Ominous Signs

Well, this is distressing.

The New York Times is reporting on the changes to season three of Masters, which has given me pause to review what I loved about the first two seasons.

• I loved Jay Rayner. I think he's the best regular judge in the history of the franchise.
• I loved that Masters cultivated an incredible sense of collegiality and mutual respect among its contestants.
• I loved that the show took a more deliberate pace, focused on the food and the people who make it, and dispensed with much of the overwrought drama.
• I loved watching true legends -- not just great talents, but legends -- work their craft.

Reserving judgment, as always. But I have a very, very bad feeling about this.

Comments

[ally]

sigh

[1000yregg]

I already miss Kelly Choi :P

[Independent George]

Yuck.

[bryanD]

"I loved Jay Rayner. I think he's the best regular judge in the history of the franchise."---skilletdoux

Maybe. But that's a low bar to jump over. All I remember about J.R. was his highly-bogus "outing" of the equally-bogus Rick Moonen regarding Rick's "sustainable" fish routine. Achtung! There is NO SUSTAINABLE FISH in our modern mapped-out oceans these days. Even the Ancients knew of the trade winds that make the aquatic highways in which our favorite well-muscled fish travel. Fish-in-barrel! These Ancients also experienced worn-out fish traffic periodically just by following the routes too well. Add in 21st century X-Ray vision. OY! AND whole nations (Norway, Japan, Iceland, China, Canada, etc etc) staking out their national identities on securing these stupid fish for hard currency. Result: stressed fish populations. (I say go freshwater: bluegill, maybe....MmMmM!)

Besides, Raynor's book, The Man Who Ate The World *sux balz*!

Alternate Reading Suggestion and Judge Nominee: It Must Have Been Something I Ate by Jeffrey Steingarten. (Bliss!)(Hilarious!) (I wish I were there!) (Mark Twain!)

"I loved that Masters cultivated an incredible sense of collegiality and mutual respect among its contestants."---skilletdoux

As a Scots-Irish Cherokee drunken Bavarian with a modicum of innate decorum I would discount all that as so much *bes' behaviour-ism*.

"I loved watching true legends -- not just great talents, but legends -- work their craft."---skilletdoux

While my familiarity with President-for-Life Rick Bayless preceded TCM by some years ("United States of Arugula", etc), I will grant TCM credit for expunging the sad stink of "Food Network" from the pretty G#$-damn amazing Michael Chiarello.

[bryanD]

Hmm. Just read myself. Needs more skilletdoux luv!

[Trillium]

Thank you for letting us know. I, too, will reserve judgment pending several episodes.

[Skillet Doux]

bryanD... re: Rayner, yeah, you're not the only one who will remember him for that. But I think that's a shame, because day in and day out, I think he was the most constructive, articulate and expressive judge either TC or TCM has had. For me, he did by far the best job of bringing the dish off the screen, so to speak.

[Duffy]

This is not going to be fun. In the old TCM, only one chef could move on each week -- so it was not a horrible blow to the chef's reputation or ego be in the pack that was left behind. Now one gets humiliated each week - wnhich I suspect will lead to some sorry results.

[karenology]

So the overall pedigree of the chefs is lower, and they're changing the format to one elimination every week. Which leads to the question...what makes this Top Chef Masters 3, as opposed to Top Chef Season 9? :P

[Anon man]

Regarding "Legends" as contestants, 1) what's the definition of legend and 2) there's a limited universe of legends willing to do the show. So, they had Ludo on the show. Talented, successful, well-hyped in LA for his pop-up places, but "Legend", maybe not.

And, its a big country, they'll want people like Ludo from Billings or Tallahassee, who aren't likely to be Legends outside of their small town.

But, yes, it is more interesting to watch guys like Love or Keler or Marcus or Moonen. There is just a limited universe of those guys. But karen's on to something. As the caliber of chefs on the main show become more ECs and chef/owners, the line between regular and Masters is pretty thin.

[paula]

Well, so much for "Maybe I'll watch Masters." Why would I tune in for more of the same crap I've grown tired of with TC: Original Recipe?

Boo.

[Independent George]

In Soviet Russia, masters eliminate YOU!

[Independent George]

Oh, wait - that one actually made sense. Darn it!

[bryanD]

@skilletdoux: True. Jay Raynor is articulate. He'll do. As for his ambush of Moonen, that was the highlight of the entire season. Plus that's what Moonen gets for being so needy.

Speaking of needy, I notice Chef Tio has gone straight from losing The Next Iron Chef competition to signing on for Top Chef Masters. She CAN cook, though, and the TCM line-up looks strong. I welcome the new format. (I thought the old way was a bit dry.)

[note to self: dial Shrill back to 7. Break up long paragraphs]

[nomnomnom]

Totally out on this season. I absolutely can't take a cut down season that lasts for months on end. Will catch the last few weeks at most on torrent sometime in july or whenever they manage to finish it.

I am not super up on the regional chefs either, these are certainly not national names to me. My wife who follows national food trends probably recognizes more names, but I can maybe place 3 of these at the most. Sorry if that makes me look like some sort of hack but it is what it is.

So is this a move to make this show year round? I mean there has been some variant of this show on in one form or another all the way back to April 2010. This means at least continuous form of one type of another of top chef until at least mid-June and if they can turn and burn the desserts thing fast enough you should see episodes into 2012.

[Independent George]

I think we've overlooked the most important question:

Will there be Muppets?

[Canuck]

I read an interview from Rayner (forget which site) saying that he was sacked from TCM because they were bringing in Stone, and didn't want too many non-American accents on the panel. If true, that's absurdly silly and sad. Or it could just be Rayner ranting.

I'm unsure about how to feel about the new season. I'm a Stone fan...he clearly knows his stuff and isn't a ditz. But the show's allure stems from the chefs, not the judges. I want to see their brilliance on display. It's why I was profoundly sad when Art Smith used the store-bought ice cream in the vegan episode...it just didn't jibe. I'm sure these chefs are all brilliant, but they just don't have the cachet the past guys did...half of them I've never seen before. Oh well. I won't judge.

[rab01]

It does not look promising but maybe they've struck a different deal with the contestants than they did before. For the first 2 seasons, the TC Masters were promised that the surprises wouldn't be too bad. If they unleash the hounds on this group, then it can be just as entertaining as a good season of Top Chef.

Unfortunately, I only recognize the two contestants who lost on the Next Iron Chef (though I had heard of Traci des Jardins before that). For those who know better, is this really a group of "Masters"? Other than des Jardins, are they all really more accomplished than Bryan Voltaggio or Kevin Gillespie?

[Ranhorn]

[Comment removed due to inappropriate (and kind of hilariously juvenile) epithet.]

[Anon Man]

Ranhorn, I'm not a big fan of Oseland either, but was the epithet really necessary?

[Cheryl]

To me it sounds similar to Next Iron Chef on the food network. Just like "Chopped" seemed like spin on the TC quickfire. I'll probably watch but not live. I'll watch it on demand later.

[Skillet Doux]

Okay, Ranhorn, it was kind of fun to mock you last time, but if you can't take the hint, don't bother posting. You've had some valuable/constructive things to say. You can say them without making yourself look like an ass by sliding in bigoted insults at a fourth grade level.

[HF]

I hated the star system, so good riddance, though I did like that the diners had a say in the judging.

I don't see any downside with Kelly Choi being replaced with an actual chef, or with there being fewer chefs to start with.

[HF]

Ah, I found the reason for the format change... 2.2 million viewers the first season, 1.6 million the second.

[sku]

I'd say the changes are a mixed bag. I completely agree on Rayner; he was fabulous and I'll be sorry they lost him. At least they aren't bringing back Toby!

I'm also glad they changed the competition format from brackets to the all-in Top Chef style. The problem with the way they were doing it was that you didn't really have a chance to get to know the chefs' personalities except for the finalists from each bracket. The others were the equivalent of the Top Chef who goes home on the first episode.

As to legends, well, there are only so many of them, but the contestants this year look pretty strong. The two from LA, John Sedlar and Mary Sue Milliken (and Milliken's business partner Susan Fenniger was on a previous season) are definitely local legends. Sedlar may be the strongest chef in LA right now.

[bryanD]

"I don't see any downside with Kelly Choi being replaced with an actual chef..."----HF

I don't either. And I now read that Ruth Reichl was originally a chef from olden days. That makes a majority. Maybe this buttressing is to anticipate any chef-borne darts thrown at the member-in-residence of the food criticism intelligentsia; to keep the teevee tete-e-tetes focused firmly on the plate instead of on bona fides. Certainly, outsiders mustn't the Barkleys of Broadway smacking each other. That's a cachet killer.

[HF]

^bryanD, I can usually decipher your posts with some googling, but the Fred and Ginger reference lost me.

And in case you didn't see my post in another thread, made over a week after yours and in a different thread from your post, thank you for the exquisite Mozart link.

[bryanD]

"bryanD, I can usually decipher your posts with some googling, but the Fred and Ginger reference lost me."---HF

I don't know. That was 3 1/2 hours ago. :0)

"thank you for the exquisite Mozart link."---HF

You're welcome. That is indeed a goodie.