When it comes to TV, Donnie Wahlberg is double-dipping. Mark Wahlberg, too. The siblings — one a star of Blue Bloods, the other an executive producer of Boardwalk Empire — are lending their star power to the new A&E reality show Wahlburgers.
More than a chance to make puns with buns, Wahlburgers is centred on their brother Paul, a chef who, with his brothers, runs the Boston burger joint of the same name. (A second Wahlburgers restaurant is pegged to open soon in Toronto.)
“I’m not a good cook. I can cook a bowl of cereal, but my brother Paul and the rest of my brothers are really talented,” Donnie, a New Kids on the Block singer and part-time abs-flasher, told online outlet Metro.
“Paul has a hugely successful restaurant in Massachusetts, and he came to Mark and me with the idea of opening a burger place. He lives in a town where there is no burger joint, only a McDonald’s. And he wanted to open one to serve that town and to make a quality product.”
Mark, the artist formerly known as Marky Mark, is equally enthusiastic about his lesser-known sibling.
“Paul is the star. He’s the chef. He’s the most talented in the family,” the former Calvin Klein model says in a promo for the show.
Episodes peel back the curtain on the Wahlberg clan, their matriarch Alma, and old neighbourhood pals Henry (Nacho) Laun, Billy Leonard and Johnny Alves, the man who inspired the Johnny (Drama) Chase character in Mark’s HBO series Entourage.
Donnie’s girlfriend, former Playmate of the Month Jenny McCarthy, appears in the première episode. Plus, the brothers discuss expansion plans for their restaurant, and Alma tries to convince overworked Paul to hire an assistant.
“Being in business with my brothers was never the plan,” Paul says in the promo.
Maybe so, but when it comes to a show about burgers and brothers, a couple of beefcakes can’t hurt. 7:30 p.m., A&E
Three to see
• The filmed-in-Newfoundland series Republic of Doyle offers the episode Welcome Back Crocker, in which Kevin Crocker joins forces with Jake in order to clear his name. 9 p.m., CBC
• Mitch and Cam go on a romantic date in the Modern Family episode Three Dinners. Plus, Haley once again dodges questions about her future. 9 p.m., City, ABC
• Dark and satirical medical comedy Children’s Hospital launches its fifth season on Much. Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Agee and Jon Hamm guest-star while Blake (Rob Corddry) comes back from the dead — again and again. 8:30 p.m., Much
