What's Cooking on TV

This week saw the whittling down of Hell's Kitchen to the final four and the end of Top Chef. Following are my thoughts...there will likely be spoilers, just so ya know.

Hell's Kitchen, The Final Four

I have to admit that I was a little surprised by the final four - when it came down to it, I honestly expected Ramsay to send Jen home, not Bobby. While Bobby has been practicing the strategy of trying to stay under the radar - and he did have some serious messups early in the show, Jen's attitude is one that I wouldn't think would go well in a kitchen. There's a fine line between leadership and b*tchiness. She seems to cross that line. Constantly. Plus the whole "pouting when things go wrong" tendency would totally push me over the edge. How do you have a head chef who pouts?

I don't see Petrozza lasting past the next episode. Honestly, I'm surprised he's still there in the last four. Though again, he was practicing the "stay under the radar" method of hanging in there.

As for the final two? My guess is that it'll be Corey and Jen. Jen is going to be out to get both Corey and Christina from this point on - and Christina just seems to be a little easier of a target because she's nice. And she gets flustered a little more easily than Corey. Plus, though Corey doesn't like Christina, I'm pretty sure she'd give up her dislike of Jen and gang up against Christina if she thought it would help her get a spot in the final two - she's already shown that this is for her more about strategy and less about cooking. Throw in there Ramsay's previous comments about Christina probably being too young and inexperienced...I don't really see her having a chance for much longer.

That said? If I had to choose from this sad, sorry lot - I'd choose Christina. She's more a chef than a game player and honestly, at the end of the day, isn't that what's supposed to matter?

Top Chef: Chicago

Going into the finals, I was totally fine with either Richard or Stephanie winning. I was just as stunned as they were that Lisa got to tag along - reference previous comments about attitude in the kitchen. In fact, I think that the majority of the Top Chef gang would agree that Jen's attitude in Hell's Kitchen does not belong in a professional kitchen - she and Lisa could be sisters separated at birth.

In all, I don't have much to say, because I think Stephanie was a fine choice - and given Richard's performance (plus the fact that he reused something...don't they watch previous seasons to see that people who repeat dishes from challenge to challenge never end up doing seriously well?), well he just didn't show as the winner. I did have a little scare as they edited it well enough to make it look like Lisa actually had a chance. Thankfully that was just editing.

And now, with Top Chef over and Hell's Kitchen winding down, we enter the summer TV doldrums. I had high hopes for In Plain Sight - a new USA series. Don't waste your time. Seriously. Gosh that was terrible. Psych and Monk and Burn Notice do start back up soon, so that's good - but realistically, that's it.

Guess it's time to get a hobby.