Don't you hate it when you get sucked into a reality show and feel like you have to keep watching so that you know what's going on, even though you don't actually enjoy watching the show? (Or is it just me that that happens to?) Although I haven't been blogging about it, I've been keeping up with Top Design (an interior design Project Runway clone on Bravo), despite the fact that it sucks as hard as Project Runway rocks.
First and foremost, Top Design relies way, WAY too heavily on group tasks, turning the show from a design competition into Clash of the Interior Designers. Each episode is a whiny mess of contestants feeling shut out from their team's creative process, contestants calling their teammates lazy, and contestants blaming their teammates for decisions they made. It sucks. If the challenges are too big for one designer to accomplish in a couple days, then give them more time. We want to see their individual styles!
Secondly, Todd Oldham is a lame mentor. I mean, everyone's a lame mentor when compared to Tim Gunn, but Todd is too buddy-buddy with the contestants, and needs to focus less on cheerleading and more on giving constructive criticism. He's not at all an influential part of the show. Todd- If you want to fall back into my favor, you need to guest star on 30 Rock as Kenneth's gay brother. For reals.
Finally, I couldn't care less about any of the contestants, or the final outcome of the show. I mean, I guess Goil is okay, but even he's a whiny baby half the time. Partly due to the plethora of team challenges, I have no clue who's really the top designer, and who's just coasting. This is also an editing problem, in that they have failed to make me care about any of the designers. I mean, I can't taste the food on Top Chef, but I still care who wins, right?
Last weekend, when I found myself fast-forwarding to the final reveals/judging rather than watch all the teammates bickering during the bulk of the episode, I realized that there is no good reason for me to watch this show. None. Thus, I'm out. Let me know who wins.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Top Design: See you later, Decorators. But hopefully not.
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5 comments:
I'm with you on this one. I tuned in with the hope that it would satisfy my Project Runway withdrawal and have been sadly disappointed. The team challenges are always my least favorite on PR and are even worse here. The designers aren't really getting a chance to show their stuff and the judging decisions seem random. Bravo, stop making all of these cheap knock-offs (isn't there some Top Hairdresser show coming up soon?) and get back to the original Project Runway! Pay Tim whatever he wants, work around the Parsons schedule, just "make it work"!
I'm still going to be somewhat contentedly in the Top Design viewership. Although last week was kind of bizarro as I found myself not caring for my favorite, Goil (who turned a whiny pushover), and liking Michael a little more (especially when he cuddled Goil after he got upset. Awwww...) As for Top Chef, I got so bogged down in the vitriol of the second half of the season, I'd be happy for a little bit of mediocrity to cleanse the pallette. Oh, and awesome call on the Todd Oldham/Kenneth the page guest spot idea!
hmm... haven't been able to see this yet but since I actually started out in the design world, I thought I could actually relate to this the most (which is the part of my love for Project Runway stems from. the horrific memories of Studio Critiques)... but yeah. I heard Todd Oldham not as amazing as the Gunn (but who is?) I guess I have no need to run out to get episodes of this though then huh?
I completely agree, and yet, I know I am going to keep watching. I really just love Top Chef and ProRun for all the lovely personality we get from the montors and judges, not to mention the models!, that I just can't bring myself to care about the divas and their pillows. It's as though they are all so insulated (no one works for a firm, it seems, in real life) and have so little feedback that they just don't know what to do with life. At least the designers are tortured souls and chefs have everyone thinking he or she is a connaisseur.
Yeah, Top Chef sucked at the end of this season, too, with all the fighting and horridness. But Top Design, in my mind, is pretty much worse in every way. No more cheap knockoffs, indeed!
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