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Top Design (dramatized in commercials by playful pillow-fighting) premiered on Bravo last week, barely making a ripple in comparison to Bravo’s big splashes, Top Chef and Project Runway. The formula was there: 12 quirky contestants, a famous designer hosting, well-known judges, a mystery (!) celebrity judge and a challenge, but Top Design may need another topcoat.

The contestants ranged from potentially likeable to annoying. Ryan, 35, likes to show that he’s an artist by skateboarding off tables. Carisa is at art school to design for the needy. John, who apparently has 16 years of design experience, is appalled that his male housemates are gay, since, you know, interior design is so hetero. Lisa, who has a striking resemblance to Storm from X-men, still seems to think that the Asian Serenity trend picked up by Trading Spaces five years ago is still hip. It was no surprise that she was the first to go after focusing an entire room for mystery judge, Alexis Arquette, on an enormous Chinese daybed.

Goil and Elizabeth, two of the smarter and more likeable designers, won the challenge with a suspended couch swing over a sandbox, equipped with a large plastic rake.

Todd Oldham and judges Kelly Wearstler (tastemaker), Margaret Russell (Editor in Chief of Elle Décor) and Jonathan Adler carry the show. While Todd Oldham’s “TV Voice” is incredibly awkward and his inflections seem to be rehearsed, he still manages to be charming. The judges rightly rip apart “Stanley Kubrik meets Funkadelic” design ideas, and designers like Michael, 23, who has never painted a wall, winning over our hearts.

And despite all these design faux-pas’, I will still be tuned in every Wednesday at 10 pm. Not because I love to hate the show, but because I know I’ll end up loving it because I have faith in Bravo’s magic formula. And because it fills the void in my life while I wait for the next season of Project Runway.