HOLLYWOOD — Reality television gets a lot of mileage out of bad behavior; framed as comedy or drama, strife is the fuel on which it runs. Recently, for instance, NBC has been making hay from the hash that narcissist-provocateurs Spencer and Heidi Pratt have made, or attempted to make, of “I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here!” its bungle-in-the-jungle survival contest. That the pair are trouble is what makes them valuable to the network, which has worked hard to keep them on board, even though the sensible thing, in “real life,” would be to keep them away.
Like many other reality TV stars, the Pratts — who got famous on “The Hills,” MTV’s semi-nonfictional version of “That Girl” — inhabit a world where notoriety passes for accomplishment.
But there is another sort of reality television that celebrates actual excellence, although — as in “Project Runway” and “Top Chef” — it often surrounds that celebration with boasting, backbiting and interpersonal discord.
And so I find “Top Chef Masters,” a spinoff of “Top Chef” that premiered Wednesday night on Bravo, a real mental vacation. A thing of pure delight, it takes all the ego out of the equation and leaves only the art.
This is how it works: 24 already successful chefs participate in a cooking tournament four at a time. The winners from the first six weeks will meet in the last four, and the last chef stirring will get a bunch of loot for the charity of his or her choice. Unlike “Top Chef,” the contestants are not forced to live together; there is no talking trash about the other competitors.
These chefs are big enough not to have to be small, and the production itself is bound to respect them as invited guests, as they seem to respect one another. (Whether they are tyrants back at work in their own kitchens, I couldn’t say.)
The opening bout featured chefs Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys), Christopher Lee (Aureole), Michael Schlow (Radius) and self-taught Texan Tim Love (the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro). Some have won major awards; some have written books. Their first assignment here is to make dessert — so often the downfall of “Top Chef” hopefuls — for four Girl Scouts, who may not know cooking but do know what they like.
The night’s big challenge, submitted to a panel of judges that includes New York Magazine restaurant critic Gael Greene and Saveur editor in chief James Oseland, is to prepare a three- course meal in a college dorm room using only a hot plate, toaster oven and microwave.
The results were uniformly inspired. There were a few missteps along the way — mistaking a freezer for a refrigerator, for example, which is very bad for produce — but graceful recoveries, as well. That’s what marks them as pros.
