Variety broke the news yesterday that Padma Lakshmi, model and host of the cooking reality show Top Chef, is on the way to starring in her own sitcom.
She apparently has signed a development deal with NBC for a half-hour show, in which she stars as "a woman working in the culinary world." The working title is thought to be Single Serving (According to Padma is rumored to be a close second option).
You know the name Padma Lakshmi for one of three reasons. You're a rabid fan of Top Chef,
which earned her an Emmy nomination for best reality television show
host this year (these Emmy statues are usually gold foil-wrapped
chocolate).
Or you cited her as an example of the Paulina Porizkova-Ric Ocasek
corollary for unlikely marriages, prior to her 2007 divorce from author
Salman Rushdie. If you happen to be a male, then you simply know her for
making love to a Hardee's burger on the steps of a brownstone in an ad that made waves back in March.
If
this formula looks familiar, it should. Lakshmi follows in the
footsteps of a rival burger pitchwoman, Paris Hilton, who used her turn
as a Carl's Jr. burger-muncher as a springboard to her television and movie career. NBC is no stranger to attempting to parlay culinary success into comedy gold. Emeril, the 2001 sitcom set behind the scenes in a cooking show, was cut short after 11 episodes.
Before Lakshmi's show even exists, critics have come out to pan the concept. The Onion's A.V. Club doesn't have high expectations, based on Lakshmi's Top Chef moments and a role in Glitter.
[Image via Flickr: Angela n.]
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The transition from actor to reality host does seem to be a much easier transition, rather than the reverse scenario. Bob Saget can host a game show, but I don't think that Jeff Probst could pull off a procedural crime drama.
Padma is fine as a host, but she doesn't seem very likable in the way that actors need to be. And she certainly doesn't come across as a "real person."
Hey, Paris Hilton deserves every bit of her fame. She had to eat - or pretend to eat - and enjoy - or pretend to enjoy - one of those crummy Hardee's burgers to get it. That makes her a pretty damn good actress in my book. Hardee's burgers are foul.
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