Vivian Howard holds up a bitter melon at an Indian grocery store.
Josh Woll
The six-part series, slated for the Winter/Spring 2020 season, delves into the people and dishes defining the New American South
ARLINGTON, VA and DURHAM, NC; JULY 12, 2019 -- Celebrity chef, author and restaurateur Vivian Howard, who previously hosted the award-winning series A CHEF'S LIFE, returns to PBS in SOMEWHERE SOUTH. The new six-part series is a culinary tour, exploring dishes that are uniting cultures and creating new traditions across the American South.
In SOMEWHERE SOUTH, premiering on PBS in Winter/Spring 2020, Vivian travels the changing South in search of the dishes that connect us all - dumplings, hand pies, porridge and more - but which are expressed in delightfully different ways across cultures. Along the way, she meets new friends and teachers, and as she says, discovers how breaking bread and sharing a meal can create a comfortable place to have meaningful, memorable conversations.
Shooting SOMEWHERE SOUTH has made me look at what we call Southern food with a new set of spectacles. The home kitchens I learn in, the stories I hear people share, the food I watch them make - it has lit a fresh fire under me, Vivian says. I'm excited that, as Southerners, we can tell these complex stories through food and culture, and not shy away from our past or present.
With each episode, Vivian finds that although we're different, our appetites are very much the same. For example, in North Carolina, Vivian samples the collard sandwich, a staple of Lumbee Indian cuisine, with native Lumbee home cooks for whom Southern hospitality is a fundamental way of life. She also travels to West Virginia to sample the pepperoni roll, a regional convenience food made popular by coal miners. In Charleston, S.C., where rice is king, Vivian enjoys grits and rice middlins with respected Gullah chefs whose cuisine is the backbone of the city's bustling food scene.
We are thrilled to have Vivian Howard back on PBS, in her signature fashion, meeting chefs, farmers and friends along her journey to rediscover the American South, Pamela A. Aguilar, Senior Director, Programming and Development at PBS says. SOMEWHERE SOUTH is an exciting addition to our slate of programming that will explore rich food traditions and diverse cultures across America.
SOMEWHERE SOUTH is produced for PBS by Markay Media, a Durham, N.C.-based television and documentary film company owned by award-winning filmmaker Cynthia Hill.
Vivian and I grew up in this very rural, very small, very particular place in the South, says Hill. In SOMEWHERE SOUTH, we want to challenge oversimplified concepts about the South, but also push ourselves to tell the story about our region's history and present with a loving yet critical eye - through food, always through food. And as someone who grew up here, I can learn something, too.
Vivian Howard and Cynthia Hill have a track record for producing award-winning television. They received a coveted Peabody Award as co-creators of A CHEF'S LIFE in 2013, after the show's first season. The accolades continued: in 2015, Hill took home an Emmy for Best Directing in a Lifestyle/Travel/Culinary Program; in 2016, Howard was awarded a James Beard Broadcast Media Award for Outstanding Personality/Host; and in 2018, the show received a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Culinary Program. A CHEF'S LIFE had an average audience of four million viewers per episode.
Beyond her flagship restaurant, Chef & the Farmer, Howard owns the Boiler Room Oyster Bar in Kinston, N.C.; Benny's Big Time pizzeria in Wilmington, N.C.; and a mail-order bakery business called Handy & Hot. She was recently named The South's Best Chef by Southern Living magazine and has been a semifinalist six times for the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef Southeast Award.
SOMEWHERE SOUTH is produced for PBS by Markay Media in association with member stations South Carolina ETV and UNC-TV, with support from the ETV Endowment of South Carolina. The series is created by Vivian Howard and Cynthia Hill with Howard also serving as a producer and Hill as the series director. Pamela A. Aguilar serves as the Executive in Charge for PBS.
About PBS
PBS, with more than 330 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and digital content. Each month, PBS reaches over 120 million people through television and 26 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS' broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry's most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. Decades of research confirms that PBS' premier children's media service, PBS KIDS, helps children build critical literacy, math and social-emotional skills, enabling them to find success in school and life. Delivered through member stations, PBS KIDS offers high-quality educational content on TV - including a 24/7 channel, online at pbskids.org, via an array of mobile apps and in communities across America. More information about PBS is available at www.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile and connected devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by following PBS Pressroom on Twitter.
About Markay MEDIA
Markay Media is a Durham, N.C.-based television and documentary film production company. Founder and Emmy award-winning director Cynthia Hill is a
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
Vivian Howard holds up a bitter melon at an Indian grocery store.
