Today's Entertainment

Cooking Channel chef G. Garvin travels to barbecue hot spots across America to find which team in each location is most creative and best represents the local 'cue scene in "Underground BBQ Challenge," a new eight-week series premiering Tuesday, July 15, on Travel Channel. Each one-hour episode finds Garvin and two guest judges from that city's food scene evaluating the efforts of two local teams competing to win a $10,000 cash prize and, of course, bragging rights. Each team's meal is evaluated on four counts: the taste (aka "meat cred"), the plate presentation, how well the menu represents the team's neighborhood and the success at incorporating a "wild card" ingredient Garvin hands the teams near the end of the cooking process. First up: a prime-rib face-off in Brooklyn, N.Y., where the Williamsburg Hipsters led by Becky Clark dish out Korean 'cue in a bid to beat the Latin-inflected barbecue prepared by Daniel Ades and his Gowanus Public Defenders. "There was some logic that went into what meat we gave them," Garvin says. "If we were in a region where alligator was popular, that's what we would use. There definitely was a relationship between where we were and the meat we used. At the same time, if we had been in Atlanta, say, we wouldn't have used chicken. We wanted it to be something that would challenge them to be creative." The cooks themselves are what make this barbecue "underground," he explains. "It's not a chef doing it with a $10,000 smoker, someone who has acquired 17 trophies," Garvin says. "These are people who are doing their thing on a Green Egg, maybe, creating really great flavors and having really great parties. They're making beer-can chicken or quail and everything in between." Future episodes will travel to New Orleans, Miami and Austin, Texas, among other cities. Do you have a personal favorite in terms of what meat you barbecue? "Barbecue for me is not just about the meat. It's about the charcoal, the wood, the rub, everything. I've done chicken, quail, and I dearly love a good brisket. Spare ribs I also love, but for me, it's about the process, not just the meat." BY JOHN CROOK G. Garvin 'Underground BBQ Challenge' tests teams' creativity BEST '24' VILLAINS Victor Drazen (Dennis Hopper) Myers did the bidding of this supposedly deceased mercenary ... who ended up quite deceased indeed thanks to Jack, a target of Drazen's vengeance. Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) Initially one of Jack's most trusted comrades, this former CTU operative later aligned himself with a terrorist group. Sherry Palmer (Penny Johnson Jerald) Even America's first lady wasn't above larceny on the series, as proven by her manipulation of her husband (Dennis Haysbert) while he held office. Marie Warner (Laura Harris) All-American as she seemed, this woman was in a league with foreign terrorists in planning to detonate a nuclear device. Stephen Saunders (Paul Blackthorne) The cool, British ex-agent who threatened to release a lethal virus forced Jack to kill a CTU colleague. Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) The weak will of this political insider, even when he held the presidency, meant trouble for Jack any time he showed up. Christopher Henderson (Peter Weller) Disappointing as it was for Jack, it wasn't all that surprising when someone significant in his life betrayed him ... and so it was with this former CTU chief who had mentored him. Graem Bauer (Paul McCrane) Justice wasn't all in the family, since Jack's brother conspired against him. Samir Mehran (Mido Hamada) Many terrorist activities found their convergence point in this expert at building dirty bombs. Dana Walsh (Katee Sackhoff) This CTU analyst actually was an undercover Russian agent. Margot Al-Harazi (Michelle Fairley) A terrorist's widow pivotal to the miniseries sequel "24: Live Another Day" – which concludes this week on Fox – this cunning enemy had some great exchanges with President James Heller (William Devane), who absolutely has given as good as he's gotten. BY JAY BOBBIN Gregory Itzin Michelle Fairley Dennis Hopper 8 The Goshen News • TV Spotlight • July 14 - 20, 2014

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