TVSquad

Now that the big finale is in the books, and the right chef won, the fine folks over at Top Chef HQ have some time on their hands. It appears they'll be spending it getting going on their new spinoff, Top Chef Jr. (not an official title). According to the press release, the series comes about because Top Chef is the "number one food show on cable." I think that is a point that might be contested by someone at Food Network, but I do agree, it is my favorite of the cooking based shows.

The show will have an eight episode run and feature teens (13-16) in the familiar competitions to see if they are junior top chefs. Bravo calls it a natural expansion of their food domain and says it will be fun for the whole family. I can't help but think of Trading Spaces: Boys vs Girls. It was a fine imitation of the original Trading Spaces, but didn't hold up among the parent show's fans. And that's exactly what I would expect from Top Chef Jr.

In other news over at Bravo, the producers behind Work Out and Paradise Hotel have their own food show in the works. The as yet untitled Jean-Christophe Novelli project will follow the chef as he makes the move to the states to open a cooking school in Los Angeles. The Novelli Academy Cookery School, in the UK, has been ranked as one of the top 25 cookery schools in the world and he hopes to repeat those successes in the US.

The show will follow the move, setting up the school, and the testing of his students based on what they have learned. It's been picked up for an eight episode run. Having never seen Novelli in action before, I have no idea how this one is going to shake out. The idea has potential, and the track record of the school implies a more serious direction for the show, but I did just type producers of Paradise Hotel up there. It gives me pause, thinking that this could be spun into some kind of Ramsey-esque mess.