They made us thrill to fashion designers. They got us all hepped up over chefs. So naturally, when the mighty Bravo reality-programming juggernaut turned its attention to the cutthroat world of interior design, lightning would be caught in a bottle for a third time, right?
No. Oh no.
To be fair, there was nothing wrong with Top Design, save for a few minor glitches. Namely:
* The judging was inconsistent: Designs panned one week were praised wildly the , with the criteria changing as frequently as Kelly Wearstler's crimes-against-fashion wardrobe.
* The challenges were lame: An interior design show where the contestants have to clean out and organize someone's garage? Really, Top Design? Really?
* The contestants weren't memorable: Well, except for that guy. And the guy everyone thought was gay. And that lady who no one seemed to like. And the guy who had a thing for peppers. What was his name? Pepper Guy. Yeah.
Other than those minor problems, it was a fantastic effort. Well done, cruel Bravo overlords. Well done, indeed. -- Mr. Sobell
Ugly Betty
The U.S. adaptation of this Latin American import, co-produced by Salma Hayek, turned out to be a witty, twisty, soapy delight in its first season. America Ferrara's Betty Suarez is the perfect outcast -- smart, plucky, and adorable, but at least one monobrow too heavy for the fashionistas at Mode magazine, where she works as an assistant to the editor. The show has its clear "good guys" in Betty, her nerdy unrequited love Henry, sympathetic seamstress Christina, the hard-working Suarez family, and Betty's good-hearted but dumb-assed boss, Daniel, and it also has a feel-good message about embracing differences. But the best parts of Betty are the broadly-drawn, bitchy characters who try to make our heroine's life hell -- Vanessa Williams's superb villainess Wilhelmina Slater, mean girl assistants Marc and Amanda, and tran-tastic and ultimately sympathetic Alexis Meade, Daniel's sister of a dead brother. Ugly Betty boasts great writing, romance, murder, sex, coup attempts, family feuds, people coming back from the dead, a closet full of fabulous clothes, and Judith Light. It's the most fun you can have on an ABC Thursday night without any reported on-set choking! -- Potes
By The TWoP Staff
They made us thrill to fashion designers. They got us all hepped up over chefs. So naturally, when the mighty Bravo reality-programming juggernaut turned its attention to the cutthroat world of interior design, lightning would be caught in a bottle for a third time, right?
No. Oh no.
To be fair, there was nothing wrong with Top Design, save for a few minor glitches. Namely:
* The judging was inconsistent: Designs panned one week were praised wildly the , with the criteria changing as frequently as Kelly Wearstler's crimes-against-fashion wardrobe.
* The challenges were lame: An interior design show where the contestants have to clean out and organize someone's garage? Really, Top Design? Really?
* The contestants weren't memorable: Well, except for that guy. And the guy everyone thought was gay. And that lady who no one seemed to like. And the guy who had a thing for peppers. What was his name? Pepper Guy. Yeah.
Other than those minor problems, it was a fantastic effort. Well done, cruel Bravo overlords. Well done, indeed. -- Mr. Sobell
Ugly Betty
The U.S. adaptation of this Latin American import, co-produced by Salma Hayek, turned out to be a witty, twisty, soapy delight in its first season. America Ferrara's Betty Suarez is the perfect outcast -- smart, plucky, and adorable, but at least one monobrow too heavy for the fashionistas at Mode magazine, where she works as an assistant to the editor. The show has its clear "good guys" in Betty, her nerdy unrequited love Henry, sympathetic seamstress Christina, the hard-working Suarez family, and Betty's good-hearted but dumb-assed boss, Daniel, and it also has a feel-good message about embracing differences. But the best parts of Betty are the broadly-drawn, bitchy characters who try to make our heroine's life hell -- Vanessa Williams's superb villainess Wilhelmina Slater, mean girl assistants Marc and Amanda, and tran-tastic and ultimately sympathetic Alexis Meade, Daniel's sister of a dead brother. Ugly Betty boasts great writing, romance, murder, sex, coup attempts, family feuds, people coming back from the dead, a closet full of fabulous clothes, and Judith Light. It's the most fun you can have on an ABC Thursday night without any reported on-set choking! -- Potes