Televisionary Scoop: First Images From Bravo's "Top Chef 2"

Unpack your knifes, it's time for another season of backstabbing culinary challenge series Top Chef, Well, almost time, anyway.

I don't know about you, but I've been jonesing for another Top Chef fix ever since the first season of Bravo's culinary challenge wrapped a few weeks back. Sure, we've been following the behind-the-scenes shenanigans with the show (android Katie Lee Joel out, Padma Lakshmi in) and we know that the sophomore season will take place in Los Angeles this time around, but what's in store for Top Chef 2?

Fret not, fearless foodies! (I saw Stan Lee down at Comic Con, so forgive the exclamatory address.) Televisionary knows how much you love your Bravo reality shows and we've got a sneak peek at some images from the second season of Top Chef, courtesy of top secret Televisionary operative "Ted Kord," including the first photo of new host Padma Lakshmi in action (above, looking rather, um, model-esque).

The scene: California Science Center.

The date: Saturday, 22 July.

The event: Fourth Annual Project by Project Southern California Food and Wine Tasting Benefit.

Top Chef was on hand filming an episode of the series, set to debut in October on Bravo, and as usual contestants -- grouped here into two teams -- were competing in the elimination challenge. This is it, ladies and gents. Feast your eyes on the newest competitors for the (dubious) title of Top Chef:

And here are our erstwhile Top Chef competitors in action. Seen here, it's "Team Vietnam":

The judges for this episode include restaurateur and author Tom Colicchio, Food & Wine's Gail Simmons, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, and this week's guest judge: chef Ming Tsai (of Food Network fame and the owner of Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts).

While Bravo reality junkies might have Project Runway to tide us over (how the bloody hell does Angela keep managing to escape the chopping block?), October seems like a long ways off to have to wait for more Top Chef.

So who are our newest Top Chef wannabes? Bravo's keeping mum for now but I can't help but wonder: Will there be another overbearing Stephen in the bunch? Or a humble Lee Anne? Or a modest Harold? Or, better yet, another, um, Tiffani? Only time will tell...

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Big Brother 7: All-Stars (CBS); My Name is Earl/The Office (NBC); Smallville (WB); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); That '70s Show/That '70s Show (FOX); Everybody Hates Chris/Love, Inc. (UPN)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); America's Got Talent (NBC); Supernatural (WB); Grey's Anatomy (ABC); So You Think You Can Dance (FOX); Eve/Cuts (UPN)

10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); Windfall (NBC); Primetime (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: My Name is Earl.

On tonight's repeat episode ("Monkeys in Space"), Earl must make up for telling an inappropriate story at a birthday part for his old friend Hank (Carnivale's Tim DeKay) by giving Hank one perfect day before he is sent to prison. Karma's a funny thing.

8:30 pm: The Office.

On a repeat of The Office ("Boys and Girls"), Michael orders his male employees to have some bonding time in the warehouse after Jan schedules a "women in the workplace" seminar. Features Dwight's memorable analogy to the Others on Lost and, less amusingly, an emotional breakdown from Pam when she realizes that she'll never escape Scranton.

10-11 pm: Garth Marenghi's Darkplace/Amazing Screw-On Head on Sci-Fi.

Catch the premiere episode of this 2004 British import tonight on Sci-Fi. In the premiere ("Once Upon a Beginning"), a new doctor at Darkplace Hospital receives a psychic warning from a cat. (Yes, you read that correctly.) A half an hour later, it's the pilot episode of Sci-Fi's new animated series Amazing Screw-On Head from the brilliant mind of Mike Mignola (Hellboy). David Hyde Pierce voices Screw-On Head, a robotic secret agent robot in the employ of Abraham Lincoln. (Um, again, you did read that correctly.) Paul Giamatti, Patton Oswalt, Molly Shannon, and Mindy Sterling also provide voices.

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

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What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season ...

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Comics "Authority" Warren Ellis to Pen Original Series for AMC Network

I was initially surprised when AMC announced late last year that they intended to enter into the original programming route, particularly scripted series. But my jaw dropped last night when I learned who was developing a show with the network: British writer Warren Ellis, better known to many as a god among comic writers. (Full disclosure: Yes, I am a comic geek.) For those of you not familiar with Warren Ellis or his outstanding body of work, he's an extremely prolific comics writer whose work touches upon sociopolitical commentary. Some of his best known works include "Planetary" (penciled by Joss Whedon 's "Astonishing X-Men" collaborator John Cassaday), "The Authority," "Global Frequency" (which had been developed by John Rogers of Kung Fu Monkey fame as a pilot for the WB two seasons ago), "Excalibur" (starring my favorite X-Man--along with Joss Whedon's--Kitty Pryde), and "Transmetropolitan." And if you, my...

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