AriAu

That's what you find weird???? How about Kevin holding his mother's hands while Miguel stands idly by? Although, I guess for the Pearson's that isn't so weird. lol

Actually, he could hand over half the equity by taking more of something else, like his 401K or an investment account etc.... Divorce is not my area of law, but i have had clients get divorced and the even up often happens this way, especially when one spouse owns a business. However, he knew it was best to keep Jack in the house where he was comfortable so he may have agreed to let them stay and then get half the equity on the eventual sale. Ha.

The top of the class is really distinguishing themselver-Buddha, Evelyn, Demarr and Jackson in some order are really separating themselves....which means one of them will get screwed over by Restaurant Wars next week, unless they bring back Josie or something. Love that Buddha had immunity and went for it....and it worked, when often it doesn't. Product placement doesn't offend me any more on this show, although it feels like it has gotten worse this season and the placements were less connected and more heavy handed, although it was hard to top the Smurf thing from last season, but at least that one was only a quickfire. Good question, but I cant believe that it has been 14 hours and no one has commented on Gail's...ahem... outfit. I love Gail and I am a boob guy (TMI i know), but it was actually distracting since I felt like the Elves were trying to edit them out, as if that was possible!

A few random thoughts: 1. I didn't need a whole back story on Philate (too funny....but makes sense...oh AriAu don't go there), but it would have been nice to see something that shows how or why she makes him happy. Something, anything since Kate has not exactly been portrayed as someone who makes those around her happy, other than St. Jack Pearson and the music students. She is almost always a downer and, as has been pointed out again and again, has no friends. I'm not even going into the physical attraction/that she is morbidly obese, just personality wise, we never saw what made him happy. 2. Of course Philip had an incredibly painful and miserable backstory....what else would you expect from This Is Us. 3. Does Philip have lots money since they seem to be spending a lot on the wedding (winery in San Ynez etc....) and the engagement party? Family coin or settlement of the wrongful death suit? 4. Rebecca and Miguel were not at the New Big Three's 6th birthday party. Just saying. 5. Has any character in recent memory had a better retcon than Madison. She really, really shook her insecurities and over sharing and intrusions into the lives of others that we saw at the beginning, seemingly out of nowhere. 6. Thrilled that after how bad they made Toby look (or tried to make him look) that this episode showed him to really care about kate/the kids/making it work and it was great that it appears he found happiness. "Appears", because in the flash forward, he is alone in bed in what looks like a pretty depressed sounding state. Speaking of the flash forward, something has always bothered me-how is Toby so close to the Pearson cabin that evening when he lives in California?

Is it just me/have I watched too many seasons of Top Chef or is this season boring? It feels like most people are very nice and pleasant and have nice and pleasant personalities, but there is no one to really root for.....or against. Just pretty blah all the way around.

Yeah pretty out of character for Chuck....and for Don! But the zen like state wont last long for Chuck, just like it didnt last long for Don as he taught the world to sing "..... in perfect harmony". Prince's speech with Wendy lacked any real emotion....kinda like the character himself....and what makes it feel like this season is dragging along.

Seriously, what was Chuck removed for....being an arrogant, gloating asshole???? If that was all it took, there would be very few politicians left. Just bizarre approach-I'm shocked they didnt go for entrapment leading to embarrassment, but just odd. The set-up was pretty sweet-classic Wags, but surprised to see Scooter so involved.

Lotttts of Top Chef Alums on James Beard list..Kevin Gillespie, Isacc Toups, Tiffany Derry, Tiffani Faison (all the way back to Season 1), Sheldon Simeon, Jamie Tran and Beverly Kim's restaurant Parachute in Chicago is up for Outstanding Restaurant.

How come when I hear that Joe Buck is the new voice of Monday Night Football, i can only hear the name in Brockmire's voice???

Would it have been too much to let the Colin Drache character have the first name Boris!!!! After all Campbell Scott is clearly using his accent from Royal Pains for this character too. As to traffic concerns in NY, if they could figure how to make it work in London, somehow they could make it work in NY, especially for all that money, that could be used to improve so much NY infrastructure, particularly the decaying subway tunnels and the bridges!

I don't know about the most boring person alive, but the problem is that he is boring, which when you couple it with trading equities, which at it's core IS the most boring thing ever, the show is sometimes like watching paint dry. The magic has been, beyond the incredible dialogue, that Bobby was an interesting character who somehow engendered great loyalty and respect and who had interesting business schemes beyond just trading equities like the pizza company. Prince has shown us none f that and the way he jagged around his own children, probably never will get that level of loyalty.

It is if you get a benefit from it, particularly if it is one that could have/should have inured to the benefit of the company. At the very least, it would be grounds to terminate "for cause". I'm sure there is a better thread, but I found Emily annoying and could easily see that she could be annoying to her French counterparts (who referred to her as a "hick" in episode 1), but not obnoxious. Now Sylvie I found obnoxious in the condescending way she treated Emily and Madeline. But I really came here to say, Emily..... LEARN FRENCH. Spend the time and learn the freakin language. Stop spending your time taking selfies and start studying so that you can speak the language you need to do your job. I am terrible at foreign languages, but I'd spend the time if it was what I needed to do my job better....or at all.

Well, even with all the hysterical lines and the joy of Tom over-turning Greg's desk, that was one seriously depressing hour....I'm depressed this morning, 12 hours after watching. Kendall is not a good person, and is horribly out of touch with reality (no matter how hard he tries to seem relevant), but his fall/spiral was just awful to watch.

Not when you consider them "customers" rather than "patients"!

Given the story line from TBBT, it would have been hard for them to retcon that it all ends happily for George and Mary.....and if this worries you,

Yeah, but she seems to lack not only his brilliance, but also his charm, caring and warmth since no matter how gruff and irresponsible and assholish House could be, he was also very charming. That's what made him watchable and her increasingly un-watchable. And, no they should not have had the father in the room helping with diagnosis-he should have been questioned about what he saw and experienced, but not the ultimate diagnosis. No one plays weary and disillusioned with the world better than Toby Ziegler Glassie Glassman, I mean Richard Schiff!

They are heading back to Texas for Season 19.....Houston this time, which they skipped last time. Didn't have a date in the Tweet...but we will get old friends back. https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/bravo-top-chef-season-19-location-announced?cid=soc_twitter_x_x_TopChef_org_img_TopChef_x_dish_x_x&utm_source=soc&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=x_x_TopChef_org_img_TopChef_x_dish_x&utm_term=x

On The Rewatchables podcast, they have a topic "What prop would you most like to have from the movie?"......which I think is the same as what you are discussing, except that the prop has to actually exist. Assuming you cant take like the entire set and need to pick specific items, I think that any answer other than "these knives were made for my family by a Boston silversmith named Paul Revere" is just wrong......altho I think "a cricket bat given to me by Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth Windsor" would be a close second. Edited to add..... Ooops, serious brain cramp......the only other acceptable choice was given back to POTUS by Mallory........THE napkin, preferably in the frame.

On another topic, people have asked about TWW swag so see this site. https://lemonlyman.shop/product-category/episodes/ Pretty clever, but some are a little too on the nose for me and others are not that good looking (in my opinion), and none can top the Josiah Bartlet Presidential Library shirt I bought about 10 years ago, but I'm thinking of an investment in the Cartographers for Social Equality or Hartsfield Landing shirts as a way of identifying true Wing Nuts and the Big Block of Cheese one since it is cool looking.

Perfectly said.....and he had time to come up with an excuse/explanation/alibi, yet nothing. Clearly, that is needed, but be careful what you wish for since, while this is clearly an unacceptable situation, what happens with things that appear to be less egregious. The PC police could make things uncomfortable. ummmm, they are producers, but, yeah, they are pissed at the Magical Elves. Tom should not be surprised-he works in the industry and knows that this behavior is pretty much commonplace. And no one should worry about seeing Gabe on Top Chef again....in recent years, they have only brought back the popular ones and not the "villians"....no more Ilan, Josie etc....and the less popular winners almost never appear so no Hosea, Nick Elmi etc....

Listen. I am not defending Gabe or his alleged reprehensible behavior (remember, at least at this point, these are allegations, altho I have yet to see a denial from him) in any way, but I am not sure what the show, Tom and Bravo were supposed to do. The filming was done and he was named Top Chef before he got fired and before the allegations came to light. I'm sure Bravo/The Elves do/did some basic background checks on the cheftestants, but this would have taken some serious digging into the past of each cheftestant, and then they would have had to decide what is disqualifying. Remember, I seem to recall that the beloved Gregory Gourdet told us that he had substance abuse issues at one point-is that disqualifying? The show/network didn't have a lot of choices-it was not like the episodes where they (badly) edited out Besh and the dessert guy Johnny something. Gabe was in every episode and won the last one, meaning the only choices were to air the season or not air the season. This would have happened after Bravo/The Elves had spent all that money, lest we forget this is about money, although sometimes money can't fix bad PR. However, not airing the season would have been terribly unfair to the other cheftestants who had given up months of their lives and been separated from family and friends, for this opportunity. Remember, while the other cheftestants did not get "$250,000 (from San Pelligrino) and the title of Top Chef" they did get great exposure-anyone doubt this will help Shota, Dawn, Maria, Jamie etc.... and if you don't show this season, they don't get the bump.

YUP.....not one time all season did they complain about the flavor and seasoning of her dishes....which means I want to eat it all! On the other hand, she is NOT great at this game.... not plating everything is just unforgivable given the stakes AND her history. Like him and he is a strong cheftestant, but screwing up the rice in the finale was and should be fatal. While I can imagine what Dawn's food tastes like, I have no idea, at all, what Shota's food tastes like and the judges just raved about it....and I really really want to try it and high end Japanese food. Not going to waste keystrokes on Gabe. Great chef who made great looking and tasting dishes....who will disappear from the Top Chef biosphere even more quickly than Hosea. You'll never see him on an episode again and I have a hunch you may never see this season replayed once all the details come out. This was all filmed a long time ago and it has been 6 months since he was let go and he knew this day was coming....yet he has no answer/PR spin to put on it and if there was another explanation, we would have heard about it 30 seconds after the episode aired.

As I do every season, I marvel at the show's ability to prevent leaks....we are a day away from the finale telecast and there is nothing getting out...not a word, nada. Yes, I know, they have a great non-disclosure agreements, but still impressive.

I'm confused by this position. Dawn failed to get a component on the plate that supposedly was very good and that would have improved a dish that all the judges loved and Kwame said might have been the best thing he ate all season..... and that is bad. On the other hand, Shota decided not to put a component out because it wasn't good or at least wasn't up to his standards. In other words Shota screwed up the cooking part of his dish and that's ok because he chose not to plate it, but Dawn faces criticism for screwing up her time management and not getting a well made component on the plate.....so, screwing up cooking is ok, but screwing up timing is bad??????? And I have a hunch Shota's dish would have gotten some "real criticism" if he had not elected not to plate part of what he advertised as sushi 2 ways. Given the quality of the dishes and the minor errors that were made, along with the kinder and gentler season we have seen with all the cheftestants playing nicely in the sandbox, I get the thinking in not sending anyone home for really strong dishes....but they have made tough calls in the past and I am surprised that they didn't make one here. Perhaps it was the disagreement on the impact of the sunchokes and how superfluous Dawn's extra components were and the missing sushi that made it really an amuse and not a whole dish and whether Gabe's cold component was cold enough and forgetting a tortilla ....see each one had some blips that were very, very minor. By the way, why didn't Gabe just cut one of the tortilla's in half and give half to each! I like all 3 as cheftestants and they are all appealing on the screen (without commenting on whatever Gabe's issues are) and Dawn's food is what I enjoy the most. All that being said, I would LOVE to try Shota's food since I have not had the chance to experience Japanese cuisine with that level of finesse and sophistication. By the way, who did Brooke piss off-they had her out there clamming in the cold and rain at 6am and then standing under those see-thru umbrellas in the wind and rain a few hours later!

So, I have thought about this for several days and as heart warning and seemingly touching as Jamie's actions seemed to be, it was actually really, really immature. "I want her to have another chance like I had...but no, I don"t want to go home" is pretty childish. There are consequences for every decision/ask and she wanted an ask without consequences. I have nothing against Jamie and she has been a good cheftestant-this is not an attack on her, just a commentary on what she wanted. This is the way the game is played each and every week of each and every season-someone goes home, and sometimes it happens even when you make a good dish/didn't screw up and sometimes a better chef goes home under the rules in effect that day. To ask for Maria to have another chance isnt how the game is played-LCK ends at some point each and every season and we are at that point. On a positive note, Maria must be a far nicer person in person than she is edited to appear since everyone was very upset she was going home. i thought she was kind of obnoxious through the Gabriel thing, but the reactions to her elimination paints her in a better light...and I guess him in a worse light! All that being said, Dawn, Shota and Gabe hae been the class of the competition pretty much the whole time so the fact they are here is no surprise. And to steal from the Pack Your Knives podcast, "has Dawn made a bad dish yet...even when she doesnt get everything on the plate, it is still great"