Here’s another chance to join the ranks of Stephanie, Hung and Ilan. “Top Chef” is recruiting contestants for its season six, including here in L.A.:
Sunday, March 15, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Craft Restaurant
Just do us a favor: Ask Padma why her critiques all seem to basically be echoes of others. (Tom: “That dish is too spicy.” Padma: “Yes, it is too spicy!” Guest judge: “I thought the presentation was off.” Padma: “The presentation was off!”)
You enjoyed watching Keyshawn Johnson play football. Now you can’t wait to enjoy watching him redesign your house.
If that’s you, then the producers of the new A&E show “Keyshawn Johnson: Tackling Design” are looking for homeowners in the Los Angeles area that are planning to makeover a room in their home and might be interested in being featured on the show.
The details:
Former NFL star and ESPN analyst Keyshawn Johnson is embarking on a new career path as an interior designer and he and his professional design team want to help you makeover a room in your home!We’re currently looking for homeowners that are planning to redesign a room in their home in the near future and have a budget of at least $10k.
We provide FREE design and help arrange discounts on items and materials.
If you are interested in being on the show or know someone that might be, PLEASE CONTACT US at talent@sdetv.com for more information.
More info on the show is here. And hey, if any of you apply or get on the show, let us know!
If allowing an ex-NFL star to design your home isn’t exactly your thing, how about grilling meat on TV along side Bobby Flay?
The Food Network show “Grill It! with Bobby Flay” is shooting in L.A. this March, and is looking for guest cooks with a unique recipe or new take on a classic.
The catch: You gotta look between 21 and 45… and exhibit some personality in front of the camera. Plus, your dish has to be an original. Here are the details:
How to apply:
-Email grillitwithbobby@gmail.com for an application, and then return it to them with a photo.
- Make a 3-minute video (DVD or MiniDV) showcasing your personality (anything longer than 3-minutes will not be considered).
- On the casting tape, cook your favorite dish, tell us about the ingredients, how you created the recipe, and why it is special.
- Tell us a little about yourself and what makes you interesting.
- Tell us why you think it would be great to GRILL IT! with Bobby FlayPlease upload your 3-minute video the Food Network “Be On TV” site, then mail us your original DVD or MiniDV along with your written recipe to:
Rock Shrimp
Att: Grill It!
110 Leroy Street
7th Floor
New York, NY 10014All entries need to be submitted by March 2nd, 2009. You must be available for one day of filming in Los Angeles, CA. March 16-22.
OK, that sounds a little more labor intensive. But go for it — and again, if you do, let us know!
A casting agent for the Fox reality show “Kitchen Nightmares is looking for Los Angeles-area restaurants in desperate need of some TLC.
As you probably know, “Kitchen Nightmares” stars tough-love chef Gordon Ramsay as he takes over a failing or dysfunctional restaurant and attempts to whip it into shape. The casting agent explains:
We are currently casting in the Los Angeles area, looking for restaurants with great potential that need significant help to put them back on the right track, whether it’s issues with food, service, management, ownership, etc… We also love to incorporate the help of local restaurant enthusiasts and professionals who know the ins and outs of the LA scene.
Failing restauranteurs can download the application here.
What do you nominate as an L.A. restaurant most in need of a Gordon Ramsay makeover? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
I hate being harsh on the L.A. Times’ “Underrated/Overrated” feature (once found in Thursday’s “The Guide,” now found in Sunday’s Calendar section), mostly because it gave a shout out last year to the Great Los Angeles Walk.
Nonetheless, today’s “underrated” column — on The ’00s — completely missed the mark. Here’s what they wrote about the decade we’re almost done with:
We think we’ve been spared such pop culture missteps as the fashion sense of the 1980s or the angst and irony of the 1990s, so let’s hope the decade continues its relatively inoffensive, hard-to-categorize run for one more year. The 2000s: They’re not bad.
Sorry, guys, you couldn’t be more wrong. This was the decade that pop culture finally got mind-numbingly insipid. The goofy fashion of the 1980s or the angst of the 1990s has nothing on the 2000s: Reality TV, D-list celebrity, the look-at-me culture of Internet video and blogging (hey, I’m just as guilty of this inspidness as anyone!) There’s plenty that the 2000s will be remembered for — I’d argue that it will be easy to categorize the decade when all is said and done.
The only real question is what the 00s will be called — it’s a tad odd that we’ve just got one more year left of this decade, and there’s still no consensus on what we should call it. The Aughts? The double-Os? The 2000s? Someone, I’m sure, it putting together the sequel to “I Love the 80s” and “I Love the 90s,” and still isn’t quite sure what to name their show.
Here it is, the official judge shot from “Gimme My Reality Show,” bowing this Saturday at 9 p.m. PT (yep, Midnight ET) on Fox Reality Channel. And if you wanna read more about the judges too, check here.
Yep, Franklin Avenue, guaranteed the only website in America focusing on this new show’s judges.
As a kid visiting L.A. (age 8), I remember taking one of those bus tours to see the stars’ homes. Highlights included the home formerly owned by Lucille Ball. (Yeah, it didn’t take much to get people excited back then). These days, tourists are flocking to L.A. to catch a glimpse of their fave reality star.
And sometimes catching a glimpse isn’t enough. They’re coming to experience the lifestyle — and perhaps befriend their favorite TV personalities. The L.A. Times features one such “The Hills” fan:
In the weeks leading up to her spring break earlier this year, Rachel Haas, then a high school senior, wasn’t concerned with trying on new bikinis or misting herself with a spray tan. Instead, she was obsessively watching MTV’s reality show ” The Hills” and making a long list of every restaurant and nightclub that appeared on-screen that she wanted to visit on her trip to Los Angeles.
Her ideal itinerary began with her and her friends venturing down the Sunset Strip to eat burgers at Ketchup, where they figured they had a shot of catching the cameras from “The Hills.” On the weekend, they’d hit Les Deux, Hollywood’s über-trendy club, with its Euro-themed wallpaper and bottle service.
“My perception of L.A. was that it was a place that felt completely unreal, like a movie set. I had the highest expectations for it — I thought I’d literally be running into famous people everywhere,” said Haas, now an 18-year-old freshman at Washington University in St. Louis.
No happy ending here: Haas didn’t get to meet L.C. afterall.
I’ve been a bad blogger recently. There I was last week at the Fox Reality Channel awards show — known as the “Reallys” — and I didn’t blog about it.
Well, I suppose I partly avoided it because a producer hopped on stage to warn everyone in the house not to blog about it. But he meant the actual awards, and what transpired on stage. But beyond that, I can tell you that it was quite the surreal scene.
I showed up solo at the event, held last Wednesday at the Avalon in Hollywood, but quickly ran into some familiar faces from both the channel and “Gimme My Reality Show” (premieres Oct. 11, FYI). As a matter of fact, the production company behind “Gimme,” Natural 9, were also producing the Reallys.
(Pic by Ben Mandelker.)
You couldn’t shake a stick without hitting some D-list reality royalty at the Avalon’s Spider Club pre-show. Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth the Bounty Hunter Wife were there. Our faves, “Flipping Out’s” Jeff Lewis, Jenni and Ryan. “Celebrity Rehab” trainwreck Jeff Conaway (with cane), Hugh Hefner and his Girls Next Door, and of course, my new pal Kato Kaelin. And hundreds more.
(Pic by Ben Mandelker.)
Inside, I sat next to some of the “Gimme” stars — Kato, Susan Olsen, Traci Bingham. And Susan sat next to the one and only Greg Brady, Barry Williams. Yes, Brady royalty up in the house.
I also ran into the B-Side Blog‘s Ben Mandelker. I haven’t done justice to the event — but Ben does in his recap:
I felt like I were in my own unique version of Survivor, except instead of being stranded on an island, I was adrift in a sea of reality stars. Yes, there were oodles of reality stars lined up for the red carpet. I have to admit I didn’t recognize a good chunk of them because they mostly seemed to hail from those VH1 Flavor of Love spin-offs and whatnot. Basically, everyone looked like a porn star. And yes, there were actual porn stars present too.
Check out more of his post here. The Fox Reality Channel “Really Awards” air Saturday, Oct. 11 at 10 p.m.
Fox taps judges for ‘Reality Show’
Panel includes Schneider, Sternberg, CurryBy JOHN DEMPSEY
Fox Reality Channel has chosen the three judges for its unscripted series “Gimme My Reality Show”: Michael Schneider, TV editor of Daily Variety; Scott Sternberg, veteran reality-show producer (AMC’s “Shootout”), and Adrianne Curry, winner of the first cycle of “America’s Next Top Model.”
The four-episode “Gimme My Reality Show,” which premieres Oct. 11 following the 2008 Fox Reality Channel Really Awards, takes small-bore celebrities including Traci Bingham, Gretchen Bonaduce, Kato Kaelin, Ryan Starr, Bobby Trendy and Susan Olsen and pits them against each another in multiple challenges. George Grey (“Junkyard Wars”) is the host.
The winner will be announced on Nov. 4. The chief prize for the winner is a docuseries to run on Fox Reality in 2009. Producer is Natural 9 Entertainment.
Set that TiVo season pass!
“American Idol” announced its audition dates last week, and L.A. isn’t among them. Angelenos looking to make it to Hollywood, dawg, will have to speed up the 5 on Thursday, July 17, as tryouts for next season will take place at San Francisco’s Cow Palace.
Auditions are also set for Louisville, KY; Phoenix, AZ; Salt Lake City, UT; Kansas City, MO; Jacksonville, FL; East Rutherford, NJ; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
I guess it’s too late for me, as the show is looking for “men and women 16-28 years old as of July 15 who are eligible to work in the U.S.”
Interestingly, they’re not allowing people to camp out before hand; instead, wristbands will be distributed starting at 7 a.m. on Tuesday July 15, until 8 a.m. the morning of July 17. (So what’s to stop folks from camping out before the 15th instead?) Good luck, and please, make an ass of yourself so you at least get some primetime broadcast TV time.
1. Starving Artist Mondays at Luna Park: I stumbled on this nice find on a random Monday night out with a friend: The prix fixe dinner offer at Luna Park. For $18 you get a choice of appetizer (I picked the goat cheese fondue with apples and bread), entree (salmon with lentils) and dessert (build-it-yourself smores)– a pretty good deal, and a nice spot to catch up with an old friend.
2. Sweet Potato Fries of Love: The sweet potato fries are back in the freezer aisles at Trader Joe’s! I longingly search for them in the freezer every time I go to TJ’s, but the item went missing for a few years. The fries are back! I quickly picked up two bags in my excitement.
3. Top Chef: A promising season premiere, with Bourdain back on the first episode. I’m not sure who I like yet but I always feel bad about the first person to go. One thing for sure, there’s a whole lot of swearing going on this season.
