"food shows" news and stories

Food trucks have come a long way from the days of hot dogs swimming in tepid, murky water, especially in the gourmet street-food worlds of Los Angeles, New York City and Austin. And nothing's more telling of their climb up the food chain than a pending ABC sitcom, tentatively titled Family Owned -- guess execs liked what they saw in the The Great Food Truck Race, which aired on the Food Network this summer.

Food has certainly taken to the small screen in a big way lately, reaching beyond the food networks and travel channels, beyond stand-and-stir shows (that is, cooking shows) and travelogues. Case in point: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, the recent sketches on Saturday Night Live, and a new cartoon sitcom on FOX we tipped you off to earlier this week, involving a guy named Bob and his burgers.

As Variety reports, this new food-truck sitcom is still in the development phase, but we do know it will be produced by former King of the Hill staffers Tony Gama-Lobo and Rebecca May, along with Warren Littlefield, and will star comedian Al Madrigal (left), who has appeared on Comedy Central and a couple of shows on CBS. Eater explains the concept as a "multigenerational family comedy" that "centers on a son who takes over the family food-truck business."

The Countess. Padma. Tabatha. If you're on a first name basis with these gals, chances are you're a Bravo junkie (like us). The cable channel just announced a new slate of shows in production and it sounds like they're going to pull us back into their clutches yet again.

In development is 'Around the World in 80 Plates.' Contestants fly around the globe to test their culinary skills in some of the world's most famous restaurants. (We're pretty sure El Bulli and The Fat Duck are getting called right now.) Of course the contestants have to adapt to local cultures and food tastes.

Bring on the foodie shows!

If you're familiar with the world of late-night political humor, you probably recognize the names Samantha Bee and Jason Jones. The married duo have both appeared as correspondents on The Daily Show, but now they're moving from politics to food. Variety reports that they're headed to CBS for a still-untitled sitcom that will deal with the celebrity of food.

The pair are co-creating and co-writing the sitcom, which will focus on "the behind-the-scenes world of a celebrity chef (played by Jones) and the two women who run his cooking empire (one of whom will be played by Bee)." Right now, there's no word on who will join them in this food triumvirate.

There's not much to go on at this point, but I can only hope it won't be bland and disappointing like the short-lived Kitchen Confidential, which took Anthony Bourdain's kitchen life, shook it, and ripped all of the spark out of it. I'm banking on the hope that Bee and Jones will do better and manage to mix the comedy with some actual substance.

Earlier today, Joanne gave you the results of the Food Network Awards, and now chef/writer/adventurer Anthony Bourdain gives his opinion of the ceremony.

Bourdain hasn't been shy in giving his opinion on what he thinks has become of the Food Network (too much focus on "star" chefs, bad food being cooked, an emphasis on too many things that have nothing to do with cooking, etc), and he has some choice words for the awards show:

As much as I thought Rocco DiSpirito was hot, and as much as I religiously watched the show "The Restaurant," I didn't think Rocco would ever have the balls to return to television after it turned out to be a complete fiasco.

I guess I was wrong. Rocco has balls. He is filming a pilot for a new reality tv show called "Rocco." In the show, Chef DiSpirito "will reportedly act as a culinary therapist on the new series, solving ordinary people's problems through the use of food."

Well, you didn't think he was going to actually cook, did you?