Mark and Donnie Wahlberg to Serve Up ‘Wahlburgers’ on TV
The Brothers Wahlberg will be serving up hamburgers in a new unscripted show on A&E named after Wahlburgers, the Boston-area burger joint they co-own. The show is set to premiere on January 22nd at 10:30 p.m., according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Walburgers and Other Restaurants Run by Rock Stars
Mark, Donnie and their brother Paul cofounded Wahlbergers in 2011, when they opened the restaurant’s first location in Hingham, Massachusetts. It was the brothers’ second venture into eateries, following Alma Nove, an Italian restaurant. Paul serves as the chef at both restaurants. THR also reports that the brothers plan on opening a new location of Wahlburgers in Toronto next year.
Wahlburgers, the show, will focus on the family as much as the restaurant. The series is going to follow Mark and Donnie home to Boston to meet up with Paul, their “most talented sibling.” The restaurant will serve as a hub for the brothers to interact with one another, as well as with people from their inner circle, like Johnny “Drama” Alves – who served as the basis for the character Johnny “Drama” Chase on the Mark Wahlberg–produced series Entourage – and their mother, Alma.
“It’ll be called Wahlburgers, just like the burgers,” Donnie said when he announced the show on Arsenio. “[People] called us that as kids, they’d tease me, they’d say ‘Wahlburger,’ if they weren’t calling me ‘Junior Jailbird,’ ’cause of my older brothers being inmates all the time. They’d say, ‘Hey, Ronald Wahlburger,’ so we got the last laugh and opened a burger joint with the name.”
In addition to Wahlburgers, Donnie has also worked out a development deal with the TV Guide Network for a show that has ties to his musical roots, Rock the Boat: New Kids on the Block. The unscripted show will follow fans around a week-long New Kids on the Block cruise, according to Broadway World, as they obsess over Donnie, Danny, Jordan, Jonathan and Joey. Although Donnie is executive producing this season, it’s unclear what his involvement will be in the future since the show is designed as a franchise that will likely also feature other musicians’ cruises.