Between Project Runway and Top Chef, Bravo has become the network best known for competitive, creative reality shows. But Bravo's latest addition to the genre, Top Design, hosted by openly gay designer Todd Oldham, falls a bit short at first.

In this series, 12 interior designers compete to create the “Top Design,” and the winner will receive several prizes, including $100,000 and a feature in Elle Decor. The contestants will be judged by openly gay designer and lead judge Jonathan Adler, designer Kelly Wearstler and editor in chief of Elle Decor, Margaret Russell.

In addition to Top Design's formulaic first episode, in which the show is bogged down by having to introduce the concept as well as its 12 contestants, the host and three judges, the show faces a dramatic challenge. Shows such as American Idol and Project Runway have a built-in theatricality that is difficult to replicate in a show like Top Design. The Project Runway model strutting her designer's stuff down a catwalk serves as a dramatic climax to each episode, and Top Design's before-and-after shots of the design space just don't have the same emotional kick.

The series begins at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, where we meet the contestants and host Todd Oldham, who delivers the first challenge: to design a peaceful and relaxing sanctuary for a mystery celebrity judge. The contestants don't know who they are designing for and instead must rely on several of the star's possessions for inspiration. They are then divided into teams of two and sent off to bring their vision to life.

Oldham, in addition to serving as the series' host, also acts as the contestants' mentor, though his mentoring is limited in the first episode. “In the first episode we have to introduce 12 characters — actually, 16 characters,” Oldham said. “In the next episode you will see an immediate shift, certainly in the mentoring part. It's just that the creativity comes a little more forward in the upcoming episodes.”

Oldham is a bit stiff in the first episode, much like Heidi Klum during her first season on Project Runway, and he doesn't have much of an opportunity to display his personality. Nevertheless, based on what Oldham and lead judge Adler have to say about how the talent progresses over the course of the season, one does want to see more of the show.

“The biggest surprise was how extraordinarily talented the contestants were,” Adler said. “You see reality shows, and one often wonders whether they just choose the contestants because they are the most dramatic and most on edge. I went into the show a little bit skeptical about what level of talent I would see. I think as the show develops, you'll see some surprises in terms of who develops their creativity. I think in the end, you will be blown away by the talent that's revealed.”

Some of that talent is certainly on display in the first episode. The design by Goil, a 33-year-old New Yorker born in Thailand, and Elizabeth, a 48-year-old Los Angeles-based production designer, stands out because it includes a built-in sand pit. The playful design feels innovative and smart, though one is also left wondering who will clean up the mess left by any sand tracked around the house.

It is clear that finding fresh design ideas is important to both Adler and Oldham. “I'm a design-obsessed person,” Adler said. “I think there is an increasing interest in interior design as people start to understand that the objects and interior that they surround themselves with can really dictate their moods. It's very timely that Top Design is happening now.”

It is also clear that respecting each designer's sensibility is at the center of Adler's process for judging the contestants. He explained: “The base line had to be that the contestant could make an attractive, pulled together, functional room. After that, I really tried to judge them based on their on sensibility. As someone who was told he had no talent by a professor because he didn't like my sensibility, I strive to understand what the designer's intention is, and judge it based on that.”

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