Episode 1: Masters Get Schooled
Aired: June 10, 2009

Discuss the season premiere below!

See you all tonight. YAY.

Yup can't wait!!!!

Yeehaw! Howdy y'all!

AI

I'll be watching!

I'm 5th, can't believe it and can't wait.

I can't believe you are still awake!!! LOL!!! I'm excited to see experts in the field show their stuff....

Not bad still in the first 10...About 20 minuets...

Go Hubert!

oh wow, Hubert really rocked it. He really thought about the audience. I love it.

Why isn't Tom Valenti either a contestant or a Judge?

Where'd everybody go?

I kind of wish the judges didn't know who cooked what until AFTER they judged.

Only half-way in to tonight's show. I LOVE it!!!!

I love the format AND the chefs (all of them; so genuine, humble, and sweet).

Did I say I LOVE the show?

Bravo has a knack....this is special, though. Love 1/2 = charity; 1/2 = personal. The chef's are real people and deserve something for their time.

Kudos. Scratch that. Bravo!

I love Hubert! Class!

I'm so bored with Top Chef Masters...

I'm back! Seen Tim Love on "Iron Chef!" I think it may have been a kobe beef steak challenge against Bobby Flay!

I was rooting for Tim Love, but I expected Hubert to win, and for good reason. No surprises here, at least not in epi 1.

What the heck was that waste of time???

Love love love the show!!! I like that you get to see more of each chef cooking. They all seem very involved in the charities they are competing for.

I'm glad Hubert won this week but I am now a big big fan of Tim Love's. I thought he recovered so gracefully after freezing all his stuff. Best part of the show for me was when the chefs were listening to the girls scouts comments

It was a cooking challenge show between well know chefs and they hope to earn enough stars to help the charity of their choice.

I want to go over to Ft. Worth and eat at his restaurant.....I liked him. But I expected that Hubert would win.

I loved it.

I thought the challenges were interesting, and the ways that the chefs worked with what worked right off the bat, and, more importantly for me, how they dealt with things when they didn't go as planned, worked for me. Making deserts for Girl Scouts? Check! Doing a meal out of a dorm room? Oh, hell yeah! It's the kind of stuff that separates the men from the boys.

And it gave me the chance to hear four very different chefs chat about their art, and shoot the sh!t about what they were thinking. I love good conversation, and it doesn't get any better. Was there a dish cooked that I felt I would die if I didn't taste it? I don't think so, but I kind of doubt that that was the point.

There was no dish that didn't interest me. That mac & cheese done in a dorm shower put me on the floor. Who thinks of that? For me that mac & cheese was the thing that epitomizes what this show is about. A good chef can work when all is right, and they know what is coming next. To be inventive is what I love, and they all won, in my eyes.

I loved it . I can't wait for next week.

Did it look like to you that Hubert had a Thin Mint on his dessert? I thought I saw that but I couldn't tell for sure. The little red head sure had a mature pallet for her age.

This idea of TCM (Top Chef Masters) certainly was a great idea in theory...just didn't seem to translate too well into an actual TV competition show. Maybe I just need to view a few more episodes. I'm not crazy about the hostess. What is her experience? She makes me uncomfortable -- she seems unfriendly and rathy icy in personality... or maybe just stiff in personality, which don't seem like good requirements for a hostess of a show. I guess I'm just used to Padma (who is extraordinary as a hostess!)! I also miss Tom C. But I know this is not Top Chef, but Top Chef Masters. Nonetheless, I will stay tuned to watch the chefs; unlike TC where I watch for everything.. the contestants, challenges, judges and the banter between and among the (guest) judges and of course the hostess.

It was some kind of chocolate cookie....I think he made it himself.

They did an amazing job in the dorm rooms.....I was cracking up at the comments about making the beds. They all stayed pretty good natured through out it all.

I'm baa-aack.........

Anyway, I liked the show also--maximum food, minimum drama. Unfortunately, it seems the days when Bravo posted even most of the recipes from each episode on their website are long gone--one from Tim Love, one from Christopher Lee, none from Hubert Keller or Michael Schlow.

My prediction? Elizabeth Faulkner is going to be among the final six, and Wylie Dufresne isn't, based solely on who appears in the ads for the show.

ok, so I thought it was good but I wanted to find more info about Christopher Lee...found some website Behind the Burner that had a whole interview with him heres the link:
http://www.behindtheburner.com/expert/christopher_lee.html
The website site coincidentally had Michael Shlow
http://www.behindtheburner.com/expert/michael_schlow.html

pretty luckkkky!

I hope the season turns out not to be a bust...I guess only time will tell. I'll keep everyone posted if I find other links to interviews or anything else.

<3 foodfan123

I learned something very early in tonight's show. This show is all about the different chefs, and the easy comraderie that was built amongst guys who don't really know each other very well. I can listen to people talk about their art all night long, and this very thing made the show feel very short for me.

That's a good thing, by the way. This is going to be fun. I found myself laughing lustily, and often. I found myself marveling at their choices when things went wrong. I found I wanted to eat at their places immediately afterwards. In that way it's wildly successful.

Are you speaking of the show or your post?

The post. If you can't find something to like in this show, then you just aren't very interested, or interesting, and I just can't be bothered.

You registered just so you can say that? You must lead a fascinating existence.

Don't want to know about the usual thing
I never bother with the usual thing
And I only wanna shout wanna jive wanna feel alive
Do whatever I wanna do

Just forget about the usual thing
Don't wanna know about the usual thing
And if I didn't think you were a little bit out there too
Now I just wouldn't bother with you
Oh I just wouldn't bother with you

Well put d/c.

I, too, loved the show for what it is. I can understand if some viewers who were expecting an upscale version of TC were disappointed, but I sure wasn't. As others have mentioned as well, this show is introducing us to people that we may or may not have heard of and humanizing them in the process.

It is also introducing us to the many opportunities there are in this country to reach out and have an impact on other people's lives, plus showing us, through one chef's premature children, another's autism, etc., that problems touch everyone regardless of who they are.

As far as surprises, I personally was surprised that Keller was as inventive as he turned out to be, though not surprised that he won. I was glad to see Tim Love's ability to totally switch gears and still do well. The biggest surprise may have been that Gael Greene didn't turn out to be the "bi!ch-on wheels" that everyone expected.

All-in-all I'll be looking forward to next week.

My point exactly (without my veiled sarcasm).

I think it was. I have some in the freezer (for emergencies) and I took them out ... same four dimples.

I thought that there were a few "best" parts. I say that the chefs' comments watching the girls critique their desserts were a highlight for me too.

I was laughing - "that's NY Times food critic in 12 years ..." I think that their toughest critic, The Little Red Head Girl, kind of stole their heart.

Don't veil it baby! Let your sarcasm flag fly!

Bear:

Don't mean to be fawning, but I agree completely. I'm in alot of pain, trying to make cookies for kid's b-day and hubby's in the city (as you know, there's been some happenings downtown today)

I can't believe how good the show made me feel. True respect. Watching them joke, tease and create made it apparent why they call it the culinary arts.

Bravo! Bravo.

I agree the hostess was not very good. Not much personality and a far cry from Padma.

I thought the judges were boring. They mostly seemed to fawn over the chefs. I guess they don't want to offend any of these chefs who are well known in their field. But this part of the show is supposed to be the most dramatic so it will not be very interesting if all the judges tables go this way.

The show is not up to Top Chef standards in any way, but is still entertaining. I thought Keller was excellent in his creativity in the food and I also liked how he wore black instead of the boring white chef coats they always wear. He was fun to watch and I was glad he won because it appeared he was clearly the best chef there.

I will be watching and I'm sure the show will improve.

WOW

WOW...........WOW

WOW ..........WOW.........WOW.........WOW........WOW......................WOW

MAN THAT WAS AN AWSOME SHOW

I'M NOT SURE IT'S BECAUSE OF THE GENERAL LACK OF GOOD

TELE PROGRAMING.................BUT

WOW.......THAT WAS OUTSTANDING

!!!!!!!!!!!FRESH FORMAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!INTERESTING JUDGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SPLIT ELIMINATIONS

AND TO TOP IT OFF

A GREAT LOOKING , WELL SPOKEN , HOSTESS

WHO DID IT ALL ............ ................WOW

I WAS IMPRESSED

THOUGH IT IS THE FIRST ROUND

THE CONTESTANTS WERE VERY WELL MANNERED

AND IN IT FOR THE COMRADERY

HAD ALOT OF FUN

THE GIRL SCOUT JUDGES WERE HONEST AND BLUNT

TO THE SHAGRIN OF THE CHEFS WHO TOOK IT ALL WITH

A GRAIN OF SALT

WHAT CAN I SAY

SO FAR SO GOOD

HAD TO LOVE IT

SUPERCALIFRAGILISTIC EXPIALIDOTIOUS

TAKE CARE OVER THERE

ALOHA

HAVE FUN

PS, DID I MENTION THE HOSTESS WAS PERTY

Yep, Qwack, I agree....that would be so much better. I still really enjoyed the show and can hardly wait for more!

Anyone playing the Last 2 Game? It's about as simple as it gets.

Last 2 Fantasy Game

I like the show so far. I think it is a perfectly adequate placeholder until the next season of Top Chef gets started.

My wife rolled her eyes when it was announced that all they had to do for the Quickfire was make a dessert, but when they showed the Girl Scouts we realized THAT was the challenge. It did add a level of enjoyable complexity.

I was really pulling for Keller. I thought he was the only one who was really thinking on his feet. He was the only one who really rose to the QF by making an appealing dessert for little girls. The strawberries from the cowboy were probably great, but he presented them as he would in a high class restaurant to adults. I admired Keller's class when he attempted to help the other guy when his blender didn't work.

The dynamic is different, and therefore a little lackluster. They are all masters and playing for charity, so they can't really throw them any curveballs outside of the challenges. I was wondering what the winner of the QF was going to get, thinking that if a master chef gets any sort of advantage then he would almost certainly get the win. It turns out that each dish is merely scored and the cumulative points get tallied up at the end. Okay, but aside from a time limit how is that a Quickfire?

So the one guy stumbled with his dessert during the QF, and the cowboy put his bags in the freezer by mistake. It's kind of nice to see that even masters can make egregious mistakes when placed in a reality TV environment. I was glad to see cowboy rallied and made one of the best dishes of the evening.

I liked the look of Keller's soup, but I don't think finding water for his pasta was an incredible feat. He needed water, he went to the nearest source. Using the shower was a good idea - what chef wouldn't want to use a walk-in sink? I'm glad the bathroom appeared very sanitary, but I think it was kind of boneheaded to volunteer the info to the judges unsolicited. The one critic looked so turned off I thought Keller nearly talked himself out of the win.

I really liked the critics. Maybe they are more eloquent, or maybe they just can't be as tough on people they know to be masters. We found them nice and articulate in the good way.

While Keller looked familiar, we didn't recognize any of the others (we don't bother with the travesty that is the American version of Iron Chef), so I'm really looking forward to the episodes with Dufreyne and that butch cake chick.

I was awake but I fell asleep b/r the show was over. Had to watch this morning to see who won.

I like this show so far, but I'm not too sure I like the critics. and where was Gail? She was in the previews???

Boy, some of those girlscouts really knew their food, didn't they?

Welcome back Jim, I was wondering if you were going to show up. And I see you "kind of" got your name back. Waiting to see the stats.

It is really funny some people can not comprehend that this is a new show...it is not TC but a new animal in TCM...

I loved the show last night I did not think I would like the fact 3 chefs would go so quickly after us meeting them but this worked.

I like the idea of a round robin tournament until 6 remain to duke it out so to speak.

I love the fact the chefs embrased their challenges with humour and humility especially the little red headed girl scout food critic.... .... I love the fact one of the chefs said that is the NY Times Food critic in 20 years...lol

So we don't get to fall in love with all of the chefs but at least we get to see more cooking and how they handle the situations which I found very satisfying ......

Way to go Bravo you have a loyal viewer for Wed. nights.....

It did feel short, didn't it? I'm not surprised there was so little melodrama; these guys are not only professionals, they're seasoned professionals (if you'll pardon the pun). None of them really have anything to prove anymore.

That's never stopped any critic worth the name, and it's certainly never stopped Gael Greene. She's never been afraid to call something terrible or rip a chef apart for hir choices.

They might have a rotating critics' panel--Gail was definitely in some of the previews.

Technically, it's not a round robin; if it were, the losing three chefs from last night would still be in the competition, and they'd be cooking against other chefs later on.

Last night's episode, and the next five, are more like regional competitions, in which the winner goes on to the nationals.

And they all had self-deprecating humor, which I loved. So refreshing for someone to not blame someone else for their mistakes and laugh about them!

The 43 minutes went by fast, yes. I could have watching another hour of those four laughing and cooking.