Top Chef has been a reliable performer for Bravo for eight seasons, but now, as it airs its all-star season (something that’s been problematic for other reality shows), it seems to be emerging, at long last, as the best competition show on television. The most impressive part of the current season is that the producers have not only managed to keep the challenges fresh, they have added a level of difficulty that viewers want to see all-stars facing. Two of the contestants who seemed as if they would be major contenders at the start of the season, Jennifer and Angelo, were surprising ousters in large part because both were unable to deal with challenges that kept them up virtually all night long.

This week (Bravo, Wednesday 10 p.m.) brings us one step away from the start of the final round, with the final five being charged with making a dish based on their heritage (in the case of Mike Isabella, we will apparently learn what the cavemen ate). Mike and Tiffany seem to be noticeably behind the other three, and Richard Blais has the best rep of anyone remaining, but it would be a mistake to count out the chances of either Antonia or Carla, who have both held their own with the maestro of the liquid nitrogen tank. Anything please other than a win for Mike, who started out OK but is now reminding viewers of why we hated him to begin with.

Also this week:

Monday: Castle (ABC, 10 p.m.): Nothing like a terrorist threat to bring a novelist and a hot homicide detective closer together! Castle and Beckett work with the unpleasant agent Fallon to save New York. (No spoiler here, but I’m going to take a stab and guess that neither of the show’s main characters will die.)

Tuesday: The Good Wife (CBS, 10 p.m.): The ever-wily Eli gets a tip about Childs; Diane and Will try to win back control; the firm sues a website that exposed the identity of a Chinese dissident blogger, who was then jailed.

Thursday: Fairly Legal (USA, 10 p.m.): Sarah Shahi was just a pretty face on The L Word, but did a wonderful job on the underappreciated Life and is helping keep this otherwise middling USA series afloat. This week, Kate (Shahi) gets involved in a case where a soldier has wound up in mushrooming trouble with Homeland Security.

Friday: NAACP Image Awards (Fox, 8 p.m.): Wayne Brady and Holly Robinson Peete host the 42nd annual salute to black achievement in the arts. So for those of you wondering why the Oscars seem so stubbornly resistant to the oeuvre of Tyler Perry, this could be your night.

Saturday: Saturday Night Live (NBC, 11:30 p.m.): Fake Miley Cyrus has been one of the few SNL highlights this season, so maybe an appearance by the genuine article will be a good luck charm for the show (though considering recent headlines, I doubt we’ll see a fake Billy Ray). The reconstituted Strokes are the musical guests.

Sunday: Californication (Showtime, 9 p.m.): I don’t want to come across as if I’m making fun of how someone else looks (goodness knows I’m in no position to do that), but who really wants to see Evan Handler having sex, or talking about having sex? At least on Sex and the City, none of that happened onscreen. This week, Charlie (Handler) tries out something new with his latest weird conquest, and Hank is forced to sleep in his car after being evicted.