Post Time

As I've been waiting for the Kentucky Derby coverage to begin, I've been flipping through a couple of television shows - one newer one and the other a blast from the past.

Top Chef seems to be modeled after "The Apprentice". Several contestants compete on teams and as individuals in a variety of small and large challenges. A chef is eliminated at the end of each episode. Now, I started watching this halfway through the season when only 6 contestants remained, but I am hooked. I enjoy the styles of food created each week and the show doesn't shy away from using technical terms at all. The variety of cooking methods and favored ingredients varies in each episode - which is a treat. I've only one beef(no pun) with Top Chef, though. To keep viewers titilated, the producers seem to encourage some of the constestants and the hosts to be two-faced, arrogant pricks to one another. Upside? Most of the assholes have been eliminated. The final product's quality, in each competition, seems to move contestants forward as opposed to who screwed up in the process. I hope future seasons don't attract more celebrity starved applicants than serious contestants. "The Real World" suffered from this phenomenom from season 2 onward.

'80's sitcom relic, Kate and Allie has returned to basic cable on WE and I couldn't be happier - honestly. Jane Curtin and Susan St. James star as two single mothers raising their children together in New York City. I love this show. It well written and kind of hip (St. James' character references Joe Jackson and The Clash in the same sentence in one ep, making it the "Gilmore Girls" of its time). The show has sentimental value for me as well. For a few precious, short years, the CBS Monday night lineup was one my parents and I both watched together - NBC Thursday nights being the other. Bonus appeal in location. Who wouldn't want to live in that sweet basement apartment the women shared? Nice open living, dining and kitchen space. Not to mention the lovely young teenage daughters living there - a brunette and a strawberry blond. Freddy Koehler was a lucky little boy. Only the Huxtable's pad in Brooklyn had more appeal.