Letters to the Editor
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Ahhh...
I'm proud to say that I haven't wasted my time watching "Brothers & Sisters". :)
How to review "Top Chef", however, is a really a conundrum, and I think that HH missed discussing a major point.
On one hand, "Top Chef" is superior to many other competitive reality TV shows. Just like "Project Runway" (or "Project Catwalk"), the tasks, while more than a little offbeat, challenge the creative and professional skills of contestants that really know what they're doing. (In most cases.) Unlike "The Apprentice", it is actually based on the skills in their trade, and when compared to "Hell's Kitchen", it seems less gratuitously masochistic and more... well... mature.
But the problem is more that it is impossible for the viewers at home to judge the value of the results with "Top Chef". When you watch "Project Runway" you can look at the designs and feel like you can evaluate them reasonably well, even as an amateur. You may not get the entire runway Q&A period, and you might not get a close-up look at the quality of construction, but you can kinda get the sense of whether the garment works or not.
Unfortunately, you don't get that with "Top Chef". Without Smell-o-Vision (or Taste-o-Vision) on hand, you just can't ruthlessly critique turkey meatballs or peculiar Twinkie concoctions with the same gusto as you could with the train wrecks that Vincent produced. Looking at a well-presented dish is great and some of them on the show to date have truly been works of art, mind you. But how do we *really* know that certain things are too salty or too bland? And how can we feel like someone has been robbed if we can't really judge the taste for ourselves?
I'm hoping that "Top Hair" comes out a little bit better. (At least it'll be a nice antidote to the insufferable, obnoxious, awful "Blow Out".) But I'm *really* holding out hope that they extend the concept to other creative professions, too. Maybe "Top Tax Audit" or "Top Dental Work" wouldn't quite fly, but what about "Top Ad Campaign"? "Top Video Game"? "Top Lawn Furniture"?