Bravo TV network has hit upon a successful formula that melds “Survival”-style endurance reality with “Idol”-inspired contests.
My family adored Bravo’s “Top Design”–a show in which talented interior designers battled against each other every week for the “Top Design” title, creating lots of great-looking rooms in the process. We made it the one thing we watched every week together this past winter.

Tonight, the third season of “Top Chef” launches in Miami with the same set-up: serious chefs are given cooking assignments and then judged for how well they execute them. Such a program can offer families new ways to get off the macaroni and pizza diet. It might even inspire them to cook together as a team (something I’m always exhorting my family to do since I get lonely in our kitchen). So I’ve announced to my brood that this round of “Top Chef” is something we’ve got to watch together (or tape since it airs at 10 p.m. Tuesdays).
This is a program for older children and their parents since the chefs do occasionally lapse into temper tantrums and bouts of bleeped-out profanity.