Customer Reviews

Top Chef Season 1

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I can't say it enough! I love Top Chef! It is my favorite Reality Show! The first season is fun to watch as they were trying to figure out what was going on. And it stands the test of time... it is still great to watch. It had a great cast, I love Harold! And although the challenges have imporoved as the seasons have gone on... this is still really fun to watch. The "food on the fly" episode is great, between the gas station quick fire and the microwave challenge... just funny. The "Napa's Finest" episode had one of my favorite quick fires ever! You should buy this and watch it... and I love top chef because i can watch it with my kids... they love it too!

I love Season 1. It has to be the best Top Chef series. Any idea when it will be on DVD???

I just finished enjoying my first season of Top Chef, the fourth and most recently aired. With that concluded, I went looking for past seasons on Netflix. No dice. They're only available here, on Amazon Unbox. OK, no sour grapes here. Bravo has every right to make a buck. So, you're asking, is it worth it, $1.99 per episode? I think it may be.

The Unbox player was a simple download and install. It took a little over an hour to download the first episode on my AT&T 3G two-bar cellular connection (~1,256 Kbps). I was pleasantly surprised by the video quality. I'm watching it on 13.3" 1280x800 LCD screen and it's nice, very nice. Ever-so-slightly fuzzy, but no worse than what you'd get on an SD CRT television. The Unbox player offers three viewing sizes: a small square you can keep off to the side while you work; what I'll call a three-quarter screen view; and fullscreen. The three-quarter view worked best for me.

I'm downloading the second episode now, so I will let you draw your own conclusions. The only thing I am wondering is, if I decide to purchase the entire season later, will I get credit for the individual episodes I've already purchased, a-la iTunes (at least in terms of music)? I won't hold my breath, but that'd be great.

San Francisco - what a great place to start a culinary reality show. Twelve contestants ("chef"testants on the blogs) in this season go through 2 challenges in each episode. Each show in all seasons opens up with a Quickfire Challenge (like blindfolded taste tests, creating an amuse-bouche, or mise-en-place relay races) that usually takes less than an hour and is normally in the Top Chef kitchen. The winner has an advantage in the lengthier second Elimination Challenge which serves up the week's loser.

The first twelve competitors stayed in a fabulous house in the Marina and then went to a variety of venues for their challenges (like Hubert Keller's Fleur de Lys). The best episodes were from Restaurant Wars through the Finale (#'s 7 - 12). Restaurant Wars is a central theme in all of the Top Chef seasons. By the time this Elimination Challenge takes place, most of the weak chefs are weeded out and the remaining ones have to work on 2 competing teams to open 2 competing restaurants in a ridiculously short amount of time.

This opening season was very strong. The majority of the contestants were hard-working, likeable, and competitive in a clean way. There were some noteworthy episodes on fine cuisine - loved the Napa episode - and minimal focus on weird reality-show behavior. Loved LeeAnn, Harold, Dave and Stephen. Tiffani is a good "villain." Tough competitor; irritating but with enough talent to make up for it. I wish they had stuck more closely to this format in future seasons.

Tom Colicchio is the firm but amiable head judge. He's comfortable with his success (Gramercy Tavern, Craftsteak) so he is not an overbearing personality. He maintains a solid, yet somehow removed, presence in the background. Kudos to him for not wanting or needing to make this the Colicchio Show. They were lucky to find a personality like this.

Poor Katie Lee Joel of the first season was the weak link as the "decorative" judge. She was rightly criticised for her wooden performance. It just wasn't the right fit. Padma Lakshmi beautifully replaces her in the second season. She's decorative as well, but with edge and energy.

Food & Wine lent its credibility to season 1 and sent Gail Simmons as its representative.

Witty Ted Allen of Queer Eye adds humour and the rare quality of kindness in critiquing these first contestants.

What I loved about the first season was - of course the various montages of San Francisco in each episode - the greater emphasis on food and clean competition.

Great start. Very poor follow-up with season 2 (melodrama, violence, pettiness) ***Stellar follow-up with season 3 (exclusive venues and great competition)*** So far, disappointing and frustrating season 4. Let's go season 5! The only way Top Chef can survive is if they stored up all of the exclusive and exciting challenges that they left off of season 4.