Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Reality TV

I'll admit it, I watched Project Runway. A friend in the fashion industry said it was good, I tried it and it was. It had fashion designers in weekly competitions, that were actually making clothing. I thought this was much better than the Apprentice which I liked for a little bit but then got tired of people trying to be real estate executives being tested by grooming dogs in central park or selling some new fast food promotional item on the street. It seemed to unrelated. In Runway, they've had to make ice skating costumes, red carpet gowns and new post office uniforms. The judges are good and the contestants have had interesting personalities that weren't all about backstabbing and game strategies.

Today's Boston Globe had this article on the spinoff show
Top Chef. It's by the same Runway producers and is about chefs (who have guessed). The contests are in a kitchen, cooking food which is appropriate. I tried it a bit and didn't much care for it. To me it was a harder sell than Runway because in Runway, the viewer can see and judge the garment, but with Chef, the viewer can't taste the food created. The article doesn't mention this but does bring up the better point that the judges and host have no personality and the judging itself wasn't interesting (even in the Apprentice, the boardroom is the most interesting part). Iron Chef is a good show, and I can't taste the food for that (but you can go to the restaurants) but it works better because of the good commentary and detailed descriptions of the dishes. Top Chef needs some celebrity chef judge, and I guess Heidi Klum couldn't hurt either. :)

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