In the meantime...

I apologize for the dearth of posts lately, here's some of what's been going on as we wait for post-strike episodes to return to TV:

1. Christian wins Project Runway! This season's been a bit predictable, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I thought Jillian's collection had a lot of great pieces but was maybe not the most cohesive, Rami's collection was beautiful but maybe a little boring and I definitely understood what the judges were saying about the odd color choices, and as for our winner, Christian, his clothes might not be the most wearable, and everything was kind of dark and voluminous but his talent was just so evident. And it was definitely Victoria Beckham's style (I guess she has a reputation for being kind of vapid and whatnot but I kind of liked her.) For more on the season, go read this great interview with Tim Gunn that Maureen Ryan did. Among other things, Tim Gunn sheds some more light on what the deal was with Victorya.

2. Top Chef premieres! I love Project Runway to pieces but as food and cooking is an interest in my actual life (as opposed to fashion) Top Chef is probably my favorite reality show of all time. I thought the premiere was excellent, and this year's crop of cheftestants seems like they'll definitely be interesting. A lot more foul-mouthed than in the past though, wow. I did like the challenges...I haven't had deep dish pizza in years (and as a New Yorker I can't say I've ever been a huge fan of it) but some of their combos looked and sounded pretty tasty. I did laugh at the people who used waaaay too much dough though. I also have to give Padma and Rocco props for tasting all those pizzas...that's a crapload of food. The Elimination challenge was especially interesting to me because as a home cook I've actually made a lot of those dishes and think I do a pretty decent job with them. In particular, I consider shrimp scampi to be a pretty simple dish that's hard to screw up, so I was really surprised to see that as the loser. I was really confused about what she was even trying to do there...two shrimp with a side of cauliflower flan/scramble? Eh?? And did no one on that show (including Tom Colicchio) know what chicken piccata is? Stephanie's duck dish did look fabulous though, and she seems like such a sweet person compared to all the other mouths and egos on the show. I'm so excited for this season! Oh, butwhat is the deal with chefs and the dang fauxhawk?

3. Britney Spears takes a guest-star role on How I Met Your Mother. Usually I get a little suspicious of stunt casting at all but somehow I think this is pretty awesome. HIMYM is one of those great shows that never takes itself too seriously and God knows it needs this kind of buzz to keep going. And from reports I've read, the role Britney is playing was never meant to be filled by a big name, which I think is perfect. That episode won't be airing for a couple of weeks but HIMYM will be one of the first shows to return after the strike with a new episode this Monday. Yay!

4. Rob Thomas of Veronica Mars doing a 90210 spinoff? And remaking his old show Cupid? Does this guy not have any new original ideas or do the networks just not want them? Because I think both are kind of terrible ideas. I mean, the 90210 thing makes no sense...there aren't any details but what could this possibly mean? Is this going to be like a Degrassi the Next Generation thing? Are there actually some cast members wanting to return (highly doubtful)? What the heck? And Cupid? I actually really loved that show back in the day but how disappointing would it be if it failed twice? I definitely do not understand.