Food Network Announces New Series for 2013

At the Scripps Networks Interactive upfront today, the Food Network revealed 23 new series and specials that will air on the network in 2013.

Here are some things you have to look forward to (or not look forward to):

• Robert Irvine driving a bus in a competition show where the winner gets a restaurant
• Alton Brown hosting Cutthroat Kitchen, where chefs can spend money on themselves or sabotage other chefs in a competition.
• A Supermarket Sweep knockoff called Grocery Games
• Joe Bastianich in a show called Bossover, where restaurant employees nominate their terrible bosses for a makeover
• A Throwdown type show called Beat Bobby Flay where the competitors travel to New York to compete against Bobby, rather than the other way around.
• Rachael Vs Guy: Kids Cook-Off - could a show get more annoying than Rachael, Guy AND kids?
• Chef Wanted is coming back for a third season, after having no success in finding executive chefs in their first two seasons.  I guess ratings were good enough.
• Worst Cooks In America, Great Food Truck Race, and Rachael Vs. Guy Celebrity Cook-Off are coming back for another season as well. 
• Plus more, see below

Missing from this is any mention of Justin Warner and Rebel Eats.  Do you think the special is all he will get to do on the Food Network after winning Food Network Star?


Read through the shows and descriptions and let me know which ones you are looking forward to, and which ones sounds like train-wrecks to you.


Here is the total list from Deadline.com:

Giving You the Business
Series Premiere: April 2013
CEOs of well-known food chains are looking to expand and reward one of their loyal, hard-working employees with the opportunity to own their own franchise. The twist? The employees don’t know. The bosses secretly enter them into a hidden-camera competition that will test them on their skills, their honesty and their ability to handle themselves in increasingly outrageous situations. In the end, one will be given the opportunity of a lifetime. Produced by Cineflix for Food Network

Food Court Wars
Series Premiere: July 2013
Food Court Wars pits two teams of aspiring food entrepreneurs against one another as they battle to win their own food court restaurant rent-free for a year. Hosted by Tyler Florence, in every episode a mall in a different city wants to open a new ‘local’ eatery in the food court that offers a fresh region-specific menu. Stakes are high as teams must test their concept, market their brand, and run their outlet for a full day feeding hungry shoppers. The team whose restaurant makes the most profit wins their eatery space – a prize worth $100,000. Produced by Optomen for Food Network

Bubba’s Grills Gone Wild
Series Premiere: July 2013
Bubba’s Grills Gone Wild profiles the lives of Bubba, his family and his crew, the creators of the world’s most outrageous custom barbecue grills. From car engines to big rigs, Bubba and his team can turn just about anything into a grill. Follow the day-to-day fun and drama as they battle impossible deadlines, and each other, to push the envelope of grill design and fabrication. Produced by Nancy Glass Productions for Food Network

Chef Roulette
Series Premiere: August 2013
This cooking competition takes on a new spin, literally, when Chef Roulette brings four talented chefs together in a high stakes game of chance. Preparing a masterful meal, chefs must learn to expect the unexpected as their entire cooking station and dish may change hands as the wheel turns. The dish they started may not be the one they finish, as the wheel will decide which plate they are completing and ultimately being judged on. Produced by Jane Street for Food Network

The Shed (wt)
Series Premiere: August/September 2013
Follow the lives and exploits of the Orrisons – the (unofficial) First Family of Mississippi. Brad Orrison and his family have amassed a fortune through a chain of Barbecue restaurants ultimately becoming the premier team in nationwide barbecue competitions. The Orrisons are a family full of big characters, big toys, and big laughs, and each episode will chronicle a different component of the Orrison’s ever growing family and business empire in the great state of Mississippi. Nothing is too wild for Brad, his family or the “Shed Heads” to conquer…in or out of the Shed. Produced by Mandt Bros./Neil Mandt for Food Network

On the Rocks
Series Premiere: September 2013
After opening his own consulting business and overseeing bar and club openings in seven countries, it’s safe to say that John Green knows bars. But if John is coming to your bar it means you are On the Rocks. Luckily for struggling bar owners, it’s John to the rescue. In each episode, John travels to bars around the country to help them keep their doors open and get business back to normal. He assesses the bar’s problems, confronts the owner and lets them know what needs to be fixed, whether it’s newly trained staff or a whole new design, John’s got the answers for what ails the bar. Produced by Bodega Pictures for Food Network

Cutthroat Kitchen (working title)
Series Premiere: September 2013
Just how far is a chef willing to go to win a cooking competition? Cutthroat Kitchen hands four chefs $25,000 and the opportunity to spend that money on helping themselves or sabotaging their competitors. Ingredients will be thieved, utensils destroyed and valuable time on the clock lost when these chefs compete to cook delicious dishes while also having to out plot the competition. With Alton Brown as the devilish provocateur, nothing is out of bounds when money changes hands and we see just how far one chef will go to insure they have the winning dish. Produced by Embassy Row for Food Network

Grocery Games
Series Premiere: September/October 2013
Four talented chefs compete in supermarket-themed cooking challenges as they must navigate their way through the aisles, adhering to “real-world” challenges of shopping on a budget, substituting out-of-stock ingredients, and cooking (and checking out) with five items or less. In the end, the food does the talking, as one-by-one the losing chefs are “bagged,” and the last chef standing goes on the shopping spree of a lifetime to make big bucks.

Extreme Tupperware Ladies
Series Premiere: October 2013
Extreme Tupperware Ladies pulls the curtain back from one of America’s most iconic brands, giving viewers an insider’s glimpse of a vibrant, fun and completely unexpected culture where top saleswomen and men are making millions, and having a ball doing it. Produced by Collins Avenue for Food Network

Bossover (working title)
Series Premiere: October 2013
The restaurant business is a cutthroat pressure cooker where every moment counts and failure is always right around the corner. With success rates at less than 50%, there’s a wide range of reasons that can cause closures, but sometimes it’s not the food, it’s not the location, and it’s not the employees – sometimes it’s the boss. That’s where Joe Bastianich comes in. Restaurants nominate their terrible bosses for a makeover from Joe, and the owner will have to perform his employees’ jobs to realize that success must start at the top. Produced by Magilla for Food Network

Restaurant Divided
Series Premiere: October 2013
Restaurant Divided is a reality series that pits two warring factions in a failing, family-run restaurant – each with a different vision of how to save it – against each other to determine who has the best plan. After dividing the entire restaurant space in half, each group is given a limited time and budget to transform their space into their vision for a new restaurant. Then, the two restaurants open and compete, side-by-side, by serving real customers over a period of two nights. The concept that does best overall in customer reviews, critic reviews and profitability will be the one that unites the restaurant again. Produced by Leopard Films for Food Network

Restaurant Express
Series Premiere: November 2013
Robert Irvine has gathered eight aspiring restaurateurs for a bus road trip of a lifetime. Through a rigorous set of challenges, Robert will be looking at every aspect of their business acumen and testing all the skills needed to run their own restaurant. In the end, only one person will remain on the bus, ultimately dropped-off at their final stop: their very own restaurant. Produced by RelativityREAL for Food Network

Beat Bobby Flay
Series Premiere: TBD 2013
In order to beat Bobby Flay, you have to get to him first. This new series is the ultimate throwdown-showdown…. Three culinary masters, each with their own signature dish, a dish that they’d stake their reputations on, travel to New York for the chance to challenge Bobby Flay to a head-to-head cook-off of their specialty. But first, these contenders must battle it out to see who has the culinary prowess to ultimately go one-on-one against Bobby on his own turf. Produced by Rock Shrimp for Food Network

Chef Marks the Spot
Series Premiere: TBD 2013 Pilot Tonight
In this cutting edge, culinary competition, two blindfolded chefs are dropped into a real-world environment far from a standard kitchen and pantry – a carnival, dormitory, boardwalk, shopping mall, airplane, hospital, the Las Vegas Strip, Times Square, etc. After removing their blindfolds, the chefs only have a 50-foot radius to source their ingredients and prepare a masterful meal. Regulated by ankle monitors and armed with only a mobile cooking station, the chefs must use their resourcefulness, creativity, and culinary prowess to impress the palates of a group of judges. In the end, only one chef will be victorious in this one-of-a-kind challenge. Produced by Vidiots for Food Network

Amateur Chefs Competition Show / American Superstar Chef (working title)
Premiere: Q1 2014
The biggest home cook tournament spanning the entire country. Join eight celebrity chefs, each representing their own region of the country, as they pick one home cook to represent them and their region in the tournament of their lives. Through a series of head-to-head competitions coached by their celebrity chef, ultimately, one home cook will be crowned the American Superstar Chef.

Undercover Critics
Series Premiere: Q1 2014
Restaurant critics are armed with hidden cameras, looking to unveil the good, the bad and the ugly of established restaurants. Undercover Critics will give restaurant owners a second chance to improve on their faults and flaws, before any review is actually published. After visiting the restaurant, our Undercover Critics will reveal themselves, letting the owner know about the visit and handing over the ‘would-be/could-be’ negative review. With a laundry list of things to fix, we’ll see owners do whatever it takes to turn a bad review into a great one before it hits the press. Produced by RelativityREAL for Food Network

Food Network Star
Season Nine Premiere: June 2013
Long-running hit primetime series Food Network Star returns for season nine with twelve talented hopefuls competing for the ultimate prize: their own Food Network show. Culinary superstars Alton Brown, Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay are all back for the new season, this year in a hybrid mentor/judge role. An audience vote will again determine who possesses the personality and kitchen chops to be the next Food Network Star. Produced by Triage for Food Network

Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell
Season Three Premiere: August 2013
Superstar chef Anne Burrell hits the pavement to help prominent restaurants around the country find their most valuable employee – the Executive Chef. Chef Anne puts four top-level candidates through the ultimate job interview as she tests their culinary chops and business savvy in kitchen challenges that run the gamut. From testing their resourcefulness by creating a delicious dish using only four ingredients, to assessing their ability to pair their own dishes with a signature beer from the restaurant’s menu, these chefs are in for the challenge of their lives. For the final two chefs it all boils down to one night of service when they are handed the keys to the restaurant and, potentially, the job of their dreams. Produced by Smart Dog Films and Mannahatta Productions

The Great Food Truck Race
Season Four Premiere: August 2013
The Great Food Truck Race’s fourth outing will have more drama, more twists, more strategy, but most of all, more dreams. Hosted by Tyler Florence, this season’s not a competition between current food truck operators – it’s between people who desperately want to be. Eight teams of hopefuls will have their dream truck handed to them before they race from city to city trying to prove they have what it takes to own and operate a successful food truck, and the winning team will get to keep their truck and immediately launch their food empire. Produced by RelativityREAL for Food Network

Halloween Wars
Season Three Premiere: October 2013
Food Network puts viewers in the Halloween spirit serving up a deliciously scary series, Halloween Wars, for a third season. The four episode competition places five teams – comprised of cake decorators, candy makers and pumpkin carvers- working in unison to create the ultimate Halloween-themed display. One team is eliminated each week, with the winner taking home $50,000. Produced by SuperDelicious for Food Network

Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off
Season Three Premiere: January 2014
Food Network icon Rachael Ray and best-selling cookbook author and successful restaurateur Guy Fieri, return to coach and mentor new celebrity contestants for the third season of Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off. The celebrities are divided into Team Guy and Team Rachael, as they compete in intense weekly challenges that are sure to have them working, fighting and laughing along the way. The losing team must send its two bottom-rated contestants to face off against each other, with one member sent home each week in a blind tasting elimination challenge. The last celebrity standing will join the ranks of winners, Lou Diamond Phillips and Dean McDermott, and win $50,000 for the charity which they are playing for. Produced by Jane Street for Food Network

Worst Cooks in America
Season Five Premiere: TBD 2014
Worst Cooks in America, the primetime Food Network hit that turns kitchen zeroes into kitchen heroes returns for a fifth season. The cooking-challenged contestants are split into two teams for a grueling competition designed to turn them into competent cooks. A $25,000 grand prize will be awarded to the winning contestant who has achieved the most successful culinary transformation, along with a victory for their team leader. Produced by Optomen for Food Network

SPECIALS
Guy & Rachael’s Kids Cook-Off (working title)
Series Premiere: September 2013
Rachael Ray and Guy Fieri team up again, this time they are challenging the most impressive, determined and downright adorable contestants ever – kids! They’ll mentor and guide all along the way, as these young chefs prove to themselves and America that you don’t need a driver’s license to be an amazing cook. Produced by Jane Street for Food Network

Food Network’s 20th Birthday Special
Premiere: November 2013
Take a look back at the last 20 years as we revisit Food Network’s start and see just how far we’ve come. Hear from the beloved chefs and hosts who helped make Food Network what it is today. Food Network is celebrating our 20th birthday and audiences are invited to the party!

Thanksgiving Live!
Live Premiere: November 2013
The experts at Food Network come together to answer viewers toughest questions about holiday meal-making on Thanksgiving Live!, a two-hour, live-interactive show. They address the perennial holiday problems from dry turkey to lumpy gravy, as well as demonstrate helpful tips and delicious recipes.

Your Dish Is My Command
Premiere: December 2013
Join Rachael Ray as she fulfills the dream of some of her biggest fans by cooking with them.
Produced by Rachael Ray for Food Network

Also from an Adweek Page, a few other titles with no descriptions include American Champions,  The Joe B. Project, and Million Dollar Chef.  Your guess is as good as  mine to what these are.