Top Chef-New Season

Didn't know it had started. What night does it air?

Last week's first episode is replaying tonight @ 7:00 c; session 2 is tonight @ 9:00 c. I thought it was a very interesting show. Tom C. tossed out one guy, a real idiot, for his over-the-top bad butcher job on a pork primal cut, absolutely wiping out the tenderloin. He didn't even have to cook anything. He was that bad. That little glitch also cost another contestant. As per usual, the contestants share some simple qualities (lots of ink being one of them) LOL. They look like a very highly qualified group so far. I think they will end up with a tough group of players. 

So, I saw the reprise of the original, and tonights new episode.

My first thought: Given the stage of their careers, each of the contestents should be a strong competitor. Lot's of cooking chops, there, learned under some of the best in the business, reflected by the awards they've earned. Wouldn't surprise me if this is the strongest season yet, in terms of cooking talent.

That said, I was a bit put out with the selection process. During the first episode there wasn't a hint of a level playing field between the two groups. Different rules, different foods, different judges.

That was bad enough. Then came tonight's show, and, whatinhell was that? It wasn't close to fair. We saw the antithesis of a level playing field between the ten finalists, and no relationship between what they had to accomplish and the first 20. They certainly had a harder job of it than did either of the other groups.

Does anyone really believe that there's any basis for comparing a blue-coat winner from the first group with a loser from the third?

If this is a taste of things to come, I fear we're going to see some really over-the-top, inequitable challenges in the coming weeks.

I saw the first episode and while some of the food was impressive none of the contestants impressed me personailty wise as much. My favorite season was top chef all stars a few years back with Spike and Richard (my personal favorite). I also like next iron chef, amazing to watch these acclaimed chefs duke it out...its pretty awesome. Even though I wasn't that into the first episode I'll still be watching tonight.