While current Top Chef contestants battle it out in Chicago, the series prepares for its next round of the culinary contest/reality show. Bravo has announced its casting call for the 5th season (New York's open call is May 11th at the Culinary Institute of America in Astor Center):Chefs with a passion for food, creativity, a thorough knowledge of cooking techniques and trends and oodles of charisma are what we're looking for. We want both self-taught......

How will Lifetime transition from "woman in distress seeks revenge" movies to "hot tranny mess" is beyond us, but The NY Times reports that NBC Universal, Bravo's parent company, has lost their precious “Project Runway" to the "femme-centric" (per Variety) network. NBC Universal filed a lawsuit in Manhattan today, accusing the show's owner, the Weinstein Company, of violating rights by pairing up with Lifetime, which offered $150 million. From the Times:The suit asserts Harvey Weinstein,......

Like it or not The Real Housewives of New York are getting air time every Tuesday, and each week they invite the rest of New York (and the world) into a little bubble they call home. Touring private schools for their French-speaking children, toting their kids off to auditions, getting away to the Hamptons and presumbably being "fabulous" at whatever else fills their social schedule. Last night one of the "housewives," The Countess LuAnn, broke......

Even though there wasn't a "villain" along the lines of Santino Rice or a favorite like Michael Knight, the fourth season of Project Runway has been pretty captivating with some very lovely work. Tonight, the three remaining designers' Bryant Park Fashion Week face-off will be shown and a winner announced. Designers Christian Siriano, Jillian Lewis, and Rami Kashou have had some high and low points this season (the denim challenge kinda sucked, as did......

Earlier this year Bravo announced their "Real Housewives" series would be moving from Orange County to The Big Apple. The show premieres tonight, and critics have already gone sour on it. The NY Post describes the five women chosen to represent NYC as "status-hungry, money-mad matrons" (a real life Cashmere Mafia living in a Lipstick Jungle?). Appalled that out of "8 million residents representing every known corner of the globe" the network picked five who......

brooklyn bridge traffic, by Idle Type at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: a crime scene/hanging at East 13th St. and Shore Parkway in Brooklyn, a child mauled by a dog in the area of 91-43 Gold Rd. in Queens, and a possible escaped prisoner on Wards Island across from Manhattan. Asbestos removal at the Carroll St. F and G line station appears to be a non-issue. Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn received a note......

Fox’s New Amsterdam (Tuesday, 9:00 p.m., WNYW 5) sounds like a mashup of Pocahontas and Forever Knight, but with out the animation or the vampires. The story for this new series starts in 1642 when a Dutch soldier (Danish import Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) saves a Native American girl and is given the gift/curse of immortality and not ageing until he finds his true love. Fast forward to today and that soldier is now NYPD homicide detective......

READING: Never got around to reading that Burt Reynolds autobiography? Tonight the stars are out read it to you at Celebrity Autobiography ("the long running L.A. comedy sensation, as seen on Bravo TV, finally comes to New York"). Cheyenne Jackson, Kristin Johnston, Richard Kind, Jackie Hoffman will read from autobiographies the aforementioned Mr. Renyolds, Loni Anderson, Kenny Loggins and Liz Taylor. 7:30pm // The Triad [158 W 72nd St] // $35-45 THEATER: Phoenix Theatre......

Are you ready to meet the Real Housewives of New York City? Bravo is spinning off their Orange County-based reality show with a look into the lives of some select East Coast ladies. The show will air March 4th, and The Daily News reports that the "stars" will be Bethenny Frankel, LuAnn de Lesseps (that's Countess, to you), Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin of the Upper East Side and Alex McCord of Cobble Hill.......

NBC News to Cover Golden Globes To plug the giant hole in the network’s schedule this Sunday, caused by the WGA not giving a waiver to Dick Clark Productions for the Golden Globe Awards, NBC has handed the whole thing over to its news division. First at 7 p.m., there will be a two hour Dateline NBC filled with interviews of those actors will ignore the Screen Actors Guild’s request to boycott the show (to......

We recently received a press release in the Gothamist feedbag announcing the arrival of “Top Chef: The Cookbook.” Being a major Top Chef junkie, we were pretty excited about this one. The official scoop is that the book, the "official companion cookbook" the #1 food show on cable will arrive in March and have: More than 100 Quick Fire Challenge and Elimination Round recipes from the first three seasons of the series; "In-depth discussions" with......

The gasps you heard in front of certain American television sets Wednesday were because Project Runway's second episode packed a wallop. After American icon challenges during season 2 and 3, the fourteen remaining designers speculated this year's fashion icon could be Madonna, Britney ("she needs help," according to the severely coiffed Christian, who interned at Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen) or Snow White, it's possible that the actual icon was better than their dreams:......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Art in the Twenty-First Century (Sunday, 10:00 p.m., WNET 13) Four artists - Robert Adams, Mark Dion , Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle Ursula von Rydingsvard – who explore the intersection between nature and culture. Billy Crystal: The Mark Twain Prize (Monday & Thursday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13; Saturday, 7:30 p.m. WLIW 21) Billy Crystal receives the tenth annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in......

Tonight another season of Top Chef will come to an end as a new connoisseur of cuisine is crowned with a big white hat. So who's it gonna be? Dale, Hung and Casey are the three remaining chefs, and last week they gave us some easy recipes to cook in a small NYC kitchen, the dirt on Newark, and told us how they've been preparing to face Padma & Co. one last time. Dale When......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to Shanghai (repeat episode). This week on Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (Wednesday at 9pm on Fox, Ramsay makes over the Mixing Bowl Eatery in Bellmore, NY. On Top Chef, part 2 of the two-part season finale airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). Rocco’s back as a guest judge, along with Todd English and Michelle Bernstein. The Village......

What’s worth watching on food-TV this week? Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Anthony Bourdain goes to Tuscany. Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares (the US version of his BBC show) is on Wednesday at 9pm (Fox). This week, Ramsay makes over Dillon’s in NYC—this is the makeover over which Ramsay was sued (and charges were subsequently dismissed). Want your restaurant Ramsified? Go to the show’s website for a downloadable application form. On Top......

What’s worth watching on food-TV this week? Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to South Carolina. He’s also got an upcoming holiday special that features Queens of the Stone Age (wearing Christmas sweaters from QVC, no less). We can’t wait for that one. Read about it in ">Rolling Stone. On Top Chef, Episode 12 airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). The guest judges are Sirio Maccioni and Andre Soltner. Grub Street......

Last night Top Chef began with a Quickfire Challenge consisting of everyone cooking Padma breakfast...we swear she thinks of the challenges when she's stoned (see: the onion cutting relay. C'mon!). After the "food awakening" they were in for a rude awakening. Sent to New York City, the contestants seemed genuinely happy when they saw the Manhattan skyline...but their dreams were dashed when they were held in New Jersey for a day at Newark Airport. Cooking......

This week on food-TV, we've got: Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to Buenos Aires and Patagonia, Argentina. On Top Chef, Episode 11 airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). Chef Jimmy Canora is the guest judge. Frank Bruni blogs about the show in the Times, calls Howie “the season’s best villain, the toque you’d love to choke.” And Bourdain is guest judging again this week as well; says that this episode......

Tim Gunn's Guide to Style officially premieres tonight, but Bravo served it as a surprise aperitif to Top Chef last night. The gist: Gunn gives a makeover à la What Not to Wear's Stacy and Clinton, the Queer Eye guys, and the popular girl that takes the ponytail out and glasses off of the unpopular girl in every teen movie. His first challenge: a woman that wears Juicy Couture sweats. There is no way to......

What’s worth watching, food-wise, on TV this week? Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to Hong Kong. His show is followed by Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, who goes to Alaska to eat jellied moose nose and reindeer pizza, among other things. On Top Chef, Episode 10 airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). There are seven remaining contestants, and this week Michael Schwartz is the guest judge. And PBS continues their......

The PR team over at Mercadito sent us a very disturbing email earlier today: On Sunday, August 26, at 7:20 am Antonio Barranco Hernandez was killed, and Luis Romero and Augusto Bravo were seriously injured after a drunk driver slammed into the back of the van while the men delivered produce to Mercadito Grove restaurant, located at 100 Seventh Avenue South in New York City. Mercadito has set up a fund to accept donations on......

A drunk man driving a Lincoln Aviator slammed into people delivering groceries at restaurant on Seventh Avenue South near Grove Street yesterday morning. Antonio Barranco Hernandez, who had taken a delivery shift over from his son, died after the impact of the SUV severed his leg. A witness told the Daily News, "[The SUV] was going very fast. The car cut his leg. The leg, right off." The SUV was driven by NJ resident Christian......

What’s worth watching, food-wise, on TV this week? Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to French Polynesia. Serious Eats reviews the series—and his trip to Brazil—here. On Top Chef, Episode 9 airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). This week, Chef Geoffrey Zakarian is the guest judge. On last week’s episode, no one was eliminated. Grub Street hates it when everyone makes nice. We agree: it doesn’t make very good television. And......

This week on food-related TV, we’ve got: Tonight on No Reservations (10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to Brazil. For a critical take on the show—you’re basically just watching a guy eat and it’s boring—read the Post here. Episode 8 of Top Chef airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). Daniel Boulud is the guest judge this week. Read EW’s wrapup of the previous episode here. Last week NY’s final representative on the show, Sara, got......

Hopefully Monday's season opener of Sesame Street will help in sweepin' these clouds away! The new season will begin how it always does, by determining the educational needs of their tv-watching tot demographic. Recent years focused on healthy eating in an effort to help the younger generation befriend veggies (they even have their own line of healthy foods). This year there are 26 new episodes all focusing on early literacy and language skills. USA......

If you watch the reality shows, you probably wonder at the random, more boring, points of your day: Whatever happened to so-and-so from Project whatchamacallit? Or more likely, you don't. NY Mag examines the sad, "near-fame experience" of being a Bravo reality star. Somewhere right below the D-list is the space the not-quite almost-famous Bravo TV stars occupy. Though the Bravo competition reality shows generally rely on actual skills, the article's first cautionary tale is......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations continues tonight at 10pm on the Travel Channel. This episode features Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern exploring New York City. On Hell's Kitchen (Monday at 10pm, Fox), it’s the grande finale. Bonnie vs. Rock: who would’ve foreseen this matchup? If you missed last week, read the recap in the LA Times. Episode 7 of Top Chef airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). Did you watch......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? The third season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations premieres tonight at 10pm on the Travel Channel. The first episode features his trip to Shanghai. Fox has Episode 9 of Hell's Kitchen, also on tonight at 9pm. Both Julia and Josh were kicked to the curb last week (but in a random act of kindness, Ramsay promised to send Julia to culinary school). Now three contestants remain. Read......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? ">Martha Stewart has all new episodes this week (10am Monday-Friday, NBC). Monday her guests are Mario Batali, Michael Schulson and Scott Conant; on Wednesday it’s Rick Bayless, Sue Torres and Tom Douglas. Fox has Episode 7 of Hell's Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. Melissa’s gone, and six contestants remain. Read the latest episode roundup in the LA Times here. Gordon Ramsay has also adapted his BBC show......