I’ve watched every season so far, and have really enjoyed it. But the last couple of seasons, i’ve been getting increasingly annoyed by the number of rock-star chefs they have on. While they can’t be expected to choose 17 contestants who don’t know a bernaise from a brulee, i would really be much more interested in seeing a group of people who haven’t yet scaled the heights of their profession.
Over the last couple of seasons, there have been James Beard winners out the wazoo, as well as a bunch of chefs with other top-level credentials, and it’s starting to put me off the show. Last season, while there was no single contestant who dominated every week, the chasm between the really accomplished chefs and the less experienced group stood out like dogs’ balls, and the first half of the season was essentially just marking time waiting for the obvious also-rans to be eliminated.
And now they have a guy with his own goddamned Michelin star under his belt. Not only that, but Angelo Sosa has also worked as Executive Sous Chef for Jean-Georges Vongerichten, has designed menus by invitation for Alain Ducasse, and did the menu for Stephen Starr’s Buddakan.
I realize that none of this guarantees that he’ll win the competition, because you can be eliminated for one bad performance, and some of the challenges are well outside the everyday experiences of a top-level chef. Still, it’s clear that the judges do take overall performance into account when deciding who to send home, and when one of the top contestants fucks up, he or she often gets a pass.
I really wish Bravo would make up its mind and either put together a show for talented and promising up-and-comers, or just throw in the towel altogether and make Top Chef a competition for high-flyers. Right now, i’m about one episode away from ditching the show.
They’ve jumped the shark. Tonight’s challenge had them pairing up and then climbing into a special apron together, so that one could only use the right hand and the other the left hand.
Season 5 featured mediocre chefs. We got treated to Leah, Hosea and other wanna bees. It wasn’t fun to watch.
One problem is trying to cast equal numbers of men and women chefs. There just aren’t that many good women chefs. Things are improving and more women are entering the field. Anyway, TC casts a lot of women chefs that aren’t experienced. They get eliminated early. I wish they’d cast by talent alone. There are some very,very good women chefs. I much rather see 12 men and 3 women that can kick ass.
But they still cast wannabees. The only difference now is that those wannabees are matched up against chefs who are so clearly superior that the first six or seven episodes are little more than pro forma exercises in weeding out the chaff.
I guess it depends what you’re looking for from the show. For me, the main interest in a show like this is that the contestants are at least reasonably well matched. I’m happy to put up with chefs that are not yet at the peak of their career, because i enjoy seeing how they deal with the challenges and improve.
If i want to watch rock star chefs doing their thing, there are other shows where i can do that.
You might be right. I’m not really up on the current state of the profession.
But i think this might actually support my argument, because while there might not be as many women chefs at the top levels, i’m willing to bet that there are quite a few young, aspiring, talented women chefs who could benefit from the exposure and the challenge of a show like Top Chef.
As for me, no, I’m not ready to give up on Top Chef, not by a long shot. It’s still the best “reality” show on TV (again, by a long shot), and, as such, it has me perpetually counting down the days 'til the following Wednesday and the next episode.
The apron thing was kind of lame, but the main challenge last week, where they had to make a healthy school lunch on a limited budget, was interesting.
I absolutely loved the apron thing. I don’t know (or care) nearly enough about actual fine cooking to enjoy a show that was just gimmick-free “cook good food and we’ll judge it”. I like seeing talented people do their thing under weird constraints.
Absolutely. Some of the challenges are still great. But, for me, the idea of putting a Michelin-starred chef, who has worked with and for some of the world’s best-known chefs, in a competition like this is pointless in about ten different ways.
Yup. Either he stomps everyone else and wins, or he doesn’t win the final show and everyone looks suspiciously at the winner thinking s/he won only on the help of the former season’s contestant helper.
It’s not the presence of qualified chefs, per se, that i’m opposed to (although i do like seeing talented young chefs without the years of experience getting a run).
It’s the obvious and dramatic disparities between the contestants. If the Michelin-starred chef was competing with 16 other people who had similar resumes and abilities, i could see it working. But all it means right now is that we effectively wait 8 or 10 weeks for the inevitable winnowing of the chaff before there’s any really serious competition.
They should have a competition for newcomers, or they should have a competition for high-flyers. The middle ground they’re trying to occupy makes it predictable and uninteresting, IMO.
As for Hell’s Kitchen, i wouldn’t watch that asshole for a free meal at Le Cirque.
Yeah, I hated season 5 and its bad chefs. But the producers do have a serious problem going on with this season and the last. I’d love to see what their qualifications are for Top Chef Masters as opposed to Top Chef, because this just doesn’t make sense.
It is clear that Sosa and the Voltaggio brothers should have been competing in Masters instead. Maybe age has something to do with it. Take Monica Pope, for instance, who was in Masters season 2. She has a great little restaurant here in Houston. And that’s about the extent of her accolades. There are shitload of chefs who have great little restaurants around the world. Just looking at resumes Sosa and the Voltaggios are clearly in a class far, far above Pope. Their roles should have been reversed. This disaparity clearly shows in both competitions.
It is still a great show to watch, but there isn’t really any suspense already. I predict Sosa will win. That’s not great television. I mean about halfway through the early seasons we could see some clear favorites. But by the second episode? That is a problem.