The Toby Young Insult Tracker – Week 6

People don’t like Toby Young.

TVWeek doesn’t like him.  Leah clearly doesn’t like him.  And now I don’t like him either.

These Insult Trackers are supposed to be easy.  All I have to do is DVR the episode, transcribe a few of his “witticisms,” make some wise-ass comments and hit the submit button.  But noooo, Toby just can’t make it easy, can he?

That’s right, for the second time in three weeks, Toby relegated himself to a few bland complaints and — horror! — compliments for Fabio’s roasted chicken. So for this week, he gets…

…a big fat ZERO.  But at least he can console himself with the fact that “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People,” the movie version of his memoir, is now available on Netflix.  If I ever write a book, I want the movie version to feature Kirsten Dunst, Megan Fox and Gillian Anderson.  I also would like it to feature “language, some graphic nudity and brief drug material.”  With my luck, the graphic nudity would feature Simon Pegg.

Despite the fact that Toby mailed it in this week, there was one highlight involving the judges.  That, of course, would be the presence of two legends of PBS cooking: Jacques Pépin and Lidia Bastianich.  If you ever feel like you need a little less of the glitz and glamor of cable food shows, do yourself a favor and tune in to one of their shows and you’ll remember why you’re interested in food TV.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that 90% of what I learned about cooking Italian food came from Lidia.

In fact, it was a tremendous thrill a year and a half ago when I got a chance to go to a personal appearance by Lidia Bastianich at my local PBS station, which I discussed in a post over at TV Food Fan.  Check it out if you want the details — including me getting the chance to actually sample the dishes she personally cooked that night — but the gist is that, getting to meet her, it’s no wonder that she’s universally liked and respected by those in the industry.

Something tells me that Toby isn’t winning fans for himself at quite the same rate.  Perhaps he’s taking the title of that memoir a bit too literally.

This week’s Top Chef is the “finale,” which in Bravo-speak means the second-to-last episode.  If fan perception is right and Toby is set to be a one-season wonder, this could be part one of his personal Top Chef finale. So be sure to tune in to the ES Top Chef Live Blog this Wednesday evening for all the Top Chef revelry. Which of the four chefs left do ya’ll think will get cut?