New Show Alert: Top Chef Masters

It's a battle of famous professional chefs! Will it be as good without Padme as host? Kelly Choi takes her place. They are playing for $100,000 for their charities.

We'll see!

They are doing 4 chefs at a time, against each other, and then I assume, down like a bracket.

First up is Michael Schlow. He is an Italian specialist. He's won the James Beard award, along with lots of others. His charity is for cancer.

Hubert Keller is next. He's also got a handful of restaurants, and among other things, trained White House Chefs on healthy cooking. He is playing for Make a Wish.

Christopher Lee has won many awards in his young career. His charity is Autism Speaks.

Tim Love is a Texan chef. He is playing for March of Dimes. He is not formally trained, and calls himself just a cowboy.

Quickfire Challenge (which they will be bringing back favorite Top Chef Quickfires from seasons past).

They have to make the most creative and original dessert they can make. Girl scouts will be tasting them, and the chefs will be able to see them, but the girl scouts won't see them. They have 60 minutes.

Tim started off with a shot of tequila. For himself. Not the girl scouts. Michael had a bit of a problem - his cakes didn't bake all the way, his ice cream base was liquid, and in the end, he just had candies and hunks of almost cooked cake. Yipes.

Michael - Milk Chocolate Cake, peanut butter chocolate candies and whipped cream. The girl scouts thought the candies tasted like tagalongs (girl scout cookies) and didn't really care for his chocolate.

Tim - Strawberries three ways. He included chicken fried strawberries. Interesting. One girl really liked it, but another didn't. The strawberry shake was called sour.

Hubert - Chocolate Mousse Swan with whipped cream couse, fruit with orange saboyan. The girl scouts were really impressed with the presentation, and seemed to love the flavors.

Christopher - French Toast with caramelized banana, orange sauce, and maple syrup fluff. One of the girl scouts didn't appreciate the caramelization and called it burnt. They didn't seem to like the fluff.

Michael got 2.5 out of 5 stars. Tim got 3.5 stars, as did Christopher. Hubert got a winning 5 stars. It was a pretty awesome dessert. Their quickfire scores will be added to their scores formthe elimination challenge, and the winning chef for the night will win $10,000 for their charities.

Elimination Challenge

They have to create a 3 course meal with a toaster oven, a microwave, and a hot plate. They will be serving them to college students and the panel. They have a very limited pantry, $150 to shop, and 2 hours to prep and cook.

There are 20 stars up for grabs in Elimination challenges. 5 come from the diners, and 15 come from the panel. Some of the chefs had a really hard time shopping, because they are not used to shopping for themselves. Bwah ha ha.

Tim's got a big problem the next day. He put his groceries in the freezer by mistake. Everything froze solid. Christopher admitted that if Tim pulls off making something edible out of that, he deserves to win.

On top of it all, they are cooking in dorm rooms.

Double bwah ha ha!

Tidbit - if Hubert wasn't a chef, he thinks he would have been a dj. That's pretty cool.

Students who live in the dorms come by to check out cooking progress.

Michael's menu is: Salmon Crudo, Cabbage Soup with Bacon, and a Pork a la apicius.

Tim's menu is: Scallop Carpaccio, squash & corn pozole (with no hominy), and skirt steak & braised kale.

Hubert's menu is: Fresh Scottish Salmon, Carrot & Pea Soup with cinnamon, and macaroni & cheese with prawns. He had to drain the pasta in the shower, and cool it there, too. and reheat it there. Fun.

Christopher's menu is: Red Snapper Ceviche, Creamy Risotto, and Pan Roasted Pork Chops.

Critics and Jay Rayner, Gael Green('s hat), and James Oseland.

Eating, the students were amazed that the dishes were made in their rooms. Hubert seemed to win the first course. I think that Hubert won the second round again, though Tim seemed perhaps close. Tim's kale was called bitter. Michael's pork was called overly peppery. I think Hubert won the third round, too, with his shower drained macaroni, though I think Christopher may have come close.

Critic's Table

Hubert's macaroni madness was applauded. Some of the judges didn't get or like the cinnamon in the soup. Gael Green's hat loved the cinnamon.

Michael's pork was lauded for flavoring, but Gael Green's hat thought that the pork was over done. She also loved his soup.

Tim's freezer snafu wasn't that bad, after all. The pozole was called great football food. The steak was ok, but a little too salty. His kale was admitted to be a little bitter.

Christopher's risotto was called delicious, even if the texture wasn't perfect. His pork chops were called well executed.

While the critics discussed, they seemed amazed that the chefs were able to get anything out of the dorm rooms. Hubert got high marks. Michael didn't cook his soup long enough, and cooked his pork too long. Tim managed to come back from adversity, and Gael Green's hat had lots of respect for him in his effort and improvisation. Gael's hat was also in favor of Christopher's risotto attempt, even though it wasn't really risotto.

Michael's Diner score was 3.5 stars. The combined critics gave him 7.5, upping his score to 13.5 stars.

Tim's diner score was 3 stars. The critics brought it up to 14.5 stars total.

Christopher's Diner score was 4 stars. The critics brought his total score up to 19 stars.

Hubert's Diner score was 4 stars. The critics brought it up to 20 1/2 stars. He took the night, got $10,000 for his charity, and moved on to the next round.

(The non-winning chefs will also get an undisclosed amount for their charities.)

New Show Alert: Knight Rider

I don't know if anyone watched the movie that was on last season, but the new show started tonight. We haven't watched it yet, but we are excited about it.

I have seen some less than favorable reviews, and I just have to say... have these reviewers ever seen the original Knight Rider? It was cheesy and Hoff-ridden, for heaven's sake. That's why it was so fantastic.

We'll be watching it just to see if they kept the theme song (which would be wise), and I think that Val Kilmer is a nice choice for the voice of KITT.

Thoughts?

Watch This Show: Fringe

If for no other reason than there is a character named Astrid.

Tee Hee.

That never happens.

No, seriously. It's an X-Filesish show. Pretty neat in the pilot. Interesting cinematography, good acting. I think there might be Rambaldi devices at work somewhere. And/or Dharma could be behind some of the weirdness.

A cow in a basement lab at Harvard.

Yes, a cow.

Give it a chance.

Fox. 9PM on Tuesdays.

New Show Alert: New Amsterdam

An immortal (not vampire, not Highlander) cop show, directed by Lasse Hallström. Not going to say much about the show, but I hope it sticks around. One nice thing about the writer's strike is that this show was put back on the schedule. It was up for a fall premiere and got pulled.

It's different, I like it.

Anyone else?

New Show Alert: Secret Life of a Soccer Mom

I caught the premiere last night on TLC, and it certainly has an interesting premise.

It takes stay-at-home moms who left their careers/"gave up on their dreams" and gives them a taste of the working world. This is done without their family knowing what is going on (hence the secret part). After presumably a week, they let their family know all about it.

Disclaimer: I am a working mom and have a ton of respect for the stay-at-home mom's in the world, sometimes my lovely kids drive me batty when I am home with them. I have nothing but love for my kids, but I love to work. We now return to our regularly scheduled review.

Last night, they took a mom (Adrian) who studied fashion in college and even worked for Chanel before leaving the workplace 10 years ago to stay at home with her adopted daughter and eventual two other kids.

Dramatically, a big giant Knight Rider style truck pulled up in front of Adrian's minivan after she dropped the kids off at school (and I am assuming some sort of daycare for the younger ones? They are really little). The host of the show (Tracey Gold!)ushered Adrian in and told her what was going to be happening. She was going to get her shot at working with a high-end fashion designer for the week.

The first day, Adrian went in to her "secret life" and met everyone at the design studio, while "agents" cleaned her house, cooked dinner etc. Her mission (should she choose to accept it)
was to create three dresses/looks for a fashion show at the end of the week. (Project Runway fans, did this seem familiar? With less restrictions?) Her "boss" showed her the fabric and told her to pick out stuff that she liked, and was vague about keeping it "affordable" (if you call affordable $400-$800 for an outfit). Adrian seemed so nervous I thought she was going to pee herself.

By the end of the day, she had some draping done, and I assume some sketching and such. They didn't show much of the actual creation. All in time to be home for dinner, where she showed herself to be just about the world's worst liar, going on and on about how she did something different with the sauce for dinner, and that's why it tasted different than normal. Upon receiving a phone call from Tracey, she was stymied to come up with a quick answer when her husband asked who it was on the phone, and it was all kind of awkward. The whole family thought she was off for a few day's pampering at a spa, with laid back Doctor Daddy on duty at home. You just know that is going to go well, because he's all reticent about rules and has to be reminded that the kids should not have candy before 10 AM, and Adrian nervously leaves him with about 4 pages of instructions on how to care for the kids. Yipes.

Back on the job, Adrian continues to be kind of a nervous wreck, but while she is shaken by the breakneck pace the fashion world demands, she manages to create some pretty neat looking dresses. Of course, her co-workers throw her some challenges, including cutting out her own patterns, which gets her even more nervous. She makes it work. The co-workers are impressed. At least for the cameras.

Meanwhile, at home, Laid Back Doctor Daddy is having some issues, including the two younger kids snacking on diaper rash cream, and bashing each other in the head, and spilling coffee mate all over the floor after drinking it straight from the container, then mopping the spill up with what looked to be tissues... you know, the normal hi jinx. The oldest daughter really steps in and picks up some of the slack, impressing me quite a bit. Laid Back Doctor Daddy even has a nice picnic on the yard with the kids. Good times.

Adrian's' Secret Life culminates with an in-house fashion show, with some of the boss's designs going down the runway next to Adrian's designs, for a couple buyers and a stylist to the stars (including the likes of Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Hudson) The first two dresses of Adrian's to be shown are not very well received, and Adrian is (predictably) nervous. The final dress is her triumph, and the stylist proclaims that she would love Jennifer Hudson to wear the design (yes, it's the one in the picture). I wonder if she was coerced to pick one to love. You just never know with reality tv. I'm sure Jennifer Hudson, having gotten her big break on American Idol, was ok with wearing a design created by another reality show contestant. I wonder if she was hoping for something from Project Runway...

Her week of living a Secret Life completed, Adrian is brought back home to tell her family the truth. When told he was being lied to all week, Laid Back Doctor Daddy looked quite concerned, and was relieved to know that Adrian had been working and not off gallivanting with another man or something. He thought that she just looked complete when living her Secret Life, and that made him happy for her. Her kids (mostly her oldest daughter) were also super proud.

Predictably, her boss came in and surprised her by offering her a job. But the fun didn't stop there! She had to make her decision pretty much on the spot, I think by the end of the day. Predictably, she takes the job.

While I enjoyed the show and will watch it again, I had a few issues with it.

• No mention of pay was brought up. I mean, I'm sure that she talked about it with her new boss, and I don't think we needed to hear any nitty gritty about what she is going to pull in with her new job, some closed door negotiations might have been nice..
• She started her new job pretty much immediately. Did the show help her locate childcare?
• The.. predictability.. but that remains to be seen if it is as bad on forthcoming episodes
• I wanted Super Hero costumes.
• I wanted Tim Gunn to critique her work. Or maybe Nina Garcia.

Overall, enjoyable. I don't know how the future of the show will shape up... upcoming episodes include Secret Lives as a chef, and an event planner, a police academy recruit. No word as to whether Steve Gutenberg will be able to take some time off from his training for Dancing with the Stars to make an appearance on that one. We can only hope.

So - did anyone else catch this show? What did you think?