After assaulting us with that crazy train disaster known as "Top Chef: Just Desserts," Bravo owes us big time.

And it looks like they know it, because tonight's debut of Season 8 of "Top Chef" is an All-Star edition that has the potential to be the show's best season ever.

Seriously, how great does this sound: The producers have brought back 18 of the best non-champion egos -- I mean, contestants -- from the past 7 seasons to compete once more for the top prize. Plus, über-grump Anthony Bourdain joins the judge's table alongside Tom Colicchio, Gail Simmons, and host Padma Laskshmi.

The folks at Bravo, just can't get over losing "Project Runway" to Lifetime. (Although the debacle that was winner Gretchen and her granny panties, might also have them feeling a little smug.)

So they launched "The Fashion Show" with Isaac Mizrahi and singer Kelly Rowland. Yawn.

Those Bravo execs didn't give up. Someone saw something in the ruins, if only they made a few changes. Thus "The Fashion Show: Ultimate Collection" (10 tonight).

Out went Kelly, whose experience in fashion was mainly wearing it, and in comes supermodel/entrepreneur Iman, in all her fierceness. Isaac's still there, as is third judge Laura Brown of Harper's Bazaar magazine, and sponsors, Tresemme. There's still a runway show in front of fashion insiders.

Patti Stanger, "The Millionaire Matchmaker" (Bravo, 9 tonight) is thinner, single, and in New York this season, but no worries, the changes haven't changed her approach to helping the loveless.

Sure, the accents are different, and maybe there are fewer blondes, but it seems -- despite the big deal Bravo is making of the shift -- millionaires are the same no matter the coast. Like, the older average-looking men want hot young things who have no real interest in them.

That's becomes clear in the first episode when Patti's first challenge is fixing up a Staten Island website owner who, at 40, is looking for love but using, as Patti would say, his 'picker' rather than his brain.

It seems impossible that "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" (Bravo, 10 tonight) would be significantly different from the other versions.

That's kind of the point, though, isn't it? Bravo has found a winning formula, and they aim to duplicate it as many times as they can get it to work (we might have to call the near-universally maligned D.C. version a failure), giving us the look at wealth, drama, and relationships we regular folk seem to crave. Now that everyone involved gets the show and it's potential for money, fame or whatever, part of the fun is who seeing who works the camera versus who gets worked over by the camera.

So no, the Beverly Hills edition isn't incredibly different, but there are differences. For one, the fakers in Atlanta can't even pretend to have the kind of wealth on display here. 

Betty White sits down with James Lipton from Bravo's "Inside the Actors Studio" tonight to talk about her amazing acting career.

White discusses her roles on the classic sitcoms "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Golden Girls," and also talks about how her agent forced her to host "Saturday Night Live" earlier this year. At one point, Lipton asks White about being the last remaining "Golden Girl," nearly making her cry. White says it was very hard losing Estelle Getty and Bea Arthur, but losing Rue McClanahan recently "almost finished me."

Watch a clip below. Sorry, Bravo took the clip off their site. But I watched the clip last night and trust me, the interview looks great.

"Inside the Actors Studio" airs at 8pm tonight on Bravo.

Bravo hopes to keep America drooling long after tonight's finale of "Top Chef: Washington, DC," launching a new spinoff that will send viewers to bed with Willy Wonka dreams of chocolate ganache, caramel buttercream, and raspberry coulis.

"Top Chef: Just Desserts" has the exact same premise as the regular "Top Chef" -- a group of hopefuls compete in quickfire and elimination challenges, are judged by a panel of accomplished foodies, and one is eliminated each week until a winner remains.

The glaring difference, judging by the first episode (at least in comparison to the most recent season of "Top Chef"), is that this particular group of chefs seem to skew significantly more insecure and slightly more, um, psycho than their arrogant counterparts.

Dang. I just knew that I wouldn't be at all interested in "Thintervention" (Bravo, 10 tonight), a weight loss reality show featuring trainer Jackie Warner.

But wouldn't you know it, I think I'm hooked. In fact, I want Jackie Warner to be my trainer!

Warner takes on eight clients, helping them lose weight from 25 to 60 pounds. The challenge is they have to do it in their typical environment; there's no ranch here, so they've got to be dedicated and disciplined from the start.

Our lovable jerk is back.

Jeff Lewis returns tonight for the fourth season of Bravo's "Flipping Out," and even though the OCD house-flipper/designer can be a real tyrant with his employees, there's still something awfully endearing about him. One minute he's castigating assistant Jenni over a minor mistake, and the next he's giggling like a little boy because his dog peed on another assistant's head. I'm sorry, but I can't help but love this guy.

Of course, the shadow hanging over Season 4 is Jeff's painful split from former friend and business partner Ryan Brown over accusations last season that Ryan stole business from Jeff. I still can't  forget Bravo's excruciating reunion show during which their friendship was obliterated before our eyes.

In tonight's season premiere, there's no sign of Ryan, and we won't see him at all this season, but we do get plenty of housekeeper Zoila, house boy Jett, and assistants Jenni, Sarah, and Chace (as well as all the cats and dogs).

Even if you haven't watched Bravo's "Real Housewives of DC" (like me) or don't intend to (on the fence), this fact-checked recap from The Washington Post of last night's premiere episode is so entertaining. Basically, it sounds like the truth is just not in any of these people, but most definitely missing in the infamous Salahis.

My favorite moment, I think, is when the British-born Catherine Ommanney (pictured) and her husband Charles talk about a recent road trip that took them through North Carolina: "Everytime I looked out of the window I could have sworn I saw someone playing the banjo. It was like 'Deliverance.'"

Just think of "The Real Housewives of Washington D.C." (Bravo, 9 tonight) as performance art. Put in your mind that it's just a bit of artifice put on by five women and their associates, a bit of entertainment furthering the brand Bravo has created.

That way you don't have to get all worked up. Because really, a nation and culture that has survived two World Wars, a Depression, a major terrorist attack, presidential assassinations and more can surely survive this. It most likely isn't a sign of the decline of our society and women, a resilient lot, will survive it too. Take a breath everybody, we'll be OK.

It's just not that deep. And it's precisely because we all know that real is relative on  "The Real Housewives of D.C." or any of the other cities. Back when the franchise began, sure, the OC cast, probably not really knowing what they were getting into, ambled in front of the camera, self-consciously, but with fewer histrionics. Now there are pop singles, books to shill, jewelry lines and more; it's an opportunity. The casts know it, and so do we.