Top Chef Masters

The elder statesman of the Top Chef franchise, Top Chef Masters has been more genteel than the original Top Chef has. Perhaps because the contestants have already achieved the acclaim others seek; the first two seasons of Top Chef Masters have been at best collegial and at worst bland. Looks like that's set to change with season three, debuting on Bravo this Wednesday.

Bravo appears to have run out of name-brand chefs, such as those who have judged Top Chef challenges or who have chains of restaurants across the country, so the "cheftestants" this time are merely accomplished. This is not to say that we aren't treated to some potentially entertaining personalities, such as the amusing Savir Savan (of Devi in New York) or the annoying Naomi Pomery (Beast in Portland).

While the revamped scoring system should amp up the competitive tension (instead of the star-and-point scores that made judges' table an arithmetic-filled snooze, the chefs are judged against each other as in the original), the personalities of the contestants make that even more likely.

Things certainly start out with a bang in the premiere, with a pressure cooker restaurant war's challenge making an early appearance and some chefs making rookie time management mistakes.

Also promising signs is that former yawn-inducing Kelly Choi has been replaced with chef Curtis Stone who offered more critique in one episode than Choi did in two seasons (although Stone still never approaches Padma Lakshmi bitchy-cool-hotness). James Oseland remains on the judging panel, and he's joined by former editor in chief of the late Gourmet magazine, Ruth Reichl. Promised future guest judges include Maroon Five, and new gay icon Mad Men's Christina Hendricks.

If Reichl can be given ample airtime to wax rhapsodic on the joys of meat and contestants like George Mendes (ALDEA in New York) can maintain their out-for-blood attitude, this season of Top Chef Masters might generate some heat in the kitchen.