In case you've missed it, Food Network's fact-paced cooking competition series 'Chopped' has been having the competition to end all competitions this month -- a battle of 16 previous winners.

In tonight's grand finale (Tues., Sept. 28, 10PM ET), we'll finally learn who's the winner of 'Chopped Champions' and the big $50,000 prize. And before you say anything about $50,000 not being that great of a prize, just think about it -- it's $50,000! Recession or not, that's a pretty paycheck for a few days of work.

I caught up with host Ted Allen to hear all about why he thinks the 'Champions' series has been so fun and to find out what other fun twists are coming next. 'Chopped: Celebrity Chef Edition' anyone? It may not be that far off ...

We're really down to the nitty-gritty on The Next Food Network Star. After tonight's elimination, we're down to four contestants, and just think: one of them is going to have their own show on Food Network.

None of these people strike me as having the presence of a Guy Fieri, but he was raw once too so maybe one of these people will really shine in the next few weeks and the coming months.

You can see Ted Allen every week on Food Network's 'Chopped' (Tuesdays at 10PM ET), but before he became host, he was a judge on 'Top Chef.' So what does the foodie think about the show's new love-him-or-hate him judge Toby Young?

"It's not helpful for someone to say that a dish looks like vomit. That's really kind of immature and sort of grabbing for a soundbite. Maybe it makes for a nice promo -- I'm sure television executives like it -- but it doesn't reveal that you have any knowledge about food. Of course I don't watch that show anymore, so I have no idea. [Laughs]"

-- Ted Allen, host of Food Network's 'Chopped,'
on 'Top Chef' judge Toby Young

Does Food Network think that we don't know that other networks do shows about food? The reason I'm asking the question is this: season four Top Chef finalist Richard Blais was a guest on Ted Allen's Food Detectives last week talking about how to freeze alcohol with liquid nitrogen to make really cool looking cocktails.

I recognized Richard right away, as did probably most other foodies who watched the show...but you'd never know about his Top Chef tenure if you listened to Ted's introduction. It was like the other show didn't exist.

So last night was the premiere of Chopped, The Food Network's latest entry in the cook-for-money food competition genre. Is it bad? No, but there's nothing special about it either (rather dull actually, and over-edited). You have your three judges, you have your host (Ted Allen), you have your contestants making meals quickly. It's a lot like Challenge meets Iron Chef America, only a player is eliminated after each round, with the winner winning $10,000 for making the best meals out of secret ingredients that are revealed. A lot of the ingredients are pretty basic, and it's fairly obvious what the contestants can make out of them. I'd like to see a show where the host unveils ingredients like smoked salmon, chocolate, 4 limes, and a tin box of Sucrets. There, make something out of that.

While watching the show I asked myself, what shows on the Food Network are my favorite food and cooking shows? And I decided: none of them, really. While I enjoy several shows on FN, my favorite cooking shows are on PBS.

So I woke up this morning and I thought to myself, "you know what we need more of on television? Food competition shows! 27 just isn't enough, we need a 28th."

Then I saw the preview for Food Network's new show Chopped, which debuts in January and will be hosted by Queer Eye For The Straight Guy star Ted Allen. Contestants on the show will have to make a three course meal out of a series of ingredients that the show gives him or her. The loser has the title of the show done to him and he is served the following week with a wine that Allen will choose (perhaps a 2001 Rodney Strong Cabernet Sauvignon?). The show will have a panel of judges, a money prize, yippity-bippity-do, etc.

Summer's here and that can mean only one thing -- food! Okay, maybe that's only what it means at the Food Network. The Food Network will kick off six new shows for the summer beginning right after the Fourth of July. Here's what's on tap:

• Grill It! with Bobby Flay - This is the latest from Iron Chef and master griller Bobby Flay. It's sort of a competition/fantasy show, but not a Throw Down (that's another show). Bobby will introduce 13 viewers who've sent in their videos showing their grilling expertise and why they should be on air to grill alongside BF. The show premieres on July 6 at 9 o'clock a.m. with a shrimp episode.

• How'd That Get On My Plate? - From the field to the plate, hostess Sunny Anderson -- who just started on FN in April with Cooking for Real -- shows how the things we eat make it to our tables. The first episode is July 6 at 11 p.m. The food in question will be strawberries.

It sounds like the Food Network has finally come up with a show that will compliment Alton Brown's Peabody-award winner Good Eats. The foodiest member of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Ted Allen, has signed to host Food Detectives, a new Food Network series. Starting Tuesday, July 29th at 9 o'clock ET, the half-hour show will begin illuminating the world about the stuff we eat. They will be "pulling back the curtain and revealing the answers to some of the most puzzling food mysteries."

Actually, the concept is kind of like a Mythbusters for food. Ted will host the show and folks from Popular Science Magazine will provide the expertise. For instance, does an apple a day keep the doctor away? What about baked beans, do they really give you gas? If not, what's Beano going to do with all those commercials and product?

I know, I know, you're thinking, "Whaaaaaa?"

Bravo's Queer Eye For The Straight Guy was cancelled a while ago, but there have been ten episodes of the show finished for quite some time now, and Whitney over at USA Today has found out that the last season of the show will start airing this fall.

Interesting how this show just completely fell off the radar, eh? People talk about this show the way they talk about "The Macarena." But it was a fun show there for a while. Oddly, the Bravo web site doesn't even have a page for it anymore, though they do have one for Queer Eye For The Straight Girl.

Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, the once hugely popular makeover show on Bravo, has been canceled by the network. The series will have one last season coming up (titled Queer Eye: The Final Season). Design guru Thom Felicia gets his own show on the Style Network later this year.

This isn't a big surprise. Not only had ratings been dropping the last couple of years but the "buzz" that this show once had vanished completely. Personally, I got sick of all the "theme" blocks of episodes they did, like when the went to other areas of the country or did weddings. Nothing bores me more than planning a wedding, which I'm sure will thrill my fiancee in the future.

Hey, don't yell at me, that line is from Anthony Bourdain!

It was said at the recent roast for chef and Food Network celeb Mario Batali. It was held at Capitale and served as a benefit for the Food Bank of New York.

Lots of fellow chefs and celebrities were at the event, including Queer Eye For The Straight Guy's Ted Allen ("Mario actually hasn't cooked since 1979 - unless you count freebasing"), comedian Artie Lange ("You look like Kiefer Sutherland after he was stung by bees"), and comedian Nick DiPaolo, who asked "What are you, trying to be the Chris Farley of the Food Network?" Yeah, that pic that accompanies the New York mag piece really is kinda disturbing.

As New York reports, even though Rocco DiSpirito and fellow Food Network star Rachael Ray were not at the roast, a lot of the comics dumped on them too. (As Julia told you earlier, Batali will team up with Ray on Iron Chef America this Sunday as they go up against the team of Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis.)