I said I'd give Top Design three weeks, and I did. I watched - hoping the show would overcome its lackluster start, its disenchanted host, its odd judges and its warmed-over design challenges. It hasn't. Whether it's because the airwaves are saturated with home design shows or the constituent parts just don't make a very compelling whole, Top Design has turned out to be a labored, self-serious bore, which makes it all the more surprising that the show's accompanying blogs are candid, funny and, well, everything Top Design isn't.

I should love Top Design. I really should. In fact, I'll give you five reasons why Top Design, the third jewel in the Project Runway crown, should be my favorite show on television right now. The sad fact, however, is that it's not. The first episode, which debuted after Top Chef's lackluster finale last week, was an awkward bore. The usually charismatic Todd Oldham was lifeless. Jonathan Adler as the lead adjudicator was corny. The interiors were uninspired. The drama was tedious.

Yet, I hold out hope that the show will acquire the addictive properties of its Bravo predecessors. Here are the five reasons why I'm giving Top Design a two to three episode reprieve before I nix it from my viewing schedule:

Although Todd Oldham said, at the TCA panel for Bravo's Top Design this morning, "Copying is boring, but reinventing is quite interesting" ... which really doesn't explain why we have another reality show about home makeovers, ack! It's invasion of the paintbrush wielding contestants this time, with no end in sight.

Bravo seems to have found something of a niche with the reality programming. Top Chef has been well received, and Project Runway was nominated for an Emmy. With those successes under their belt they are ready to go it again with Top Design. The show will task twelve competitors with creating the best interior design each week. At the end of the ten episode run the winner will receive money to start their own design firm and a spot in a New York design showcase.

Todd Oldham will host the show. He got his start as a fashion designer and you may remember him from Todd Time on MTV's House of Style. Since then he has moved into other design arenas including his own line of furniture, Todd Oldham by La-Z-Boy. He also designed The Hotel in South Beach. Oldham will be joined on the show by a panel of judges including interior designers Jonathan Adler and Kelly Wearstler, as well as editor in chief of Elle Decor Margaret Russell.

I'm not one to buy books about crafts and home decorating or entertaining. Oh, I'll buy recipe books of course, but not those Martha Stewart ones where she not only tells you how to make an appetizer, but also how to build the tray it's served on, the table you put them on, and maybe even how to decorate the room you're serving them in. Having said that, I'm buying Amy Sedaris' new book, I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence the moment I get through typing this.

It's a book of recipes and crafty type things, but written and presented in a very Amy Sedaris type of way. Amy Sedaris Rocks has all the details, including an interview, some recipes from the book, pictures, an audio sample, and news on the book tour. Alas, she's not coming to the Boston area. I guess I can take a plane to see her in Minnesota. Right, Adam?

Sedaris will also be on Letterman this Friday night.