Monday July 1, 10:53 am Eastern Time

IFC Orders Second Course of "Dinner for Five" Original Series Hosted by Jon Favreau

Guest List Features Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell and Kevin Smith, Among Others

New Season Begins First Quarter 2003

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--July 1, 2002-- The Independent Film Channel (IFC) announces today that the network has picked up its critically acclaimed original series DINNER FOR FIVE for a second season. The series created and hosted by Jon Favreau (Swingers and Made) will begin production this summer on 13 episodes to kick off first quarter 2003.

Each episode features Favreau and four guests sharing an evening of food and banter. Continuing the standard set in the first season, the program seats screen legends next to a variety of personalities from film, television, music and comedy, resulting in an unpredictable free-for-all. The season opener will feature Favreau's Daredevil co-stars Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears), Jennifer Garner (ABC's Alias), Colin Farrell (Minority Report) and director Kevin Smith (Clerks).

The show format is a spontaneous, open forum for people in the entertainment community to let their hair down, chat about life on and off the set and swap stories about projects past and present. The idea, originally conceived by Favreau, was loosely based on the famed Algonquin Roundtable and intended to create a new kind of talk show.

"DINNER FOR FIVE's refreshing, no holds barred format has resonated with IFC's viewers," says Frances Berwick, Senior Vice President Programming, IFC and Bravo. "We're thrilled to be continuing our relationship with Jon Favreau."

"DINNER FOR FIVE is a great model for IFC's mission to create bold, innovative original programming and an impetus for the development of new projects," adds Alison Palmer Bourke, Executive Producer for IFC Originals.

For viewers craving new material between seasons, IFC will premiere two special episodes of DINNER FOR FIVE, shot in downtown New York City. Favreau brings the show from its Los Angeles home base to the east coast for two extended 45-minute installments airing back-to-back on Monday, September 30 at 8:00PM ET/PT and 8:45PM ET/PT. Sitting at the dinner table are America's favorite wisecracking nicotine addict Denis Leary (The Ref), Martha Plimpton (Beautiful Girls), Bond Girl Famke Janssen (X-Men), comedian David Cross (HBO's Mr. Show) as well as Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear), John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge!) and Jon's Made co-stars Sean Combs (Monster's Ball) and Vincent Pastore (HBO's The Sopranos).

Previous episodes have included Peter Falk (Columbo), Gary Shandling (The Larry Sanders Show), Vince Vaughn (Swingers), Cheri Oteri (Saturday Night Live), Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park), Illeana Douglas (Ghost World), Christian Slater (Very Bad Things), Fred Willard (Best In Show), Rod Steiger (Academy Award-winner for In the Heat of the Night), Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects), Sarah Silverman (Fox's Greg The Bunny), Ron Livingston (HBO's Band of Brothers), Daryl Hannah (Dancing at the Blue Iguana), Andy Dick (Zoolander), rocker Marilyn Manson, Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings), Bonnie Hunt (Jerry Maguire), Ray Romano (CBS' Everybody Loves Raymond), Kevin James (CBS' King of Queens), Michael Rapaport (Bamboozled), Saffron Burrows (Timecode), Faizon Love (Friday), musician Dwight Yoakam (Panic Room), Adam Goldberg (A Beautiful Mind), Seth Green (Austin Powers) and Jennifer Beals (The Anniversary Party).

The Independent Film Channel (IFC), managed and operated by Bravo Networks, is the first and most widely distributed channel dedicated to independent film presented 24 hours a day, uncut and commercial-free. IFC Originals produces cutting-edge original programming to air exclusively on IFC. IFC continues to expand its programming lineup with original series and independent genre-focused specials. The network's recent, critically acclaimed series and specials include Dinner For Five, With the Filmmaker: Portraits by Albert Maysles, Errol Morris' First Person, The American Nightmare, Crossover, and Indie Sex: Taboos.

Bravo Networks is a division of Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of news, sports and entertainment programming.

Contact:
The Independent Film Channel
Elektra Gray, 516/803-4542
Ellen Paz, 516/803-4619

© The Independent Film Channel 2002

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