BARBECUE UNIVERSITY WITH STEVEN RAICHLEN offers a complete crash course on barbecuing and grilling to help viewers become grill-meisters in their own backyards. The series, taped outdoors before a live audience, is shot with five cameras, including the Grill-Cam — a microcamera encased in Pyrex to provide a shot from right inside the grill. This season, the "gladiator of grilling," takes a region-by-region look at barbecue favorites with a distinct Americana flavor. Based on his best-selling cookbook, BBQ USA, Raichlen brings the regional recipes he has tasted and tested on his national trek along America's barbecue trail in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the South, the Midwest, the Southwest, California, Hawaii and the Pacific Rim. In each episode, Raichlen also answers viewer mail about choosing a grill, gas versus charcoal, and the latest barbecue and grilling equipment.