Barbecuing your way to a TV show

If you can't beat them, barbecue them.

That's the attitude of John Markus. The Emmy-winning sitcom writer,  whose credits include "Taxi," "The Cosby Show" and HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show," has gone reality with "BBQ Pitmasters," which looks at the world of competitive barbecuing. It premieres Thursday on TLC at 10 p.m.

Markus became obsessed with barbecue after a cooking mishap with Al Franken, of all people. The two, who worked together on the short-lived sitcom "LateLine" (Markus jokes that it was "the only show canceled by NBC three times"), were cooking ribs from a recipe that Franken had, and let's just say they didn't come out so good. Read more here.

Photo: "BBQ Pitmasters" participant Paul Peterson at the Diamond State BBQ Championship in Dover, Del. Credit: Chris Ramirez / TLC