'Top Chef'
(10PM, Bravo) 5th season premiere
At last, the greatest cooking show known to personkind (sorry, Bobby Flay, Emeril, etc., but it's true) hits New York City, where 17 new contestants try to win $100,000.

Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons are back to judge the foodie prowess of the contestants, along with food critic and author Toby Young as the newest judge.

In the super-sized, 75-minute premiere, the chefs' challenge involves shopping in various NYC neighborhoods to whip up tasty dishes influenced by the culturally-diverse 'hoods. Guest judge for the challenge: Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the world-renowned chef, i.e. definitely someone the wannabes want to impress.

As Brad mentioned last night, a few new projects were mentioned during the Sci Fi Channel's upfront presentation. The one I'm most excited about (though at the same time frightened by) is the Battlestar Galactica spin-off, Caprica, which will have a two-hour "back-door pilot" shown probably later this year.

Another project mentioned which surprised me was Alice, described as a "modern day telling of Alice in Wonderland," much like Tin Man was for The Wizard of Oz. What surprised me about this is how Mark Stern, executive vice president of original programming for Sci Fi, reacted when I actually asked him about this idea last year during my visit to the sets in Vancouver.