When you get right down to it, Top Chef is just a game show. The contestants compete in challenges to win prizes and stay in the game. It's much more elaborate than something like Plinko*, but when you boil it down to the basic components, you've got a game show.** Top Chef is great because it feels like more than a game show. It feels fancier, and I like seeing the creative dishes. With their most recent finale, Top Chef slipped a bit. It felt a little less upscale and a little more like a cheap game show of yore.
Top Chef focuses on a group of cooks who are competing to be named Top Chef. The challenges are designed to challenge the chefs by limiting time, ingredients, and the like. There is a panel of judges that decide the outcome. The basic premise is that of a game show.
The series sets itself above its ancestors with the chosen aesthetic and high production values. The contestants are also required to have a higher skill level than participants on a run of the mill game show. While they still have the overly-produced moments of anticipation/worry, I suppose there are certain tropes they must adhere to.
The most recent season finale was set up a bit differently. The chefs prepared their meals in front of a live audience. The judging was done by round at the same time. Cooking five courses in front of a live audience probably seemed exciting to the show makers, but it fell a little flat.
The set felt a lot like the set from Millionaire. Already, the episode felt a little dated. The lights they used during the tasting at the Judges' Table and during judging were tacky and didn't fit the feel of the show as a whole.
Usually, the chefs will bring out their creations to the judges then leave while the judges actually eat and discuss. This is a pretty standard part of the show. In the finale, the chefs stool there as the judges ate and discussed. Decisions were then immediately made regarding who won the round. They used the lighting and music to create drama.
In this show, that is unnecessary. If you've been following the season, you already have a decision about who should win. You may or may not have strong feelings about it; that's really something that can change from person to person, the level of involvement. The drama is created by watching two chefs that you like face off. Creating a false sense of drama is insulting, even if it is the television norm.***
I like watching Top Chef. Even though I did not care for the format of this latest finale, I will keep watching the show. It is available on demand, and that is what I'm looking for on a lazy Saturday. As long as it stays available, I'll keep watching. That being said, that particular finale was a misstep. They're capable of more, and the focus on telling everyone that it was filmed before a live audience just made it feel more dated.
*I know someone that was on that show. It's valid and counts!
**Ha! Cooking terminology!
***I'm not saying it is wrong to do that; I'm just saying that it feels cheap when the show does not execute it to that level on a regular basis.
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