Rose Graner
Entertainment editor
In an age of increasingly absurdist reality television, Bravo’s “Top Chef: Just Desserts” is at the very least a brief reprieve from insanity, if not an actual breath of fresh air.
“Top Chef: Just Desserts” is yet another creation of Magical Elves Production, the same team which graced Bravo with both “Project Runway” and “Top Chef.”
The premise of “Top Chef: Just Desserts” is blissfully uncomplicated—take the popular reality cooking competition program “Top Chef,” give it a couple of new hosts and make it only about desserts.
When the original “Top Chef” series was created, a leaf was evidently taken from the “Project Runway” book in terms of format and hosting. The only two differences between the two are that “Top Chef” is about food rather than clothes and features Padma Lakshmi, rather than Heidi Klum, as its exotic and semi-intimidating host.
Although “Top Chef: Just Desserts” follows this same format, it falls slightly short of “Top Chef” in terms of legitimacy (at least in its nebulous first season). Gail Simmons, though a talented cook and charming host in her own right, holds very little of the allure that Lakshmi does.
Head judge Johnny Iuzzini is one of the few true examples of a perfect marriage between function and form, at least where “Top Chef: Just Desserts” and its target audience is concerned. As the head pastry chef at Jean Georges (a three-Michelin-star rated restaurant in New York City) and winner of many prestigious culinary awards, Iuzzini is uniquely qualified to judge the work of up-and-coming dessert chefs.
His undeniably appealing physical qualities (think French pastry chef meets Jersey rockabilly kid), though, are what truly make him a valuable addition to the “Top Chef: just Desserts” team in terms of viewership. Iuzzini’s compellingly intense, vaguely rockstar aura does nothing to deter the aforementioned crowd.
In terms of the culinary challenges themselves, it remains to be seen whether “Top Chef: Just Desserts” will be able to claim any true legitimacy.
The first challenge of the premier episode (in which contestants were required to create “signature” cupcakes) pandered with almost painful obviousness to the sector of American society that insists its desserts be as adorable as possible, flavor and creativity be damned. The second challenge (“make something with lots of chocolate”) was oddly basic. All of the contestants have been to some form of culinary school and are employed in the field culinary arts.
Asking the contestants to make a dessert featuring chocolate is distressingly similar to asking a group of writers to write a story in the first person. Doing so patronizes both the contestants and their viewers.
Equally belittling of viewers are the obviously-set-up one-liners and playful banter between contestants. It doesn’t matter how much of a carefree spirit a person is: no one will ever tell a camera that they will “Cut you… with flavor!” without a serious amount of prompting.
Despite these glaring flaws, it must be admitted that contextually speaking “Top Chef: Just Desserts” is a masterpiece. After all, most networks seem to be relying on stranger and stranger cross-genre reality television in order to meet the demands of their rather vapid consumers.
For instance, “Choir Wars” is a shoddy attempt at a real-life “Glee.” “Jersey Shore”-inspired reality programming such as “Cake Boss” and “Jersey Couture” are all too common. The never-ending stream of programs like “Pit Boss” or “The Little Choclatiers” about little people going about their everyday (or not so everyday) lives is just plain offensive on all levels.
“Top Chef: Just Desserts” absolutely panders to the most basic desires of its target audience. It features forced playfulness, attractive men and lots of sugary food. Let it not be said that this is a bad thing, though.
There are far, far worse shows to spend one’s time on. Despite all the eye candy “Top Chef: Just Desserts” features, it also shows a fair amount of the actual culinary process that contestants go through. Viewers might even learn a thing or two.
“Top Chef: Just Desserts” is on the Bravo network at 10 p.m. on Wednesday evenings and is quality programming for all ages.
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