Critic's Help guide to Wednesday TV: Reality Wars (X Factor, Survivor, Top Chef)

Gail Simmons, Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio They are saying "Everything's Bigger in Texas," which is the episode title for that premiere of Bravo's Texas-set ninth season of Top Chef (10/9c). And in addition it may explain why a ginormous platoon of 29 chef-testants descends around the historic Alamo for that first round of competition, and why the entire process of thinning the area to some Top 16 can't be also contained inside the first pulse-pounding episode. "They are raising the amount of intensity pretty fast," states among the chefs, and below bears that out. There is no room for error with no slack permitted Body body's told to bring along their knives prior to the first dish is even finished - because the 29 are split up into three groups, each obtaining a separate "Being approved Challenge" because they frantically attempt to impress the idol judges, who instantly choose which chefs obtain a coat, which of them don't result in the grade and that are "around the bubble" and will receive a second opportunity to join the cast. Taking part alongside the typical idol judges this year: Emeril Lagasse and also the always entertaining Top Chef Masters veteran Hugh Acheson. Want more TV news? Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now! When the year of Top Chef will keep up this pace because it moves the difficulties from San Antonio to Dallas and Austin, this may be my personal favorite reality-competition block each week, combined with the provocative Thing of beauty: The Following Great Artist (9/8c), which tonight welcomes executive producer Nicole Kidman like a guest judge. However these are hardly the only real game around. America reaches start voting tonight for his or her faves on Fox's The X Factor (8/7c), having a two-hour live show show, and let us hope the idol judges can begin concentrating on the performers a lot more than on dissing one another. The outcomes (by which, we are told, the idol judges will choose among the bottom two functions to visit home following a sing-off) airs Thursday. And it is time for that merge on CBS' Survivor: South Off-shore (8/7c), after which we'll find out if Ozzy's absurdly reckless strategy from a week ago takes care of, because he faces the indomitable Christine inside a Redemption Island challenge after contriving to possess themself chosen from his tribe, even quitting his immunity idol within the bargain. He's believing that he'll beat Christine, so when he rejoins the overall game, he'll the amounts between your former competing tribes. Hubris? Folly? A minimum of it provides for us additional time to savor the antics of Cochran, the essential Survivor nerd who's probably the most purely enjoyable gamers in a long time. Look who's raising the overall game on NBC's Law & Order: Special Sufferers Unit (10/9c): the truly amazing Andre Braugher, in fine form as Bayard Ellis, a formidable defense attorney/civil protections crusader who assumes an African-American rape defendant professional bono, crossing swords using the equally devoted Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). "We've got the best guy," Olivia challenges him. "Not the proper way,Inch he shoots back. Both of them are right, by the finish, there is a mutual agreement that "successful or unsuccessful, it arrives with an expense.Inch There is a wonderful moment where Braugher encounters his former Homicide: Existence in the pub co-star Richard Belzer, still playing Det. Munch in the end these years - read Braugher's ideas on his appearance here. It is also a goody to determine Linus Roache in action as Bureau Chief Mike Cutter, contacted to manage the mighty Ellis. (It is a indication of methods much was lost when NBC scuttled what the law states & Order mothership.) The episode is notable too for any strong guest performance from Medium's Sofia Vassilieva because the victim-of-the-week, a harder-than-she-looks music student who starts to question if using the situation to the court makes it worth while. Halloween has ended, but FX's American Horror Story (10/9c) - just restored to no a person's surprise for any second season - continues going. On and on crazier through the minute, which isn't always a compliment. The most frightening factor relating to this episode, which concludes the Halloween-evening two-parter, may be the hysterically pitched acting (especially by Dylan McDermott, that has his hands full handling a peeved wife and also the psychotic ghost of his mistress) and also the laughably lurid incoherent plotting. Look close and you will see Ashley Rickards from MTV's Awkward (now there is a great show) among the mean teens taunting the wacko Tate, about whom we find out more - none from it terribly surprising, if you have been having to pay attention. What exactly else is on? ... Expand the mind and horizons with PBS' The Material from the Cosmos, a four-part Nova small-series (9/8c, check local agendas) located by physicist John Greene, who kicks things off by asking "What's Space?" His answer involves something known as "dark energy," which stands for his theory that space is not a clear void. ... PBS returns to earth having a profile from the late Apple visionary within the hour-lengthy special Jobs: One Further Factor (10/9c, check local agendas). ... Former Secretary of Condition Condoleezza Grain makes her first appearance on CBS' Late Show With David Letterman (11:35/10:35c), inserting her new memoir. ... Guest-star gene pool: Blythe Danner and Richard Schiff play Christina Applegate's parents, going to their new daughter on NBC's Up Through The Night (8/7c). Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now!