Last summer, Mark Burnett’s reality series “The Restaurant” served up piping hot ratings for NBC. This spring, the network is looking for more success from Rocco DiSpirito’s restaurant.
The second season of “The Restaurant” will premiere at 9 p.m. April 19, when the limited run of “Average Joe: Adam Returns” ends.
In the first season, viewers watched celebrity chef DiSpirito start a new restaurant from scratch. There were problems with the setting, the staff and the food, but viewers seemed to enjoy the chaos. “The Restaurant” drew 7.8 million viewers per episode, solid numbers for the summer months.
This time, much of the drama will come from the conflict between DiSpirito and his financier, Geoffrey Chodorow, over the operation of Rocco’s on 22nd. The New York papers were full of scandalous descriptions of Chodorow taking over the restaurant and charging Rocco with mismanagement. That will play out over the course of the six episodes.
Returning players on “The Restaurant” will include Mama DiSpirito, general manager Laurent, captains Uzay and Emily, waiters Carrie and Al and chef Tony.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
