Cheers & Jeers: Top Chef Messes Up in Texas

Top Chef: Texas Jeers to Top Chef: Texas for throwing too many cooks into the broth. Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now! Yeah, yeah, we know, everything's bigger in Texas, but the new season of Bravo's Emmy-winning reality show bit off more than it could chew by starting off with 29 competitors instead of the usual 16. Not only was the process confusing - the second hour of the two-part season opener began with 11 chefs having made the first cut, 10 yet to cook and four more "on the bubble" - but it made it tough to get a taste of most of the contenders. And some of the most promising chef-testants - like Chaz Brown, with his charming middle-school crush on host Padma Lakshmi - were cleaved just as we were getting attached to them. Now that Top Chef: Texas has nearly sliced the field in half, one can only hope the season improves as it boils down the sweet 16 to a lone culinary star. What did you think of Top Chef: Texas' season opener? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!