MagneticMediaFed

I don’t understand those people who can watch whole sporting events on ESPN Classic from years ago, knowing full-well what the outcome of said event is going to be. I guess for die-hard fans it’s all about the journey, not the outcome, but one has to appreciate a certain level of the unknown in competition. Last night by the time I got around to watching Top Chef it was 4:30 in the morning and I could barley keep my eyes open. I opted to go to sleep and watch it in the morning. Once I got up I started downloading the episode so I wouldn’t have to watch it on television and run into the problem I had last week where since I was recording a later showing the DVR would catch the end of the original broadcast right off the top and thus spoil the outcome. That being said, I couldn’t really do anything on my computer for fear of accidentally finding a spoiler-filled news headline on my homepage. Growing impatient with the download, I opted to just watch it on TV but to be ultra careful. More after the jump…

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A very reliable source e-mailed me this morning with truly awesome news: HBO has posted the first six episodes The Wire on HBO On-Demand. You hear that kids? No more excuses, the episodes are right there in easily digestable chunks. These first six are going to be up until the end of the month and we should probably expect the rest to follow every couple weeks leading to the new season’s premiere in January.

Here’s how it all began.

Enough of this malarkey!

Last night I was already recording two shows at 10:00pm and thus had to catch a later airing of Top Chef. To my great dismay, when I pressed play this morning the first thing I saw was one of the final four packing their knives and leaving. In short, I knew who was getting kicked off. Luckily, it wasn’t much of a surprise. More after the jump…

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My dear, you look absolutely perplexed.

It just doesn’t seem to end, does it? Tonight three new shows are premiering, along with new episodes from a couple gems from last week… and Top Chef. It’s OK. Sleep is overrated.

Bionic Woman — NBC 9:00pm
A so-so remake of a cheesy show about a robot-woman not called Small Wonder, though I haven’t seen the reworked pilot. I can guarantee lots of robot-woman fighting, if that’s your thing.

Life — NBC 10:00pm
Honestly, I know very little of this show. I know it’s about a guy who was wrongly imprisoned and then joins the police force. I’ve also heard the pilot is quite good.

Private Practice — ABC 9:00pm
It’s the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff. I won’t be watching (thank god!), though I assume many will. Let me know how it is.

Dirty Sexy Money — ABC 10:00pm
I really liked this show. It’s funny, has the always awesome Peter Krause, is briskly paced and kind of reminds me of a dramatic version of Arrested Development. That being said most the hour is dedicated to exposition, so who knows where it goes. Still, it’s the most interesting hour of the night.

Let’s also not forget we have new episodes of the awesome Kid Nation (8:00pm CBS) and Gossip Girl (9:00pm CW) as well as the (pen?)ultimate Top Chef.

Good luck!

Early in this week’s episode Dale said that he thought Casey was the person to beat adding, “Hung’s the best technical cook. But in my world food has heart and when you don’t have one it doesn’t taste as good” which I figured was certainly the kiss of death. The Top Chef editors like to award plenty of clues as to who will be eliminated. I was pleased that this wasn’t the case. In fact, it appears that he’s correct. Sure, Dale and Brian are still in the game, but this is a battle between Casey and Hung, which in a way is really a battle between skill and heart or the empire and the jedi or whatever other comparison you’d like to make

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“Your eggs in a hole were heavenly.”

Honestly, I can’t think of a better way to be awaken at 6:00am than by a perky (and preposterously attractive) Padma Lakshmi, even if it meant I was going to have to prepare her breakfast while running around in a robe — hell, especially if I was going to have to prepare her breakfast while running around in a robe. More after the jump…

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It seems like the last time we had a new episode of Top Chef Planters Cheese Balls were still in production. Needless to say it’s been a long time. Too long. You hear me, Bravo? I’m displeased with your scheduling techniques!

A quick refresher: Tre said he could make a bread pudding in his sleep, then, it turns out, revealed that he had never made bread pudding before and thus was kicked out. There is no excuse for a lousy bread pudding. NONE. It also hurt matters that he took on a ton of responsibility and couldn’t quite live up to the challenge. The full (very full) breakdown after the jump…

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You know you’re going to be in for a hell of an episode when you start with CJ saying to the camera, “I only have one testicle, but I have more balls than those other guys have combined.” Way to spell it out, CJ. You’re a champion in my book. Immediately after the teams find two letters that had been slipped under the door of the loft (a reality show staple as time tested as “tonight, we’re eliminated TWO people”). The letters were the full critiques written by that blogger from the restaurant previews the previous night. Ooooooh, the blogger! Everybody run! Actually, we’d later learn that her criticisms would play a key role in both restaurants’ futures: The Garage took the advice and made the appropriate changes. Restaurant April figured since they had already succeeded that would be enough to get them through the next night’s service. (Spoiler: it didn’t). More after the break…

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Whenever the contestants gather at the beginning of the episode for the Quickfire Challenge there’s always the same reaction to the presence of the guest judge: unrivaled awe. While there is no doubt that the presence of these titans of the kitchen should elicit such thunderous praise, I sometimes question whether everyone immediately recognizes the chef, or if they need to be told who it is by producers. The thing is a chef, even a great one, is not a movie star. They are an invisible force behind the metal doors preparing your meal. Sure, if they have a food network show or an endless line of cookbooks the face suddenly becomes recognizable (it also marks the point at which the chef becomes a brand). Then again, maybe it’s because I don’t hang with a lot of top-tier kitchen talent. Still, if I walked into a room and P.T. Anderson were there, I wonder if I’d immediately know it was him.

Whatever. Let’s get to the goods.

Right off the bat, the preposterously attractive Padma Lakshmi tells our fine cast that the winner of the Quickfire will no longer be given immunity. Cue: lightening, thunder and organ music. More after the jump…

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It’s always fun to see how long it takes in a given episode of Top Chef for the very first product to be placed. This week we started out with some quick reflections of the departure of Joey before — COLD STONE CREAMERY!

The Quickfire seemed almost a little too simple: create something to mix into the Cold Stone ice cream. Obviously those that tried something a little off the wall (Hung with his chocolate cauliflower foam, and Casey with her sriracha sauce) would be expected to have an edge, though as the judge was going from table to table he seemed most inclined to react positively to those flavors that — get this– tasted good. Howie and Dale scored big for doing things simply. Good and simple seems to really deliver this season, which is why I’m putting early money on Howie, despite the fact that he is the most uneven of all the chefs. If Howie were an era of Woody Allen films he’d be “Hannah and Her Sisters” through “Alice.” More thoughts after the jump…

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Given my current computer situation I wasn’t going to blog about this week’s episode, but the longer I thought about it the more I started to think that it might have been the best episode to date and certainly warranted some comments (and a special thanks goes to Adam R. for hooking me up with a temporary laptop until we find out what Apple has planned for their iMac line this Tuesday).

First of all, what I thought made this a great episode is precisely what some would say made it a horrific collision of commerce and art. Who are we trying to kid? Top Chef has never been one to shy away from the placement of a product, so its kind of hard to feel righteous in this instance. What I didn’t know (and have since learned) was the falling star that is Rocco DiSpirito, a name that I recognize as “chef” though whose resume I’m anything but familiar. Anthony Bourdain is blogging over at Bravo.com for the I’m-about-to-open-a-restaurant-and-don’t-have-time-for-this Tom Colicchio. In typical fashion he doesn’t mince his words. To him, DiSpirito was a once great chef who has essentially whored himself out for years shilling product, and that the idea of judging one’s ability to cook based on the preparation of frozen pasta is utterly ridiculous.

I’d have to agree. I also can’t afford to eat at a three-star restaurant and love seeing people out of their element, so in that way, this week’s episode was pitch perfect. More after the break…

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I got a text last night from a friend that said “i liked nothing about tonights top chef… yuck.” Wow, I thought. Those a bold words from someone as obsessed with the show as I am (actually, he got me hooked). This seemed especially confusing as every episode of Top Chef is basically the same: we see the chefs hanging out; we see a Quickfire Challenge; we hear about the elimination challenge; shopping; cooking; bitching; judging. That’s every show. You know what you’re going to get, and it is frequently fantastic television (and generally makes you really hungry for upscale dining).

So what could be the problem? Did someone awesome, like Tre, get kicked off? Was the preposterously hot Padme nowhere to be seen? Unfortunately, this morning when I fired up my DVR it turned out to be worse than I had feared: a clip show and panel discussion to answer the audience’s questions. Honestly, by the time the show ended, I had more or less enjoyed myself, but in this case enjoyment isn’t the issue. The issue is why in the name of all that is sautéed with garlic and butter would you run a clip show six weeks into a 16 weeks reality competition? Wouldn’t a better use of this time be spent actually watching the program we had taken time out of our busy days (cough, cough) to see? Wouldn’t it make more sense to run the clip show and panel discussion, say, between seasons when we have a hankerin’ for some, nay, ANY Top Chef content.

And yes, Sam was there and everyone loves Sam (especially the ladies), and Mike was there and everyone loves Mike (especially fans of oral surgery), and yes, Tom Colicchio was there and everyone loves Tom (especially, as it turns out, the bear community), but… but… C’MON!

I’m sorry, Top Chef producers, but pack your knives and go.

Newly single!

It’s been two weeks since the last episode of Top Chef, and a lot has changed. Most notably the soon-to-be-singleness of host and resident hottie Padma Lakshmi. MagneticMediaFed.com would like to take this opportunity to say that we wholly support her decision. Honestly what could a world renowned author possible bring to the table that a bony, television-blogger could not? Perhaps she hasn’t seen those super-stylish MagneticMediaFed t-shirts that have been popping up all over America? Those are what I like to call deal-makers. More on the actual episode of television’s greatest reality competition coming up after the jump…

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CJ couldn’t see just how awful his food looked because it’s hard to see anything on a table when you’re nine feet tall.

The episode started off with Joey saying that he and Howie were now cool because they said what needed to be said. Yeah, right. Seconds later we were smack dab in the middle of the Quickfire Challenge. This show wastes no time. Added to an increasingly long list of reasons why I love this show is the fact that there is so little exposition and what other reality shows would call “character development” it never allows you a reason to become bored – unless you’re generally bored by food, in which case you’re probably tuning in for the wrong competition. More after the break…

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Only two episodes in and this season of Top Chef has been marred with controversy. I, for one, plan on writing a strongly worded letter (lit only with natural light) to the executives at Bravo, letting them know that these fooleries (of the Tom variety) will not go unnoticed. Nosireebob, they will be noticed. I will even take notes on these occasional notices as a reminder to myself and my note-taking brethren.

Here’s how it went down (if you have yet to watch Wednesday’s Top Chef you might want to go do that now as I’m about to reveal who was kicked off — of course if you planned on watching the show later its unclear why you would have decided to start reading this column in the first place. Maybe you’re the type of person that hates surprises. Maybe you have a heart condition that prevents you from experiencing light-to-mild levels of suspense. Maybe you’re lost and were actually looking for an online retailer specializing in restaurant supplies. Who knows) after the jump…

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