Dear Jenny,
I agree with you . . . about Top Design. Interestingly, that was Bravo's biggest season premiere, ever. It did, however, lose more than half of Top Chef's audience. It did, however, premiere at 11:00 PM EST, at the hour when many households are turning off their TVs and rolling over. So . . . I don't know.
I didn't pay that close attention to the premiere, while I was watching it, but I have since had another chance to watch the episode (Repeats on Bravo? Seriously?) and have formed some opinions.
I've got not much to say so far about any of the contestants. I like Goil. He's my early favorite -- in both senses of the word. I don't much care for either John or Michael and I didn't much enjoy their conflict in the premiere. The other contestants didn't make strong impressions. Oh, I liked the bit at the end where one of the losers explained that she was angry at herself because her partner, Lisa, sucked. I don't think I can duplicate the logic here, but it went something like, "This is all my fault because I should have told Lisa that she has shitty taste. It was wrong of me to be respectful to her because she's old."
I liked the challenge and I liked some of the rooms. I actually didn't hate the losing room, because I agreed with Lisa that the Chinese wedding bed was really gorgeous. My least favorite room was probably -- Erik and Andrea's? -- the one with the bed in the corner. Again, I had to agree with Alexis Arquette. (Hey, look -- that's the weirdest thing I've ever written on this blog.) The room was too literal an interpretation of the challenge. That was also the room in which Kelly Wearstler said there was a dialogue between the walls and the floor. Because both were green. Oh dear.
That brings us to the judges. Kind of a bland lot, so far. Liked
Jonathan Adler, liked Margaret Russell, especially liked her
non-committal response to Wearstler gushing about the zen
garden/sandbox in Goil and Elizabeth's room. (However, I agreed
with Wearstler.) "See you later, decorators." is maybe the lamest dismissal
line/gimmick we've seen since Tommy Hilfiger's The Cut.
Host/mentor Todd Oldham isn't really coming across here, yet, either.
Maybe as the series
progresses, that will change.
Love,
-- Pete
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