Remember The Restaurant and The Chopping Block? The two cooking reality TV series didn’t fare well for NBC, floundering in the ratings and ultimately being cancelled.
Here’s hoping the Peacock’s latest effort will be more to viewers’ tastes. (Get it?)
United Plates of America has a couple of things going for it to give it a shot at success. For one, it’s from the same people who produced Top Chef, the excellent culinary competition that airs on Bravo! in the U.S. and Food Network here.
And second, the winner of Plates will win a huge prize: they will launch a chain of restaurants in four locations across the U.S.
“We love the food and business reality space and wanted to do a show that was really big,” NBC’s senior vice-president of alternative programming, Paul Telegdy, said.
“At the end of this show, you will be able to go and eat in the restaurants. This is the biggest prize ever put up in reality television.”
Plates’ competitors will compete, says The Hollywood Reporter, to impress a panel of investors (kind of like Dragons' Den) from the cooking and business world.
The challenges will cover a wide array of topics, including restaurant concept, menu, marketability and the ability to manage a staff of workers.
There’s no debut date, panellists or judges to announce yet, says NBC.
Thoughts? greg@tvguide.ca
Follow Greg on Twitter
Follow TV Guide Canada on Facebook