork belly with pickled ginger???? Oh Richard. I guess I should have yelled at the TV screen and said, "As the straight white dude holding up the establishment, you need to represent". Yeah, I'll know for next time.
I was happy that Stephanie won but all the proclamations about being the "First Female Top Chef" I could have done without. Dude, there has only been four (at most) seasons of Top Chef. It doesn't even begin to compare with being President of the United States. So comparisons with Hillary and Stephanie really need to stop. Statements about this truly being the year of women because a chick won the Biggest Loser are annoyingly stupid.
And lastly, the entire "what is Padma wearing" part of the Top Chef webpage is seriously obnoxious. Don't get me wrong, I love fashion and perhaps love fashion more than the average person but there is something so patronizing about having a section on the TOP CHEF website about what Padma is wearing. Dude, I seriously don't care what she's wearing and the straight guys who drool over her and are dragged to watch the show, because of a girlfriend or wife, don't care either. They'd like to know when Padma takes off what she's wearing and can they watch.
But as much as I bitch and moan about Top Chef, it's true I do watch it. I find it intriguing and fun. Is it quality TV? No. And as such, it's probably the worst form of junk food I could feed my brain. It's like 20 happy meals in one sitting with five red bulls to wash it down. But that said, I'll continue to watch because I'm never one to say no to junk food.
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