| Everything we can't stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.
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Everything we can't stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.
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Top Chef is finally back! So much good TV! Good for Elizabeth Berkley! More Wicked images! Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!
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Christmas; the only day where it's actually spring weather in New York City; being asked out on a date: There are certain things that happen once a year that I look forward to. None of them compare, however, to my excitement over the return of my beloved Top Chef. Season 21 of Bravo's cooking competition premiered this week and, like many of us when we reach that milestone age, is going through some changes. Emmy-nominated host Padma Lakshmi's decision to leave the series after its best-ever outing last year—a globe-trotting season featuring all-stars from franchises airing all around the world—was earth-shattering for me. In Kevin Fallon pop culture history of terrible events, it goes: Spice Girls breaking up, Josh Charles leaving The Good Wife, and Padma Lakshmi ending her tenure as Top Chef host. While I've dabbled in a passionate obsession with other reality series—So You Think You Can Dance, RuPaul's Drag Race, and whatever Real Housewives franchise is actually good at the moment have all had eras—Top Chef has always been the big one for me. Especially in recent years, where gimmicks, garish bombast, and "celebrities" dressed as rapping teddy bears have poisoned the genre, Top Chef has maintained its perfect flavor balance of entertainment and class. So much of that was owed to Lakshmi's hosting style. |
I was pleased, then, that the show's new host is Kristen Kish, a former Top Chef winner whose hosting in last year's National Geographic series Restaurants at the End of the World hinted at the same curiosity, humor, empathy, and seriousness that Lakshmi exhibited in spades. This week's season premiere, which introduced Kish and this new era of Top Chef, comforted that the show's new host and new vibes would still feel every bit like the show we've loved for 20 seasons. The tradition of setting the series is a new city or state each season, and having that local food culture be a backdrop to the weekly challenges, continues. This time, the show headed to Wisconsin, with a premiere set in Milwaukee. Considering that last season had the cast traveling internationally, it's an invigorating change of pace to be based in an area of the country steeped in Americana and whose food scene is largely unexplored nationally. (That is, besides the first thought of: CHEESE!) Kish was able to connect to the contestants and the challenges from the perspective of someone who has been through it all before, building a compassionate rapport with the chefs while also telegraphing a "no excuses" warning—she knows what it's like to go through this culinary gauntlet. Returning judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons seemed amused by this new dynamic. Change can be exciting.
Much of the episode was the Top Chef at its familiar best. There's an intensity and a simplicity to the series. Huge emotions swirl because of the stakes and the pressure, but it all boils down to the no-frills question of who made the best dish. I'm not sure how much of it is intentional or how much is owed to it now being such a memorable part of pop culture these last two years, but I noticed a little bit of The Bear's influence in the shooting style. This first episode crammed all the contestants in a small open kitchen—an instant pressure cooker—and there was something about the scrappier tracking shots and close ups that reminded me more of The Bear than Top Chef's typical cinematic style.
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I already have a crush (hi, Manny), pegged a fan favorite who I want to be my best friend (Michelle, obviously), and nearly cried twice. That's to say that, even with changes, everything is back to normal when it comes to my experience watching the show. I've never been a foodie or able to even remotely cook, but that's never impacted my appreciation of the series or my understanding of the skill behind the dishes being put together. I watched this premiere while fighting for my life against a bout of norovirus, pressing play in between episodes in the fetal position on the floor of my bathroom wailing, "Why is this happening to me?" And yet I was never turned off by this show about food. That's a real mark of great TV right there. |
There's So Much to Watch Right Now |
It's the time of the year when each week there are seemingly two dozen new TV series or seasons dropping. DVRs are short-circuiting. Bank accounts are drained from streaming service subscriptions. And when people ask me what to watch, there are so many options that my brain goes blank and I just say, "I don't know."
The reason for this is that the deadline for Emmys consideration is coming up at the end of May, so studios are rushing to release their contenders in time. That also, theoretically, means the options are good. That's, uh, not the case for everything. But should your body's reaction to spring weather be like mine—throat closes, eyes go dry, incessant sneezing and runny nose—there's plenty out now making the case for you to spend the next months indoors. Shōgun is the most ambitious (and most expensive) series FX has ever done. It doesn't just look like it, but it is also totally worth the investment; it's clear the goal was for it to be the network's version of a Game of Thrones, and it's living up to that so far. I love when a show seems like it was made specifically for me, so I'd like to thank everyone involved in Apple TV+'s Palm Royale. The cast alone is bonkers: Kristen Wiig, Carol Burnett, Laura Dern, Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb, Josh Lucas, and Ricky Martin. The soap opera ridiculousness of the plot's various mysteries reminds me of Desperate Housewives, while Wiig's performance is kooky and heartbreakingly empathetic in only a way she can pull off. Plus, the costumes! |
Netflix's Girls5eva is often compared to 30 Rock because of Tina Fey's involvement in both shows. But the show's comedy itself is why it's a worthy successor, packed with outrageous characters spitting out jokes at a speed that makes you dizzy with laughter. ABC's Abbott Elementary and CBS' Ghosts continue to be my favorite comfort watches, and both network comedies have not skipped a beat in their third seasons. And there's more that I haven't even been able to get to that I've heard great things about, like Prime Video's 3 Body Problem and Disney+'s X-Men '97. So there's no need to stock up on Claritin; watch all this TV instead. | Justice for Elizabeth Berkley |
The Academy Museum screened the notorious 1995 flop-turned-camp-classic Showgirls this week, to a completely sold-out crowd. On hand to introduce the film was star Elizabeth Berkley, who has triumphed over years of being a Hollywood punchline because of the film to being admired for her tenacity as Nomi Malone as she and the movie are embraced. I love everything about this, but especially her speech. She said that she and her mother thought she might be nominated for an Oscar for the part: "Every girl in Hollywood had fought for this role. So it was not a strange thing to ask. So tonight I'd like to thank the Academy…Museum." |
She also got a standing ovation after thanking the people who championed the film over the years, saying, "I'm so grateful that the film has found its way not only in your hearts but especially the LGBTQ community." Berkley and Showgirls being in the news again provided the occasion for a clip to go viral from the sorely underrated reboot of Saved By the Bell that y'all slept on. In it, her character, Jessi Spano, references her days in Vegas after college and transforms into Nomi Malone. Watch it here. |
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A choir of children creepily singing a slowed-down version of a popular song is my least favorite movie trailer gimmick. An exception, forever and always, is "Creep" in The Social Network trailer and, now, apparently this. The trailer for Beetlejuice 2 is forgiven because a) giving "Day-O," of all songs, this treatment is inherently hilarious and b) the teaser looks really good. |
I swear I'm trying to do everything in my power not to make being excited for the Wicked movie my entire personality, but look at that photo! (Check out more in the Vanity Fair exclusive.) |
More From The Daily Beast's Obsessed |
The breakout star of Love Lies Bleeding tells us all about shooting the wild flick. Read more. Popular and GCB hive rise up for Leslie Bibb's scene-stealing work in Palm Royale. Read more. The story behind the funniest episode of Girls5eva Season 3. Read more. |
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| Immaculate: Sydney Sweeney's hot streak comes to an end. (Now in theaters) Chisholm: Shirley Chisholm deserved a better biopic. (Now on Netflix) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: Who you gonna call to get them to stop making Ghostbusters movies? (Now in theaters)
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