Top Chef got off to a fast start last night by eliminating a contestant for the first time after the Quick Fire Challenge. The Quick Fire Challenge is tasked of the chefs at the beginning of each episode and is, just as it sounds, a short-timed challenge where each contestant must create something to impress the guest judge.
Last night's challenge was somewhat different. As tasked by Top Judge Tom Colicchio, each chef had to complete the first of 3 technical challenges, beginning with peeling 15 apples with a knife (no peelers allowed). The first nine finished were safe, the rest had to do the second challenge - Brunoise the apples. This was another new culinary term for me, but basically Brunoise is just a fancy way of dicing the apples. Something the remaining competitors attested to as being difficult. Again, the first 4 finishers were safe from elimination.
The remaining four were tasked to cook something to impress Tom, who would make the final decision. Oh, and when will these people learn? Don't they watch the show before auditioning? Left for elimination were Lauren, from Savannah, Ga., whose hubby is in Iraq; Patrick, 21-yr.-old CIA student; Leah, a sous chef; and Rhadika, whose parents are from India. Rhadika impressed with her pan-seared pork with apple chutney, while Leah was saved by her scallops with apples.
However Patrick and Lauren both opted to make salads - SALADS! The judges never go for the easy-way-out salads! A salad is what single-handedly cost Marcel the title of Top Chef in Season 2!
So, it was curtains for Leah, who said disappointedly as she left, "I didn't even get to see the Top Chef kitchen."

The remaining contestants were paired up by choosing knives enscribed with different neighborhoods of NYC, each with a specific ethnic food type. After spending their first evening bonding, during which Stefan and Hosea had a heated fight over vinaigrette, everyone was sent to their neighborhoods to shop for foods. Each had to prepare a single entrée to compete against their neighborhood partner at Judges Table. They had two hours to cook.
Stefan beat Ariane for his Middle Eastern dish, Dan beat Pat in Chinese cuisine, Hosea trumped Carla for Russian faire, James bested Richard for Greek, Leah topped Melissa in Italian, Eugene beat Alex for Indian, Jill won over Rhadika for Jamaican and Jeff beat Fabio for Latin cuisine.
Each losing contestant was fair game for elimination. At Judges Table Eugene, Stefan and Leah were congratulated for being the judges' favorites, with Stefan being chosen as the winner. He receives immunity next week.
Ariane, Patrick and Carla weren't as lucky, making the bottom three. CIA student Patrick was told to pack his knives and go, apparently his black noodles were the judges' bane!
Unfortunately last night didn't provide any good comments from the judges (Judges' Table, like the judging on Project Runway, is usually my fave part), however, gay contestant Richard provided a little comic relief with his crushing on judge Tom Colicchio.
"Tom is cute!," he proclaimed, adding he'd like to take him out for a beer.

The Cute Colicchio
Important Note: As told by the judges last night, only once in the history of the show did the winner of the first challenge NOT go on to win Top Chef. If memory serves me right, that would be Season 3's Trey, who was ousted after the dreaded Restaurant Wars challenge. So keep an eye on Stefan - I'm also watching Eugene, he seems impressive.
Top Chef repeats tonight at 9 p.m. on Bravo, right after an encore presentation of this week's Real Housewives of Atlanta.For more on Top Chef, visit http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/5/best_of/index.php

BTW, last night's PBS season debut of Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work was really good. It told of the Queen's U.S. visit from the British POV, which is always interesting. Make sure to mark next Wednesday night for the second episode, featuring preparation for the Queen's birthday celebration! For info visit http://www.pbs.org/opb/monarchy/

On TV tonight: You already know what's at the top of my viewing list - CBS, 8 pm, Survivor: Gabon. The conniving and scheming is getting deliciously evil - who's going home tonight?

Jen Aniston
The next biggest thing, I guess, is Jennifer Aniston's guest appearance on NBC's 30 Rock at 9:30 pm. She'll be stalking Alec Baldwin's character. Aniston stops by The Oprah Winfrey Show today as well. Check local listings.

Another big one for NBC is tonight's episode of ER - Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), who died in 2002, will make an appearance. No, don't think ghosts, it's apparently in flashbacks.
And, according to TV Guide, Noah Wiley says that he, Eric LaSalle and, are you sitting down?, George Clooney will all be back for the series finale in May. (Clooney, schedule permitting, of course.) For info visit http://www.nbc.com/ER/

Ooooohhhh Clooney!
Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew continues at 10 p.m. on VH1. I have nothing new on this one, but I think last week's episode airs at 9 p.m. and features the Doc's interview with Rodney King about "the beating," if you know what I mean ...For more info or to watch visit http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/Celebrity_rehab_2_with_dr_drew/series.jhtml?source=globalnav

The Mean Girls
And remember back when Lindsay Lohan was a sweet, beloved actress (no? Think hard). Well I thought she was totally cute in the remake of Disney's The Parent Trap. Anyway, before she got all spoiled and went off the deep end (and got a girlfriend), she starred in a funny, teen flick called Mean Girls. Written by SNL alumn, 30 Rock star/creator and Sarah Palin impersonator-extraordinaire Tina Fey, and featuring a hilarious turn by Rachel McAdams, this little film is a gem worth watching. It airs tonight on ABC Family at 8 p.m.

Survivor Recap/Weekend Watch tomorrow

So, I effectively missed everything on TV last night because I was glued to the DVD of Iron Man. It wasn't as great as seeing it in the theater (I only have a 50-inch TV screen), but I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. Tony Stark - Wow!

But don't worry, I covered my bases and taped Fringe, Paris' BFF (trainwreck), Bravo's Rachel Zoe Project and, yes, I'm still curious about the new 90210. So far, I'm only caught up on Fringe. I had to watch it this morning so I could be in on the water cooler-talk at work! Nothing like coming in unprepared and having everyone spoil it for me. Of course, that would be my own fault. We all know that there are certain shows that must be watched before coming into work the next morning!

So instead of the usual, here's some TV News that needs catching up on ...

The most exciting, of course, is that if you're a fan of the original Knight Rider (the one with The Hoff), you can now KITT your own car!Radio Shack is offering, for $270, a Knight Rider GPS system that features the voice of the original KITT (William Daniels)! For those of you who don't know, KITT stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand. It comes complete with flashing lights timed to the voice synthesizer every time a navigation greeting or a navigation voice instruction is given. The unit also interacts with drivers using a database of around 300 names, just as the car did - "Hello, Michael."
Unfortunately, it does not offer KITT's signature turbo-boost, shape-changing or arsenal of deadly weapons.


In too much of a good thing news: Access Hollywood reports that Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff Melrose Place is being resurrected. Judging by the way the new 90210 is rating, I wouldn't necessarily consider this a good idea. However, this may be just the hit the newly DUI-d Heather Locklear needs!Way to be creative network suits!

And in I Can't Believe I Missed This News: The New York Post (nypost.com) reports that there was a little slip of the shorts during last week's Survivor: Gabon premiere!
Apparently some viewers (not including me) got a shock last week when CBS did not blur video of Marcus Lehman's private parts slipping out of his shorts during a running competition.
Under normal circumstances, the network would obscure any nudity (we've all seen this before during challenges, when people's bathing suits didn't quite cover them up). Especially since this episode was filmed months ago and presumably the slip would have been caught in the editing process.
The moment, which only lasted a few seconds, has been gleefully posted all over the Internet - I won't be providing a link, however, you'll have to find it yourself!
A spokesperson for CBS said in a prepared statement, "This was a completely unintentional, inadvertent and fleeting incident that was virtually undetectable when viewed in real time. In the first 24 hours after the broadcast, before freeze-framing images were widely posted online, we received one viewer comment from the 13 million who watched the telecast."
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/


In case you haven't already heard, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have been tapped to play the usually horrendous Superbowl Halftime Show on February 1. According to the NFL, last year's halftime show was watched by more than 148 million viewers in the U.S. Let's hope there's no wardrobe malfuction, a la the aforementioned Survivor.For more information visit www.nfl.com

RIP TRL: Soon there will really be no more music videos on MTV. The popular music channel has yanked Total Request Live, its long-running midday video countdown show, after an unprecedented 10-year run.
MTV is quick to point that the show hasn't been cancelled, and it was just a good time to give it a break. The final episode is slated to be a special that will air in November.
TRL debuted in September 1998, and became a focal point of popu culture. It also famously would cause traffic james on the street outside of its Times Square studio when teens would gather to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars.

Over on VHI, The Supreme Bi-otch of Reality TV, Season 1 Apprentice contestant Omarosa is going to star in an "I Love New York"-type dating show. The show will feature her moving into a house with a dozen single men competing for her attention. I guess now that New York, Tiffany whatever, has found true love with season 2 winner Tailor Made, she's no longer available for yet another vomit-inducing dating show.

Tiffany & Tailor Made

The numbers were down for the Grey's Anatomy premiere last week. The ratings average was 18.5 million viewers from 9-11 p.m. and ABC won in the adults 18-49. That's down over 2 million viewers from last season's premiere (20.9 million).
ABC officials were quick to point out that last season Grey's gained an additional 2.1 million viewers-per-episode when DVR recording was factored in, which would put last Thursday's season open roughly on par with the last season.


And how about a little movie news: Last week Disney Studios held a showcase of its upcoming films and proudly announced that Johnny Depp has signed on to bring back the beloved Captain Jack Sparrow for a fourth Pirates movie!! Be still my heart ...And if that wasn't enough, Depp will also be playing Tonto in Disney's version of The Lone Ranger and the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland!
Chairman of Disney studios, Dick Cook, proclaimed, "Believe me, any time this guy wears a funny hat, it's good news for Disney." I couldn't agree more!

On TV tonight: Another exciting ep of Bravo's hugely successful Project Runway at 9 p.m.! Will this finally be super-hated contestant Kenley's downfall? Check out http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/season/5/index.php for more information.
In other PJ news, Lindsay Lohan will appear on the first episode of the series when it moves over to Lifetime in January - yes January. Originally planned for a November debut, PJ on Lifetime has been moved back to January, not a particularly good sign. Anyway, LiLo's rep says, "Lindsay is excited to be a part of Project Runway, especially given her love of fashion and her new leggings line, 6126." Leggings? Are you kidding me?

And another dilemma comes my way. Tonight at 10 p.m. I have only 3 shows to watch! Last week's premiere of season 2 of Lipstick Jungle was pretty interesting, so I'll keep that one for now. For info visit http://www.nbc.com/Lipstick_Jungle/
Over on ABC, the second season of the popular Dirty Sexy Money debuts! And, according to the NY Post's Linda Stasi, it's a good one! I'll admit I watched this show early last season, but lost interest because there were other good shows on at the same time (I think it actually lost out to Project Runway, which used to air at 10 p.m.).
Anyway, if you long for the days of the sleazy nighttime soaps Dynasty (Yes!) and Dallas (another Yes!), Stasi says this is the show to watch! For more info visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/dirtysexymoney/index?pn=index
But I'll probably watch FX's Sons of Anarchy live and tape the other two to catch up on later. This is definitely my favorite new show of the season so far and things are really heating up! Tonight's show will repeat immediately following at 11 p.m. For info visit http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/#Nav/Homepage

Oh, and finally, though I didn't watch, I found out this morning that justice was served last night on Dancing with the Stars - E!'s Kim Kardashian was the big loser, leaving the show with her cutie partner Mark Ballas - I'll miss him!
http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index