In 2003 NBC debuted a unique reality show called The Restaurant. While it didn't have contestants or challenges or a money prize. The Restaurant centered on Rocco DiSpirito who was a huge star chef in New York who was opening his own restaurant named Rocco's and was trying to interview strangers to work as waiters waitresses cooks and busboys to be selected to be hired to work with Rocco. Despite a surprise hit The Restaurant ran for two seasons and featured celebrity guests ranging from Regis Philbin to Jay Leno and other celebrities in some episodes. In 2004 NBC cancelled The Restaurant most likely because Rocco DiSpirito's Rocco's restaurant closed. I liked this show because I thought Rocco DiSpirito was such a cutie and this show was a unique concept for a reality show. As for what Rocco DiSpirito is doing now he has been writing cookbooks and has done other shows too

I think NBC was taking a big risk with The Restaurant because as it was a Mark Burnett created show they hoped it would make Rocco DiSpirito a big household name and make him a huge celebrity. But I think the problem with The Restaurant was because they tried to make a lot of episodes go behind the scenes and by the second season of The Restaurant it put Rocco DiSpirito under a lot of stress because he was trying to manage his restaurant and deal with the filming crew each time a new episode was gonna be filmed and I think secretly Rocco wanted his mother to have a big role in The Restaurant. But you can see why NBC cancelled The Restaurant because after it ended you never heard anything about Rocco DiSpirito except debuting his cookbook Flavor and he became a one-hit wonder now