MasterChef Season 2 Premieres Tonight!

Want to know how old I am? I still remember the days when the summer television season was a dreadful roundup of reruns, primetime baseball and the occasional variety "special".

These days, though, the summer season is looked upon with some anticipation in THG's household. My better half enjoys much of the USA primetime lineup (and I grudgingly enjoy Royal Pains, largely due to SPLINTER's Paulo Costanzo) while I'm looking forward to MTV's Teen Wolf and tonight's premiere of MasterChef Season 2.

For me, MasterChef takes all the best elements from Gordo's other FOX reality shows (the relentless competition of Hell's Kitchen and the kinder, gentler mentor side of Kitchen Nightmares) and adds in the withering glare of Joey Polka Dots, one of Ramsey's two sidekicks/judges on the show. (The other judge is an overweight chef who wears "flamboyant" clothing and pastel eyeglass frames. In other words, the Dom DeLuise to Gordo's Burt Reynolds.)

Let's put it this way... I don't even know Joe's last name. All I know is that he looks sorta like an unfriendly version of The Beer Snob, wears a lot of polka dot hankies, and can obliterate someone's passion for cooking with one soul-sucking, pinpoint laser of a stare that says, "How dare you serve me this".

Frankly, I can't wait. Plus, a fellow food blogger made it to the audition stage so I'm looking forward to seeing if he makes the cut (no pun intended).