LETTING THE CHAT OUT OF THE BAG

There's chatter that Bravo's Senior VP of original programming Boy Wonder Andy Cohen is developing a reality program showcasing New York's prime gay men.

Bravo wants to one-up that grotesque trainwreck reality series that is on LOGO.

The working title of Bravo's show is From the Bottom to the Top.

Names being thrown out that will star in this series:

 Mark Silver, Factory PR founder

Kenneth Gillet, book publicist

Jordan Carlyle, interior designer

Joey Giuntoli, a fashion showroom owner

Kristopher Haigh, designer for Penguin

KEEPING IT REALZ

Andy Cohen has given his blessing for four new reality shows for his NBC/Universal cabler, Bravo.

1.  Project Runway contestant Chris March will get a show.  Camp. y.

2. Dean's List, a show that will follow hairstylist Dean Banowetz.  The higher the hair, the closer to God as Texas folk say.

3. Roble & Co., cameras follow hip-hop chef Roble Ali from Brooklyn.

4.  Thicker than Water, a multi-generational drama.

Optioned:  Top Chef Just Desserts is inked for another season.  YAY!  Who knew pastry chefs were such Drama Creams!!!  We're talking to you Seth!!!

FIRE UP THOSE EASY BAKE OVENS

Now you can go to Top Chef culinary school... excuse us, University...... 24/7, at any time,  online.

On the Bravo website, just enroll.  Make the option for a monthly ($24.95) or yearly ($199.95) payment plan.  

And this is what is offered:

* Complete coursework from basics to masters, it's like a live culinary school in your own home

* More than 60 hours of instructional videos, created by Top Chef University

* One-on-one training with your favorite Top Cheftestants

* Learn from America's up and coming chefs

Some of the instructors are:  hottie Spike Mendelsohn, chatty Carla Hall, bacon lover Kevin Gillespie.

We actually think this is pretty brills of Bravo, the clever audacity to get more money from the viewers.  Cheesy?  Yes.  Tacky?  Yes.  Brilliant?  Very.

What's next: a Project Runway Fashion Institute?

A Real Housewives skank academy?

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Want to read someone's account of the Top Chef University?  Esquire is subjecting a staffer to the lessons and writing a column about it.

VIVA LAS VEGAS: TOP CHEF 6

Filming for the new season of Top Chef  6 begins next week in Las Vegas.

Our snitch confided in us that the CHEFtestants are holed up at the M Resort near Henderson for the next month.

No doubt, Tom Colicchio's  restaurant Craftsteak at the MGM Grand will be location for part of the challenges.

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TOP CHEF 5

Patrick, below

Richard, below

The new season of Top Chef will be quickly upon us...this is the season 5, already.

Out of 17 Chef-testants---2 are openly gay!!

Patrick, 21, from Hyde Park:  He likes ecologically sensitive food and is enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America.

Richard, 27, from San Diego:  He grew up in Sayville, Long Island, has boyfriend named Steve and moonlights at a bar called Pecs.

Other 411:  Toby Young replaces Ted Allen as a judge this season.

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IS PR AUF THE AIR?

The little mister that stole our heart:  Wesley Nault

NBC Universal has emailed this statement to selective press:

"NBC Universal is pleased that the court granted our motion for a preliminary injunction against The Weinstein Company. The overwhelming evidence demonstrated that The Weinstein Company violated NBC Universal's right of first refusal to future cycles of Project Runway. After hearing all of the evidence, the court issued an order prohibiting The Weinstein Company from taking the show or any spin-off to Lifetime."

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TOP DESIGN 2 PREMIERES ON GAYVO TONIGHT

LA*SURFPUNK is already in love with Preston and we'll be rooting for him!!!

Reality Blurred has this to say:

That Top Design made it to a second season, which debuts tonight at 10 p.m. ET, is probably about as surprising as Shear Genius had a second season, since both were weak, deformed siblings of Project Runway and Top Chef. For some reason, 12 of the 13 contestants are from the same four cities: New York (5), Los Angeles (3), Atlanta (2), and Houston (2).

As happened with the hair cutting competition, the interior design competition gets its own makeover. Producers Stone and Company were fired and replaced by Magical Elves, while Todd Oldham got demoted to mentor and was replaced by new host India Hicks. It’s also in high definition for those who get Bravo in HD. Also, as previews suggest, the show will leave the empty white box challenges behind for more real-world design challenges.

For some bizarre reason, however, they’ve retained the trio of lame judges, Jonathan Adler, Margaret Russell, and Kelly Wearstler. If Jonathan Adler says the ever-insulting “you can stay” or the horrific “see you later, decorator,” I’d be ready to throw a brick through my TV, except I love it too much. I’ll probably just break the mute button on the remote from pressing it so hard as soon as he opens his mouth.


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Bravo’s reinvention and makeover of its interior decorator competition series Top Design has resulted in the show getting a new host and producers, but keeping its trio of sucky judges. A press release says the show will also have “a new look in high-definition” and “is currently in production and is set to air on Bravo in third quarter 2008.”

Todd Oldham has been bumped from host to the Tim Gunn role as mentor, where he definitely belongs. In his place as host is India Hicks, who Bravo says “is the daughter of famed interior decorator David Hicks and Lady Pamela Hicks” and “has enjoyed a successful career as a fashion model.” She has also published two interior design books: Island Life: Inspirational Interiors and Island Beauty.

But the absolute worst part of the entire series has not changed. The show’s three judges, Jonathan Adler, Margaret Russell, and Kelly Wearstler will remain. Let’s just hope new producers Magical Elves, who produce Project Runway, will force Jonathan Adler to never utter his moronic send-off line again.





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SHEAR GENIUS WINNER

What a challenge... to create looks for your muse at 18, 30, 45, and 60.

Linda Wells sitting with the stylists and consulting with them.

I loved the extra bonus of being treated to Sally Hershberger as a guest judge....

Dee gave her pop of color to all her models and her notable skunk stripe to her 18 year-old.  I thought the 60 year old curliness looked like what you see on the street.  The curls were too much and the hair was wet looking --I thought it was a mess.  I don't want anyone at 60 wearing that poodle look..

Charlie treated us to 4 iconic looks from Hollywood and I really felt all his blondes needed more pop and buttery hues!!!

Nicole I felt started strong with the 18 year-old but with the 60 year old --the hair looked unfinished and none of her styles really made me say "wow."

Kim Vo really hated Charlie's styles so I felt that he wasn't going to win.

I was hoping for Nicole .........

BUT it went to DEE.

What did you think???

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CHRIS MARCH DISCUSSES THE DRAG EPISODE PROJECT RUNWAY

Gay video from AfterElton.com

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QUIETLY SIMMERING IN BROOKLYN: TOP CHEF NEW SEASON

The fifth season of Top Chef has made itself at home in Brooklyn, and is currently in production. That means that there have been chef sightings in the New York City area, although perhaps the biggest news is how few of them there are, especially in a city like New York.

Last week, Eater published a report from someone who saw the chefs at Whole Foods, where they’re apparently continuing to shop this season. An actual sign proved it was them: At the Bowery Whole Foods, there was “a sign announcing that anyone entering the store would automatically agree to being filmed for a production by ‘Magical Elves,’” Eater says. And Time for Cheese spotted the chefs at Craft, Tom Colicchio’s restaurant.

When they’re not cooking, the “cast has definitely been living for about two weeks now in a terraced duplex penthouse in Williamsburg overlooking McCarren Park,” The New York Observer reports, citing “an extremely well-placed source” who says the chefs are “leaving around 8 or 9 in the mornings for a soundstage in Greenpoint and coming straight back in the evenings.”

[reality blurred]

Top Chef: A Peek at the Cheftestants In Action
Thursday, July 24, 2008, by Amanda
Looks like Whole Foods is going to remain the gourmet grocery store of choice for the Top Chef production crew. A reader and Top Chef obsessive at the Bowery branch at 7:30 p.m. yesterday spotted the crew in addition to a sign announcing that anyone entering the store would automatically agree to being filmed for a production by 'Magical Elves.' Our spy followed the film crew around the corner to Chrystie Street and spotted all of the contestants loading their coolers of food into large white vans (they don't really drive around in Rav4s all day). Here are her descriptions of all of the contestants:
· 20-something Indian-American woman, on the short side and looking a bit bedraggled
· 40ish man, balding, gray hair, trim beard, smoking a cigarette and looking tough, black leather clogs.
· Late 30s man, tall, husky, like a mix between Season 3's Joey, Howie and Season' 4's Eric all rolled into one.
· Shorter Asian dude, wearing a wife beater, exceedingly tan, and covered with black tattoos.
· Tall, African-American woman with a bandana
· Late 20s dude, dark hair, with the soft paunch of a Williamsburg hipster.
·Tall, thin pretty/crunchy looking female, no makeup
· Another shorter, more non-descript female.
· There was another chick, tall, thin, blond, an indie pin-up, who might have been part of the crew.
· One of the coolers had the name "Gene" written on it
Note, the descriptors were the spy's, not ours. According to the man behind the fish counter he sold over $600 worth of seafood to the contestants. Perhaps for a Ripert challenge? Anyone who can ID the cheftestants from the above descriptions, please share. To the rest of you aspiring spies, more Top Chef intel is always welcome.

[eater]

20 BAYARD

 It's more or less an open secret, but we've learned that the Top Chef cast has definitely been living for about two weeks now in a terraced duplex penthouse in Williamsburg overlooking McCarren Park. So far, the chefs have pretty much kept to themselves, said an extremely well-placed source, leaving around 8 or 9 in the mornings for a soundstage in Greenpoint and coming straight back in the evenings. “They’re not allowed to talk to anyone, really, or even do their own thing,” the source said. They’re trying to keep things under control before the paparazzi start camping out.” Luckily, it sounds like they have the typical luxe reality show digs, complete with a private roof deck and a sweeping view of the city skyline, to occupy them when they are not shopping, cooking or shooting. Though the source would not say which of the two "identical" parkview penthouses the cast is living in, a 1,368-square-foot, 16th-floor unit was sold in April for $1.4 million, according to StreetEasy. (Meanwhile the neighboring unit, 16A, is in contract for $1.295 million.) According to the duplex floor plans on the 20 Bayard Web site, the first floor has an open-air kitchen, foyer, eating area and living room--with a balcony--and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking McCarren Park and Manhattan. The kitchen is outfitted with a 36-inch Sub-Zero refrigerator, a Viking gas range with Caesar stone, and Calacutta Gold marble countertops and backsplash. The two first-floor bedrooms overlook the buildng courtyard, while the master bedroom—with a huge en suite bathroom and private terrace—occupies the entire second floor. The sleek, American Psycho-esque standard penthouse pictured on the site is far from shabby as it is, but we’re told Bravo has done some redecorating. “They’re already awesome, but they’ve furnished it like a celeb would,” the source said. “One wall is orange, one is gray, one is purple. They’ve got that funky Real World look going on.” So far the cast has remained pretty incognito. Few people from neighboring buildings were even aware Top Chef was shooting in Williamsburg. “No way,” said the cashier at Urban Rustic, an organic market down the street, who is a fan of the show. “That’s awesome.” So will the cast do any shopping there? “That would be cool, but I doubt it," the cashier said. "They usually give them a budget.” [observer] If you enjoyed this post, other posts and enjoy reading LA*SURFPUNK HOLLYWOOD--Please take a moment to make a donation to keep this blog alive!!! You can click the donate button at the top right of the page. We thank you!! Read more of my blog by clicking the title or subject listings on the right. Email friends of my postings with the EMAIL icon at the bottom of each post. And as always, feel free to comment.







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