Debmar-Mercury is teaming with UK-based ITV Studios to bring
new talk show The Chefs to U.S. television. This is
Debmar-Mercury's
second venture with ITV Studios; the two companies also are developing a
U.S.
version of The Jeremy Kyle Show, which has been a smash hit in
the U.K.
"The Chefs successfully combines food, a topic
that
no one can live without, celebrities and a panel of premier chefs in a
winning
new talk format," said Mort Marcus, Debmar-Mercury co-president, in a
statement. "It has the ability to play across all daytime and
early-fringe time
periods."
The Chefs, a new format that will feature a
panel of
four top chefs talking about food-related topics, likely will be offered
to
stations as a multi-week test later this year or in 2011. If the show
performs,
Debmar-Mercury will take it out into national syndication, which is the
model
Debmar-Mercury applies to most of its launches.
TBS is currently
running a
ten-episode test of Are We There Yet?, an original sitcom from
Ice
Cube's CubeVision and Revolution Studios, that Debmar-Mercury will take
into
national syndication in 2011 should TBS decide to pick up the show.
Debmar-Mercury also launched The Wendy Williams Show after
testing it on
Fox-owned TV stations.
ITV Studios, which also produces such
top-rated food shows
as Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen, will handle
international distribution of The Chefs and will produce local
formats
of the show across the globe.
The Chefs will be produced
in New York City.
