New Celebrity Dinner Show Coming to NBC
August 14, 2008 by Kath Skerry
I think Webster’s needs to come up with a new word for “celebrity”. It’s been overused to the point that it’s almost lost its meaning. Case in point – NBC has announced plans for a new reality show called “Celebrity Come Dine with Me” where ‘a “celebrity” plays hosts to a dinner party for four of their “famous” friends. At night’s end, the party will be judged by its presentation, food and entertainment value.’
On paper it’s an interesting concept. Who wouldn’t want to see Tina Fey host a dinner with maybe Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, Jason Sudekis and hell even Rachel Dratch? Or maybe it would be Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes having a Scientology feast with Leah Remni, J. Lo and Marc Anthony. Sounds great, right?
But let’s be honest, those aren’t even close to the kinds of “celebrities” that NBC is going to land for this show. I’ve got my money on it being more like a dinner party hosted by Omarosa featuring Flava Flav, one of the Brady kids, Emmanuel Lewis and one of the Coreys. It won’t be a dinner party as much as it would be a train wreck.
I hope I’m wrong.
If done well, with proper (interesting) celebrities, this show could be great. If anyone remembers “Dinner for Five”, you know what I mean. “Dinner for Five” was a show on IFC where host Jon Favreau would invite four of his famous friends for dinner and a camera would capture their uninhibited conversation as they discussed everything from the business, to politics, to the nature of celebrity. Nothing was scripted, and the actors were themselves in a relaxed atmosphere. It was a great show (check out a clip below…could be NSFW for language)
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If anyone is a movie fan, especially an independent movie fan, Dinner for Five, was must see TV, as it gave us an inside look at all things indy, as well as anuncensored look into television, getting started in the biz, how the writing in Hollywood process is completely screwed up, and just an inside look into the lives of some of our favorite stars and some stars we did not know so much about. I LOVED Dinner for Five, miss it terribly, wish it was an hour long, and wish it came on every week of the year. There I said it.
NBC should be sued for encroaching on Jon’s and Peter Billingsley’s idea.
Thanks GMMR for giving credit to such a great show!
Would be a cool show if it was more “Dinner for Five” and less reality show. It’s too bad all the shows that delve into filmmaking — “Shootout,” “Inside the Actors Studio,” most of ReelzChannel’s programming — are on cable. I’d love to see a program like those about making television on broadcast TV.
I loved the Jon Favreau show. Very good show! So entertaining and such a window in. I concur, this will likely be as you describe as a worst-case scenario, unfortch!
What does NSFW stand for?