I was going to snark big time when I heard there was going to be a reunion show. In fact my teeth were gnashing, but then the reunion show turned out to be so sweet and nice and illuminating that I, uh, (may lightning not strike me) rather liked it. Andy Cohen behaved like a seasoned host and even asked good questions thanks to the viewers. (Tinkerbelle must have sprinkled me with BS dust. I really don't know where these nice words are coming from.)
Padma and Gail looked hot as usual. We learned that Gail acted as a bad ass sous chef for Ilan during the Food and Wine Classic competition in Aspen, and that Padma's wardrobe last year didn't lift Tim Gunn's eyebrows. In fact he approved of those slutty, bellybutton baring outfits. Well, I beg to differ with Tim. I like this year's soon-to-be-divorced woman-on-the-prowl look much better on her.Ted informed us that Tom was an ICON of the bear community, meaning that muscular, strong, masculine, and burly men are falling all over him. Does that mean they admire Howie too?
Or does Howie resemble Uncle Fester too much?
Ilan looked particularly handsome in his penguin suit, but apparently the costumer forgot to include socks. Sam, self-assured and a touch arrogant, thought he had last season's victory in the bag. His demeanor the entire night seemed surly.
Dave was hysterically funny as usual. Bravo should hire him as the 'color' man for the show.
Sandee rocks. I miss her. Clay was gracious. It's good to see those two back for an encore.
And Micah did nothing to forward her cause. When she called herself a light-skinned African American I almost choked on my late night snack. Did anyone catch Cliff's expression when she said that? In fact, every time Fauxmicah opens her mouth, I feel like I'm falling down a rabbit hole.
But - why oh why did Bravo slow down the momentum of the show AGAIN? Especially when the fans are struggling to figure out how to snark this Nice Fest? What are they trying to do? Stretch the show until the new Project Runway airs? Stop messing with the formula Bravo, and get back to the competition. You're testing our patience, which, I for one, have run out of.
13 comments:
So who's dating? (I was studying for my Statistics final this morning.)
I'm stunned. You seem to be the only person on the planet who found it entertaining, Contessa.
i do admit that i found myself muttering "f*** you" over and over again as micah made her "i'm african american" comment. i didn't even think to see if they made a cut over to cliff because i couldn't bear to look at her face.
i might have been able to enjoy the special a bit more if things weren't so forced and the editing wasn't as ridiculously bad (abrupt) as it was.
Yeah, everyone hated the editing. Thankfully I was chatting online, writing my post, and half listening and half watching, so I missed that little detail. Those who read my blog know I like to snark, but several of us at work who were discussing the show were surprised that 1) we liked it, 2) how much we learned and didn't learn, and 3)were glad to have some things clarified.
However, Bravo was shameless about promoting the dating angle and waving that flag in front of us only to tell us that no one was dating. Bad form. Also, I think interrupting the show in the middle of competition for no discernable reason is self-defeating.
I also found myself muttering WTF a couple of times, but even though this show was forced I found it surprisingly engaging. Then again, the Pinot Noir probably clouded my judgment.
By and large TC fans gave this show a thumbs down.
Ma chere, don't worry that you are losing your bite. What I hated was not so much the what as the when. It seems to me that when you have a slow-moving vehicle on your hands, the last thing you want is a huge speed bump to slow it down even more. (It's what I was trying to get at in my own post, tracing the journey of Season 3 through the metaphor of the date.) And never apologize for being cheery, ma chere.
Padma was hot, as usual, but so was Leanne, and Leanne can cook. Sam proved he could not make the cut in Season 2, and he did not make the cut last night.
Sandee is still totally clueless, thinking she could turn in poached lobster at a BBQ competition, but you already know she is clueless, with that haircut.
Micah was full of crap, Micah is always full of crap. "African American" my ass, get a real job somewhere and lose the foreign pretentiousness.
Harold was Harold, gracious, self efacing, headsdown cooking, which is essentially what Frank Bruni said in his one star review of Perila in the NYTimes yesterday.
Bravo needs to be bitch slapped for making us sit through that pablum last night, just keepin us in suspense one more week before we get to see Rocco the self destructing top chef.
If I were a judge, I'd have said, "So, you're still defending your poached lobster, and you've still got that haircut. So, let's move on."
Then, the show would have deteriorated into fits. Ilan would be next in my sights... sockless and clueless hipster that he is.
Regarding the African-American comment, Charlize Theron made a similar comment on SNL a few years back. It worked for her, though, as people just loved it. When Micah made that comment, I immediately thought of Charlize.
Ms. Place, I'm on your side; I didn't find the reunion utterly unwatchable. For those interested in the chefs, it was nice to hear about their experiences. It was, of course, pointless. You're right that it slowed down the show's momentum. However, they could have done a LOT more with the show. That would have compensated for the interruption.
What's the timeline for the Finale show? I imagine it will be the lead-in for PR. However, as I posted earlier today, I just finished up with summer school and have been out of the loop, other than the snark end of things.
It sucks no one is dating (excepting Ilan dating himself)...based on the promos my guess was Sam and Camille. The Sam/Uli story didn't really hold a lot of water with me (though at the time, that was my guess).
Does LeeAnne have a guy? If not, there's some NY bitches who need to get to work setting her up with some GOOD men. She remains my all-time favorite.
Oh, my, the love continues to shine on this blog. Charlus, you darlin' man, you've stilled my disquietude. Big Fella, I think you have TC critic written all over you. RVA Foodie, yeah, Sandee should just let that lobster go. What's done is done and she should just move on. Thanks for that illuminating bit of information, Marius. I did not know that white South Africans referred to themselves as light skinned African Americans.
Charlize Theron may have have gotten away with the "African American" comment as a joke on SNL but generally that is just a really dumb thing to say. For a lot of people the identity "African American" refers to a group who have a particular history in this country (i.e. slavery-civil rights). Just look at the debate over this with Barak Obama! At the very least it just raises hackles when a white person calls themselves African American. Someone who grew up and went to college in the US should know that. But it is clear that despite all of her travelling, FauxMicah only pays attention to herself. It was hilarious how the cameras showed the different people rolling their eyes everytime said something.
Regarding my last sentence above:
People were rolling their eyes whenever FauxMicah said something.
I actually like reunion shows. They bring back people you like ( Harold, Leann, Dave and I wish Marcel and Stephen) and people you dont like ( Ilan, Micah, Ilan). Its nice to see them out of the kitchen and in a noncompetitive environment. But still the funny are still funny. The self-involved jackasses are still the same. Those who seemed like stand-up people still seem like stand-up people. All in all it was at best just OK. I had hoped for more. Maybe the will do a better job the next time.
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