'Top Chef All-Stars' Ratings Dip; 'Terriers' Up

Top Chef All-Stars may have fans drooling over this season's strong lineup of popular contestants, but Wednesday night's premiere numbers didn't quite make the cut.

The Bravo series delivered 1.7 million viewers. That's down slightly from last summer's D.C.-based seventh season opener, and is heavily reduced from last fall's Las Vegas premiere, which had 2.6 million.

Bravo has managed to expand the Top Chef franchise with spinoffs Masters and Just Desserts, but along the way the flagship has ebbed in the ratings after climbing for several years in a row. Does this mean Bravo has spread the Top Chef brand too thin? Perhaps ... or after seven seasons, maybe this is exactly what the show would have performed anyway and the network has been wise to use the brand to grow other titles to keep Top Chef fans on the network nearly year-around.

In any case, Top Chef ratings often enjoy a soufflé-like rise during each season, and All-Stars may be no exception. 

Also Wednesday, the first season finale of FX's Terriers had 800,000 viewers. That's not much, but it's the show's largest audience since its second episode.