Reality Shows

"Reality": Reality TV Paranoia

Hurricane Sandy: S.F. to Host A Very Jersey Christmas to Benefit Storm Survivors

Black Friday is over, the Christmas tree is up in Union Square, and San Franciscans are busy making holiday plans -- sans the snow. So while you are out shopping for your loved ones, don't forget about the less fortunate, specifically those sad victims of Hurricane Sandy. On Dec. 5, a "Very Jersey ... More >>

Your World Series National Anthem Singers: Aretha and Zooey, But Not Bob Seger

So, okay, Phillip Phillips, the American Idol winner, wasn't awful at the National Anthem before last night's World Series Game 1. And tonight's singer is Matthew Morrison, who plays a character on another Fox TV show some people watch, called Glee. After that, though, the singers doing "The Star S ... More >>

Top Chef Masters: Cosentino Watch, Episode 9

Welcome to Cosentino Watch, where we recap the moves of San Francisco chef Chris Cosentino as he competes in Top Chef Masters. Warning: Spoilers ahead. Episode 9 is called "Old School, New School." We've already seen from the preview commercial that the remaining three Masters (Chris Cosentino, Lor ... More >>

Top Chef Masters: Cosentino Watch, Episode 6

Welcome to Cosentino Watch, where we recap the moves of San Francisco chef Chris Cosentino as he competes in Top Chef Masters. Warning: Spoilers ahead. Episode 6 is called "Thai One On," but thankfully it's not a full hour of puns. It's the first time all season we get to see host Curtis Stone turn ... More >>

Top Chef Judge Krista Simmons on the S.F. Food Scene, and Her Path to the Judging Table

You never know where a passion for food will take you. For food writer Krista Simmons, it was the Top Chef judges table. It all started back in 2006, when Simmons was a junior at UC Santa Cruz. She took what she refers to as the "obligatory trip" to the Bonny Doon Winery Tasting Room, and was immed ... More >>

Girls Gone Musical

"Sparkle": Whitney Houston Shines in Lackluster Remake

The Revolution Will Be Choreographed

"What to Expect When You're Expecting": Humanity's Horror

Celebrity Muscle

"The Hunger Games": Rage Against Our Stupid Culture

Wives' Tales: Women Beat Holy Hell Out of Race, Gender Issues on VH1 Reality Shows

Both black and white women brawl on Vh1 reality programming but some don't have to deal with the burden of (mis)representing their culture.

MTV Gains Weight -- and Some Insight

​As a child of the 1980s and '90s, I routinely saw a handful of plus-sized bodies on my MTV  interspersed between taut video vixens and studs. The Fat Boys. Heavy D (rest in peace). Missy Elliott. Biggie Smalls, Fat Joe, and Big Pun. Since then, MTV has ceased playing videos and has corn ... More >>

The Bachelor To Be Filmed in San Francisco All Week

​It looks as if Ben Flajnik didn't have to leave his heart in San Francisco after all.Normally ABC's hit reality TV show The Bachelor is filmed in and around Los Angeles, until the lead narrows his pickings down to just several suitors. Then he and the remaining women take off on a whirlwind trip ... More >>

Top Chef Masters: Family Ties

​ We were unsure of how we'd manage without Hugh(nibrow) on Top Chef Masters and for the first episode without him, we were tweezed in two. Luckily, we still managed to stay tuned. For the Quickfire, the cheftestants had to have their cooking station divided and work with a mystery teammate ... More >>

Hearst Corp. Finds Another Way to 'Survive,' Buys into Reality TV Company

The way of the future?​Hearst Corporation, the media empire that owns properties including the San Francisco Chronicle, has purchased the company behind such reality television hits as Survivor and The Apprentice.The deal was announced today as a partnership between Hearst and Mark Burnett Product ... More >>

Musicians On Reality Shows: Top 6 Gross Moments

Remember Toni Braxton? Well, the We tv network is hoping you still do, because it's about to launch Braxton Family Values on April 12 -- a reality show about Toni and her sisters. From what we've seen of it so far, it's dull as dishwater. Its arrival does, however, remind us of all the other things ... More >>

Performance Provocateur

Top Chef: All-Stars, Week 8: Somebody Gets Whacked

GoodfellasWhen you're here, you're family.​Bravo is the best TV network -- every show manages some kind of family reunion. Whether that means Uncle Bravo Andy hosting a reunion show for the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, or Isaac Mizrahi, host of The Fashion Show, judging the Quickfire on l ... More >>

Top Chef: All-Stars, Week 3: David Chang and a Kitchen Packed with Sweaty Amazeballs

david_shankbone/FlickrDavid Chang.​Hey All-Stars: Meet New York's finest chefs, then emulate them in their own kitchens. That was the main mission of last night's third installment of Top Chef: All-Stars. It was balls to the wall and an all-around amazeballs episode as two top cheftestants w ... More >>

It's Yigit! S.F. Pastry Chef Wins Top Chef: Just Desserts

Benjamin Seto/Cooking with the Single GuyThe Taste Catering pastry chef topped Morgan the dick and Danielle the face contortionist to take it all.​The final challenge in last night's Top Chef: Just Desserts finale was to create a progressive four-course dessert tasting. The twist arrived with ... More >>

Top Chef: Just Desserts, Episode 1: The Good, the Bad, and the Bitchy

Bravo TVPretty boy swag: Taste Catering's Yigit Pura.​Following Kevin asking "I am?" seconds after being told he was Season 7's Top Chef last night, thereby restoring some reality-show dignity to New Jersey (it's taken a beating from the Housewives and Jersey Shore kids) something oh-so-sweet ... More >>

Top Six Most Inappropriate Uses of a Song on TV, Ever

​Having heard the news that Lou Reed reportedly refused to let Susan Boyle perform "Perfect Day" on America's Got Talent last week (resulting in her apparently fleeing the country in floods of tears; Reed says legal issues were to blame), we couldn't help but start thinking about the variety of so ... More >>

The Position

Ex-Top Chef Player (and Circa Chef) Erik Hopfinger Resurfaces at Brunch

Mary LaddThen-Circa chef Hopfinger at the SF Chefs. Food. Wine. opening party in August.​What happens to former Top Chef contestants when the memory of their last elimination challenge has faded into some bitter barstool tale of judges' prejudice and shitty luck? In the case of ex-Circa chef E ... More >>

Housewife Gossip and Assorted Gay Drollery

Mattin Noblia of 'Top Chef': The SFoodie Interview

ModelMayhemThe French-born chef isn't without cheesy model shots.​An ooh-la-la, scarf-wearing dirty blond, 29-year-old Biarritz native Mattin Noblia is the Frenchy eye candy -- complete with model portfolio -- of Top Chef Season Six. He opened his own restaurant, Iluna Basque, in North Beach, ... More >>

Laurine Wickett of 'Top Chef': The SFoodie Interview

Left Coast CateringWickett: Not exactly in love with Vegas.​The 38-year-old Rochester, New York, native has an earthy, tousled vibe that makes you think of a Montessori teacher sipping post-pilates soy chais in Cole Valley. When she arrived in S.F. in 1990, Wickett started cooking at long-defu ... More >>

S.F. Chef Falkner Takes on 'Top Chef Masters' with Boar, Beef Jerky, and Extra-Credit Cookies

S.F.'s own Elizabeth Falkner (pictured, second from left, with Wylie Dufresne, Graham Elliot Bowles, and Suzanne Tracht) competed in last night's episode of Bravo's Top Chef Masters. And while she didn't win (that honor went to Tracht), the Orson/Citizen Cake maven's dishes were certainly memora ... More >>

Keyshia Cole

Easter Basket

Shwayze

Shwayze (Geffen)

Thursday: American Idol Auditions in Daly City

Southland Tales

Ultimate Fighting Comedian

'A Confederacy of Cunces' at the Purple Onion Re-Pluralizes "Cunt" Thursday

All Your Base Are Belong to SF: It's GovernmentInAction – Nanny State Edition!

SFoodie: Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, No Reservations Analyzed

SFoodie: Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, No Reservations Analyzed

SF Crime Cameras: 0, Criminals: 54 68

The Monterey Summer of Love Festival Is Whack

TV Eye

The Summer of Love's dismissed boob tube connection

Josh Wolf on Colbert Report tonight

Chad VanGaalen

Skelliconnection (Sub Pop)

Dream On

Weekly Obsessions

Things we were obsessing about on Jan. 19, 2005

Fun: The Concept

If you're not already a Zippy fan, an hour with a life-size Pinhead could be tough

Mad as Hell

Network zeroes in on the intersection of personal ambition and public media

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks