Like The Rest, Decorators Get On Top

With Top Design, Bravo's latest attempt to hold the attention of Project Runway devotees between new seasons, the network expands its franchise of reality shows that are more about having talent than washboard abs. The new show, which had the highest-rated debut in Bravo's history, is exactly what it sounds like: interior designers compete in a series of difficult challenges in which they are given an empty room and asked to decorate it in a specific way. The winner of Top Design will receive a grand-prize package that includes a feature in Elle Decor magazine, a new GMC Acadia, and $100,000. As per regular reality show rules, one designer will be eliminated each week.

Top Design is utterly original in at least one way-although programs based around interior design have been common ever since the reality TV boom of the early 21st century (think Trading Spaces or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition), none of these shows are competitive. However, viewers who are familiar with Bravo's other reality competitions, such as the addictive, aforementioned Project Runway and the almost equally captivating Top Chef, may feel some sense of deja vu when they first lay eyes on Top Design. For starters, it follows the exact same formula as those other series, right down to the layout of the room where the contestants face the judges at the end of each episode.

Additionally, like the arbiters on Top Chef and Project Runway, the Top Design judges have already demonstrated a tendency to eliminate competent but boring contestants before competitors who are less talented but make for more interesting TV. In the very first episode, bland Heather and blander Lisa are kicked off instead of the constantly bickering pair of inexperienced Michael and short-fused John. It brings back memories of how the aesthetically unpleasing and mentally unhinged Vincent somehow managed to stay on Project Runway long after he should have been on the receiving end of an "auf wiedersehen" from Heidi Klum.

Luckily, Top Design is fortunate enough to have a host who's more of a Heidi than a Padma Lakshmi, or even-shudder-Katie Lee Joel. Veteran designer and brand name Todd Oldham runs the show here, and his enthusiastic line delivery is instantly endearing. At times, though, Oldham sounds like more like a guest star on Sesame Street than the host of a reality show for adults. Maybe that's just part of his shtick, though on his bravotv.com blog, lead judge Jonathan Adlerdescribes Oldham's personal style as "adult-toddler-chic."

Oldham may be childlike, but Top Design itself certainly doesn't make interior design seem like child's play. It's clear from the beginning that this is extremely hard work. In addition to being supremely innovative and sophisticated, contestants must also know how to hand-paint their spaces and reassemble their furniture when it arrives in pieces. These Top Designers aren't merely decorators-they're artists. As the incredibly quotable Adler writes: "The reality of interior design is that people always seem to imagine that it's this poncy profession where you can be effete and hands off. And that ain't the way it works."

A sneak peek at future episodes shows that more gems from Adler and Top Design's other entertainingly bitchy judges are forthcoming-one contestant's room looks like "the hamburger shack," and another resembles "an assisted living facility." One design challenge even prompts a contestant to declare, "If I had to live here, I would shoot myself." And finally, there's always going to be at least one thing to look forward to on Top Design-the part where Adler delivers his soon-to-be-signature send-off, "See you later, decorator." Much better than, "Please pack your paintbrushes and go."