Top Design...The Death of Goil

I like my dose of Bravo. It is truly the gayest channel on TV. (Sorry Logo.) Project Runway, Kathy Griffin, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Girl, Top Chef, Top Design, Blow Out, Work Out, Inside the Actor's Studio, and on and on.

Project Runway is, by far, one of the best shows on television. Basically, all of the reality contest shows that have come after Runway are poor copies of it. It all boils down to chemistry. Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Michael Kors, Nina Garcia, these are the people we love to love and love to hate. If you take the first season of Top Chef which was disastrously hosted by Billy Joel's latest wife, you truly see how much having the right vehicle means in selling a product. Katie Lee Joel had the charisma, like ability, and delivery of a piece of plywood. It also was filmed here in San Francisco and somehow managed to make the city look sunny and boring, neither of which are true. Anytime I watch one of the other Bravo reality shows after watching Runway, it feels I am watching a cheap imitation of the original. Which I am.

Be that as it may, Top Design has proven to be entertaining. There have been some memorable contestants this first season and the show definitely holds your attention. Todd Oldham, as the host, seems really nice and sweet, to the point that I am suspicious. If I have learned one thing from these reality contest shows, it is that people who are tenacious and a bit manipulative seem to be the people who get ahead. (Wendy Pepper anyone?) Perhaps when it comes to business, Todd is very assertive. On a personal level, it seems I could ask Todd to clean up diarrhea from my dog and he would cheerfully do it. The judges are an interesting group. The funniest and most interesting person is Kelly Wearstler by far. I have enjoyed seeing her work in different episodes throughout the season and I admire her talent as a designer. I am not familiar with Jonathan Adler or Margaret Russell, but they are likable enough and seem to bring a good bit of knowledge and experience to the table. After watching a show, I always walk away with admiration for the contestants. They are able to execute a complete concept and idea in such a short amount of time. If I attempted to decorate a completely blank space in a day, even with $50,000 I fear it would be a complete disaster.

So the show is nearing its finale and one of my favorite contestants Goil was eliminated this week. Besides being really really cute and having a great personality, Goil was a gifted architect and created some really interesting pieces and designs throughout the competition. That being said, this is Top Design and not Top Architect. (On a wacky side note, that sounds like a really interesting show! Maybe Goil could host?) Carisa has been crying out to be eliminated for weeks. She is a television set designer and her work has always seemed very uninspiring. (WTF was her hotel room vision this week? Black and blue are not complimentary colors unless you are talking spousal beating.) Her arguments with her carpenter Carl are not winning her any points either. This could be the editor's vision of Carisa or she could truly be this annoying in person, it is hard to tell. I am rooting for Andrea at this point. Matt is quite possibly the gayest person on the show, yet he is married with a child. (Michael may have been gayer, but it would be a photo finish in that race.) Also, there is something about his accent that makes me want to cover my ears and scream. According to his bio, he is from Minnesota and he currently lives in Chicago. One bad accent mixed with another equally bad one. Andrea may be a bit on the calculating side, but she seems very talented and her chef's table design was very impressive as well as functional. Of the finalists, I like her style and thought process the best.

On a side note, DirecTV arrived at my new apartment on Friday and installed a satellite dish. The service is great and it is will be about half the cost of Comcast Digital Cable. Not to mention, it includes a DVR which has changed my world. No more commercials and you can pause live TV. Woo hoo!

Have a great week everyone. Cuidate.