Top Chef Masters with Unknown (to me) Master Chefs, a New Host in Curtis Stone with Annoying Judges like James Oseland

I liked the first 2 seasons of Top Chef Masters. On the first 2 seasons I knew a lot of the Master Chefs, had either seen them on Top Chef, or knew of them by other means.

On the first 2 seasons of Top Chef Masters I knew of many of the chefs, but had never heard of the host before. I can't remember her name now. But she was not a good host.

With the 3rd season of Top Chef Masters I have met the host before. I'd watched Take Home Chef with Curtis Stone, on TLC, many times.

I like Curtis Stone. He seems to be a very nice Aussie import. But, he seems a bit awkward, at times, being a show host.

I don't remember who the judges were on the previous 2 iterations of Top Chef Masters. I'd likely not heard of them before. I have seen one of the judges on the current Top Chef Masters. That being James Oseland.

James Oseland's weaselly mannerisms get on my nerves. The last couple weeks one of the judges has been a young protege of Oseland's who also gets on my nerves. I can't remember his name. He's the editor of an online magazine about food.

The format for Top Chef Masters has been changed from the tournament format of the previous iterations, to a format that more matches Top Chef.

The Quickfire Challenges have seemed more difficult than most Top Chef Quickfires. Last week it was make a dish with a bug in a couple minutes. This week it was you have 12 minutes to make a dish using cheese.

Even though I'd not heard of any of these Top Chef Masters before, they seem obviously to be very good chefs.

I particularly find amusing the Canadian uni-brow chef, Hugh Acheson. This week he got all bent out of shape because the chef who ended up getting the boot, Suvir Saran, gave the diners and judges a lecture about the evils of red meat, while Hugh was standing there ready to serve them something he'd cooked that included a chunk of steak.

One of the chefs reminds me, lookswise, of Jillian Harris from The Bachelorette. Her name is Naomi Pomeroy. She seems quite competent and very bossy.

Another one I like is Mary Sue Milliken. She keeps landing in the bottom, while clearly being quite competent. The strained cooking environment would wreak havoc with anyone, competent or not.

If Bravo continues to insist on putting Top Chef Masters on the screen for our viewing pleasure, please find new Judges. Or as Top Chef Masters seem to often call them, Critics.

Find new critics. But, keep Curtis Stone. I'm sure he'll grow better at the hosting job.

American Idol's Casey Abrams Finally Eliminated For Good

It is a sad indicator of how far of my radar screen American Idol has become, that I forgot til this morning that someone got eliminated last night.

It took 2 seconds of Googling to find out that the "Judges' Save" saved Casey Abrams from elimination for, what? Two weeks? Or was it 3?

This week's American Idol performance show really amped up the stage productions. In previous iterations of American Idol, if I remember right, only the finale would see lots of backup singers.

Take Casey Abrams' performance, on Wednesday, for example. In years past Casey would have come on a bare stage, and with music accompaniment sing Carole King's "Hi De Ho" song.

On Wednesday, on the stage with him, Casey had a piano, with a  piano man playing, I don't know how many women playing trumpets, back up singers and lots of other things going on.

This morning it dawned on me that maybe GLEE has affected American Idol. What happens on the American Idol stage has definitely become more GLEE-like.

Is that a bad thing? Or a good thing? I don't know. I do know that last week when James Durbin came on to the stage, in uniform, with a march band behind him, I thought it was a bit much.

One more note before I shut up about American Idol. James Durbin has grown on me. Previously I thought Scotty McCreery was a shoo-in for the win. Now I'm thinking, unless he messes up real bad, the front runner most likely is James Durbin.

I've got last night's results show recorded on the DVR. I must remember to watch so I can see this week's Ford commercial.

In North Texas Weather Interrupted the Glee Lady Gaga Born This Way 90 Minute Special

Pet Peeve.

Idiotic interruptions of scheduled network TV shows to tell viewers bad weather is happening somewhere in the area a particular station covers.

Interrupting when something serious happens, that I'm okay with.

Terrorists attack America, break in with live coverage. Slovenia launches a nuclear attack on Non-Slovenia, break in with live coverage. Lee Harvey Oswald shoots JFK, break in with live coverage. Osama bin Laden captured, break in with live coverage. Hitler found alive in Argentina, break in with live coverage.

But what happened Tuesday night on KDFW FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth was brain dead moronic.

GLEE is one of my few guilty pleasures. Tuesday was a highly touted 90 minute Lady Gaga "Born This Way" special.

My DVR was set to record GLEE. I did not try to watch it til at least an hour had been recorded.

When I went to watch I was appalled to find that the first half hour.

Or more.

Was devoted to breathless, non-stop, weather information. Including live images of pea-sized hail falling.

Yes, we had a bad storm roll through North and East Texas on Tuesday night.

Power was knocked out for thousands of people. A tornado damaged a lot of homes. The very people who might have found weather info useful, no longer had TV access.

If one knows the weather is turning inclement one has many info options. If one chooses to turn on ones TV to watch a scheduled program one should not have that choice interrupted by useless weather information that is totally pointless and about which one can do nothing.

It works perfectly well to put weather info in a crawl across the bottom of the screen, or in the lower right or left. There is no need to break in to regular programming so a TV Weatherman can have fun being all dramatic about the weather.

What I did get to see of GLEE was very amusing. But my recording ran out before I learned if Rachel went ahead with her nose job. And I did not get to see the "Born This Way" production.

Sunday night we also had some storm action in North Texas. The local CBS affiliate did not mess with The Amazing Race. CBS kept viewers informed about possible tornado and hail and lightning action via the non-obtrusive means I've already mentioned. I have no idea how CBS handled last night's storm. I suspect way smarter than FOX did. Or the local ABC affiliate did with its embarrassing Pete Delkus Weather Drama Queen.

No weather drama is on the schedule for tonight for North Texas. So, I suspect the local FOX affiliate will let American Idol run uninterrupted.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for April 14 - April 20

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for April 14 - April 20. The first number is the ranking, the second number is the season average, then the show name and network. The last number represents the number of viewers in millions. An asterisk * indicates a tie.

Rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average(in millions)
1.	American Idol (Wed.)	Fox	22.5	25.9
2.	American Idol (Thur.)	Fox	20.3	24.0
3.	Dancing with the Stars	ABC	20.1	21.7
4.	Dancing w/Stars Results	ABC	16.3	18.4
5.	NCIS	CBS	13.4	19.9
6.	Body of Proof	ABC	11.4	13.1
*	Hawaii Five-O	CBS	11.4	11.9
8.	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	11.2	17.0
9.	The Mentalist	CBS	11.1	15.3
10.	Bones	Fox	11.0	11.2
*	Survivor: Redemption Island	CBS	11.0	12.4
12.	60 Minutes	CBS	10.6	--
13.	Desperate Housewives	ABC	10.2	--
14.	Mike & Molly	CBS	10.0	11.4
15.	Modern Family	ABC	9.9	11.7
16.	Glee	Fox	9.8	9.8
17.	Amazing Race	CBS	9.4	--
18.	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	9.1	--
19.	House	Fox	8.8	10.4
20.	Criminal Minds	CBS	8.7	14.4

The Amazing Race Eliminates The Cowboys With Zev & Justin First Again to the Pitstop

I don't like the U-Turn and Double U-Turn on The Amazing Race.

I don't like Detours that involving a difficult eating challenge on The Amazing Race.

I don't like it when someone helps another team by giving them the answer to a difficult challenge on The Amazing Race.

The most recent episode of The Amazing Race had all three elements that I don't like.

The Cowboys, Jet & Cord McCoy, were U-Turned by the Globetrotters, which eliminated the Cowboys by making them do the other half of the Detour, eating a big fondue pot full of cheese. The Cowboys had fallen behind due to Jet having trouble with the Roadblock.

The person doing the Roadblock had to ride a motorized bike called a Solex, using the bike's odometer to measure the length of Liechtenstein. Cord got lost and was way off with his first guess. Justin was the first to find a Liechtensteiner Olympic skier named Marco Buchel and tell him the correct distance of 22 kilometers.

Jen lost her map, then hooked up with Justin, who then told Jen the answer. Jet gave Marco a wrong answer, on his way back to the starting point Jet  passed Flight Time, who then accidented upon Kisha & Jen and Zev & Justin waiting for the bus to take them to the train to take them to Zermatt, Switzerland. The two teams in the lead gave Flight Time the 22 kilometer answer he needed.

Flight Time then ran into Gary and gave Gary the 22 kilometer answer. I don't remember how Vyxsin got the answer. She seemed quite lost.

I think it sort of ruins the whole premise of a challenge like a Roadblock where you are instructed to ride a bike and use the odometer to measure something and then get your answer via other means. Why not just stop locals and ask how long Liechtenstein is?

The Detours in Zermatt were the cheese eating or delivering 20 pieces of luggage to 5 different hotels. Only Zev & Justin chose to eat the cheese. Kisha & Jen quickly bailed on the cheese. When the Cowboys got U-Turned and headed back to the cheese, we really did not see them eat all the cheese. I suspect they were told to just go to the Pitstop.

Zermatt is the resort ski town at the base of the Matterhorn. Could they not have thought of something snow/mountain oriented rather than the lame cheese eating and luggage delivery?

That Kent & Vyxsin are still racing, with the Cowboys out, seems all sorts of wrong. The Cowboys always stay good-natured and level-headed no matter what was happening. Kent & Vyxsin crumble over and over again. It was pretty funny when whiney Kent was moving so slow after delivering all the luggage that Vyxsin put the whiner in the delivery cart and hauled him back to the ticket counter clue giver.

It seems that Vyxsin is the man in that strange relationship.

Last week Zev & Justin each got a 2012 Ford Focus for coming in First. This week they got a trip for two from Travelocity to Curacao in the Caribbean. With the Cowboys gone Zev & Justin are my favorite team.

Dancing With The Stars Eliminates Petra & Dmitri While Next Week American Idol's Pia Toscano Sings for Her Boyfriend Mark Ballas

Well, the theme this week for Dancing with the Stars was Patriotic Americana. Or something like that.

I think both Petra Nemcova and Dmitry Chaplin are former communists from the former Soviet Union.

So, I guess it makes sense that that they'd get the boot because neither is American.

No.

That really does not make sense.

Both Petra and Dmitry are very likable.

I thought their quick-step to the Elvis classic "Viva Las Vegas" was very American.

Petra and Dmitri seemed to take getting the boot very well.

At the end of the DWTS's results show Tom Bergeron announced, "Thanks to our friends at FOX and American Idol, it's the network return of the sensational Pia Toscano. She'll be singing and it features what promises to be an amazing dance by her close friend, Mark Ballas."

How did Mark Ballas and Pia become such close friends, one can not help but wonder? Are American Idol and Dancing With The Stars filmed on the same studio lot?

American Idol's Casey Abrams Ends His Song By Kissing Jennifer Lopez Causing Steven Tyler to Erupt in F-Bombing

As one week of American Idol slides into the next, it seems, for me, the more I am exposed to those remaining the less I'm finding them entertaining.

Why? I don't really know.

The fast forward button gets a heavy workout. I FF right past Jacob Lusk.

The oddest moment of the night was Casey Abrams kissing the most beautiful woman in the world, Jennifer Lopez, which had Steven Tyler let loose with a series of F-Bombing along with an irrational diatribe about Casey being so f----ing good that he was pissing off millions of Americans Huh?

The songs this week were supposed to be from this century. I really did not know any of the songs. Except I think I'd heard Scotty McCreery's "Swingin," before. But I think it was back in the previous century. Scotty was up first and for the first time he received some mild criticism from the judges.

James Durbin was over the top. Again. But everyone seemed to like it. James marched in, in uniform, with a marching band and proceeded to wail out a song called "Uprising" by Muse. I am not familiar with Muse or "Uprising."

Stefano Langone seemed to do well with a song called "Closer" by someone called Ne-Yo. Jennifer said he had his "swag going on." He is such a little guy. About a foot shorter than short Ryan Seacrest. I don't know how much real swag Stefano can actually have going on.

Lauren Alaina closed out the show with Sara Evans' "Born to Fly." Again, I did not know that song.

Apparently I am pretty much ignorant about any music that has come from this century.

Survivor Redemption Island with Phillip's Crazy Pink Underpants

After watching this week's episode of Survivor Redemption Island I can't be the only viewer who has come to the conclusion that Phillip has some serious mental health issues and that it is borderline not right that he was cast on the show.

Pink underpants? Where does one buy pink underpants? And if you have pink underpants, why would any sane person wear them as outer wear.

Then there was the rice. Phillip stole a bunch of the Zapatera rice and put it in the Ometope rice container, where it got all maggoty. Phillip then goes ballastic when the Zapatera people won't let him put his rice in their container.

The rice ballasticness then denigrated to Phillip using the N-Word, directed at Steve. Phillip throwing out the race card made everyone uncomfortable, including Jeff Probst, at Tribal Council.

Rob won the Immunity Challenge. The Zapatera's made clear they were voting to get rid of Phillip. Several of Rob's cult members made noises about getting rid of Phillip. But in the end it was Julie who was sent to Redemption Island where Matt is having an emotional breakdown over the current course of God's plan for him.

Matt seems like a nice guy. But, all the praying wears on my nerves. And makes Matt seem really simple-minded.

But, it was God's will that Matt remain on Redemption Island, with Mike, after beating David at the 3 person duel, sending David to be the first member of the jury.

After Probst asked who the thief was, Julie fessed up to being the one who took Phillip's shorts. This after Phillip accused Steve of being the short thief, due to Phillip's superior detection skills due to his years as a Secret Agent.

The duels on Redemption Island now end with the loser going to the jury. At what point do the duels end with the last dueler going back in the game? If it is Matt that goes back in the game, I think it is God's will that he be the sole Survivor and win the million bucks.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for April 7 - April 13

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for April 7 - April 13. The first number is the ranking, the second number is the season average, then the show name and network. The last number represents the number of viewers in millions. An asterisk * indicates a tie.

Rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average(in millions)
1.	American Idol (Wed.)	Fox	23.0	25.9
2.	American Idol (Thur.)	Fox	21.9	24.1
3.	Dancing with the Stars	ABC	20.9	21.7
4.	NCIS	CBS	19.9	20.1
5.	Dancing with the Stars Results	ABC	16.0	18.5
6.	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	15.5	17.2
7.	Criminal Minds	CBS	13.6	14.5
8.	Castle	ABC	12.3	11.0
9.	Bones	Fox	11.4	11.1
10.	Body of Proof	ABC	11.1	12.9
*	Survivor: Redemption Island	CBS	11.1	12.3
*	The Good Wife	CBS	11.1	12.7
13.	60 Minutes	CBS	10.9	13.5
14.	The Mentalist	CBS	10.8	15.4
15.	CSI: Miami	CBS	10.0	11.9
*	Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior	CBS	10.0	11.4
17.	Modern Family	ABC	9.6	11.8
18.	Hawaii Five-O	CBS	9.5	11.9
19.	Desperate Housewives	ABC	9.1	11.7
20.	Undercover Boss	CBS	9.0	12.2

Sonja Morgan Goes From Fan Favorite to Not on The Real Housewives of New York City

This week's episode of The Real Housewives of New York City was the episode in which Alex uttered her now famous "Thug in a Cocktail Dress" phrase.

I don't think I heard Alex say this. I must have somehow missed it.

But, I did not miss the thug in a cocktail dress.

The thug, Sonja Morgan, managed, in 2 episodes of Season 4 of RHONY, to go from being a fan favorite to a Jill Zarin level of unpopularity.

Alex is being a bit intense, so far. She is not letting anything go.

On the Watch What Happens Live episode that followed the Housewives, this week, Sonja was the guest, along with David Arquette. The poll this week asked who's side you were on, Alex or Sonja. Alex won in a landslide with something like 78% on her side. About the same number Ramona got last week when the question was who's team you were on, Team Jill or Team Ramona.

On WWHL Sonja was a bit confusing trying to spin the whole Gay Marriage debacle. At one point she claimed she'd agreed to be the Grand Marshall and speaker prior to becoming one of the Housewives. Then the Gay Marriage people wanted her to be the Grand Marshall because she'd become a Gay Icon due to being on RHONY.

Sonja was being way too full of herself. And then when the thug moment happened, it was Sonja who started it. Alex was articulately explaining why she was upset with Sonja. Sonja was unable to articulate her point of view, so she did what those who are in the wrong usually do, she got loud and aggressive and insulting and kicked Alex out of her house.

I think the portrait that Sonja's boyfriend, Brian Farrell, painted of her really captured Sonja's essence.

Last week in the preview clip of this season of RHONY we saw Sonja's bare derrierre. It was not a flattering angle.

I wondered to myself if Sonja had greatly annoyed the producers of the show, with that butt shot being a hint that Sonja makes an ass of herself this season.

So far Kelly has been the best behaved of the Housewives. Surely Kelly can't keep crazy Kelly locked up for an entire season. I hope not.

I forgot to mention, Alex is selling those Thug in a Cocktail Dress t-shirts that you saw above. Speaking of Alex and clothes. Alex and Simon really need someone to intervene regarding the clothes they choose to wear. Particularly Simon.