ABC’s “ The Chew,” which celebrates its 500th show next Tuesday, Dec. 3, is on a ratings roll.
For the season, the hybrid daytime talk/food show (1 p.m./Ch. 7) is averaging a robust 2.7 million viewers — up 15 percent from this time last year — and is on target to have the best season in its three-year history with co-hosts Mario Batali, Daphne Oz, Clinton Kelly, Carla Hall and Michael Symon.
It’s also up double-digits in the women demos (18-34, 18-49 and 25-54) and, in fact, has registered the biggest increase in women viewers, versus last season, of any daytime show.
Its 500th show will feature memorable moments from the past three seasons.
Devil is in the details
Steve Hofstetter, who owns the Laughing Devil comedy club in Long Island City (Vernon Blvd.), is shooting his first standup comedy special.
The hour-long “Ginger Kid” will be taped at the historic Chinese Theater in LA, and Hofstetter will publicize the special by posting support videos from fellow comics including Caroline Rhea, Mark Valley, Fred Stoller, Ben Gleib, Jimmy Pardo and Rich Vos.
Hofstetter was close to selling the Laughing Devil — which he founded almost two years ago (Dec. 16) — until he decided to buy out some of the other investors and to keep the club up and running. In fact, the Laughing Devil is producing its first outside show at the Astoria Center for Israel, a Dec. 14 fundraiser that hopes to raise over $2,000 for the neighborhood synagogue. “We’re still here fighting, and proud that we can add another year behind us,” Hofstetter says.
Last, but not least…
Amy Brenneman will guest star on The CW’s “Reign” as the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots (Adelaide Kane) in an episode slated to air this spring . . . Rosanna Scotto and Andy Cohen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, among others, have donated exclusive appearances to support the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Its annual Ripple of Hope Holiday Auction runs through Dec. 17 (rfkauction.com) . . . The cube-shaped cell used on “The Blacklist” to interrogate “Red” (James Spader) is located in the old Pfizer Building in Brooklyn (Williamsburg) . . . “Doc Martin, Series 6” is out on DVD Dec. 10. Martin Clunes stars in the PBS series, which originates on ITV in the UK.