Thursday, July 28, 2011

Bravo, how I’ve missed you

Used to be, the Bravo channel would put something on the air, and I’d watch it. They could film someone in Manhattan (surely someone svelte and well-styled) rearranging his or her linen closet and I’d tune in religiously. Of course it wouldn’t hurt that the linen closet was probably stocked with Frette and Pratesi worth more than my car and that the person was fabulous.

Bravo has a rhythym and a style and it works. From the Fab Five to Top Design to Real Housewives of Atlanta – I was in.

But after Project Runway moved to Lifetime (a move I still don’t entirely approve of), the Bravo channel and I had a cooling off period. Plus, Top Chef has been hiatus seemingly forever and My Life on the D List was sadly cancelled.

But at least they are still showing Kathy Griffin’s stand-up specials, and last night I caught “50 and Not Pregnant,” She looks fabulous, especially for a 50-year old. I know cosmetic surgery is involved, I know, but still. She is owning it and she is rockin’ it.

After the Griffin special, I got sucked into chef Rocco DiSpirito’s latest endeavor, the reality show “Rocco’s Dinner Party.” In the show, Rocco invites a mélange of b-list actors, chefs, business people, food writers, etc. to an awkward dinner party catered by two competing chefs. For example, this week’s guests included Raven Symone and the guy that stands out in my mind for playing the jerk Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore.

Aside from the laziness factor of not changing the channel, there were two reasons I stayed tuned for part of the Rocco show:

1. I’m trying to figure out what the deal is with Rocco DiSpirito. He seems to have bounced around from reality show, to restaurant, to web series (is that the Siberia of Hollywood or totally legit nowadays?) and of course multiple cookbooks – but yet it feels like he has never quite broken through to the big time. Is he not living up to his potential or is he just overrated?

Did we all get together as a society and decide that we’re willing to keep giving Rocco vehicles because he’s tall and good-looking and has some cooking talent? I’m ok with that, I just want to know if that’s what was agreed to.

2. Second reason for watching, in the promo clips and the show bumps, it looked like one of Rocco’s guests was a Liza Minelli impersonator. 45 goram minutes into the episode, and no Liza. Disappointing.

I will say a highlight of the show was the décor and the design of the dining rooms. Is Rocco like a nice-looking piece of furniture? He’s handsome, but I don’t know if he’s got the personality to carry this. Maybe throw Padma in there to liven things up.

But Bravo, I’m glad we kissed and made up. Smooch smooch.

P.S. the new season of Project Runway debuted tonight on Lifetime. Since I think Bravo and Lifetime are owned by the same parent company, I don’t feel like it’s really cheating for me to watch. I wanted to let the new season wash over me and enjoy the experience, and in a few days I’ll be ready to talk about it – possibly in an obsessive manner.

No comments:

Post a Comment