Television

Anthony Bourdain’s New Series, The Layover, Debuts

Anthony Bourdain in The Azores Celebrity chef and fermented-shark-eater Anthony Bourdain returns to the Travel Channel with a new TV series, “The Layover” Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. The 55-year-old once again tours the world in search of the perfect meal. In the first episode, he visits Singapore for 30 hours, devouring wonton noodles, Hainanese [...]

Pixar’s “Up” House Replica Draws Visitors to Utah

Up House © Cea. The city of Herriman, a suburban of Salt Lake City, has seen a surge in tourists since its replica of the house in the Pixar movie “Up” opened to the public. The multi-colored house is belongs to Beangerter Homes, and since it opened this summer, an estimated 27,000 visitors have come [...]

Smurfs Theme Park Is Coming to China

Smurf Cooking © Mark Samsom First, Chicago opens a “Back to the Future” coffeeshop. Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that, after a 20 year hiatus, the Smurfs are Smurfing their Smurftastic way into China: The beloved, animated blue creatures — famous for their white caps, cheery theme song, and proclivity for using the [...]

Augmented Reality Tool Transports EU Tourists Back in Time

© RHaworth The European Union just wrapped up a three year project codenamed iTACITUS – Intelligent Tourism and Cultural Information through Ubiquitous Services – that investigated ways of making the Continent more accessible to tourists. They produced a ton of stuff, including an itinerary planning tool that automatically integrated places of interest, transportation, and lodging, [...]

Venezuela TV Station Replaces ‘The Simpsons’ with ‘Baywatch’ for the Good of the Children

Homer Simpson has lost to Baywatch babes in the battle for the minds of Venezuela’s children. A TV station in the country has yanked The Simpsons off air, and replaced it with Baywatch. According to a spokesperson, the decision came after viewer complaints about the characters in the iconic Simpsons show, although neither the country’s [...]

Andrew Zimmern Sings Pepto Bismol’s Praises [Video]

I want to like Andrew Zimmern. I really do. I appreciate what he’s doing, but I can’t help but think that he’s all too closely riding Bourdain‘s coattails. Plus, he’s just not a very good television host. Note: my slurping rant. But this is just positively painful. Between his all-pink get-up and the atrocious attempt [...]

Then & Now: A Brief Video History of Awful Airline Ads

Looking back at air travel commercials over the past fifty years, there’s been quite a transformation in the imagery and sales pitches used by the airlines.

It’s Official: Carmen Sandiego Has Been Found

Carmen Sandiego – last seen here in a 1995 photo taken by a hidden surveillance camera: … went missing for nearly a decade. Kotaku reports that she’s just recently surfaced: She couldn’t stay hidden forever. Sooner or later she was going to get sloppy enough, or old enough, for someone to find her. Now somebody [...]

Confirmed: New Man Vs. Wild Episodes Coming In November

A quick note that Bear has confirmed the “re-launch” of Man Vs. Wild‘s new season in early November: We also filmed quite a bit of behind the scenes with the crew and safety team for Discovery Channel, to accompany the new Season that airs in early November. Sweet!

Can’t Miss: The Discovery Channel’s Blue Planet Series

© Discovery.com If you’re a diver or simply love all things aquatic, don’t miss The Discovery Channel’s Blue Planet TV series. I watched The Deep episode last night and sat for the first half-hour, mouth agape, staring in awe at some of the species the show’s crew found several miles below the ocean’s surface. At [...]

Man vs. Wild Relaunched/Revised: Longer, Better, Faster, Stronger

It appears, after a few months of Man vs. Wild fans and the press gnashing their collective teeth, that the show is set to return in a longer and more comprehensive format. Via Bear’s blog: The new shows will also now be two hours long, instead of one – partly because so many of the [...]

What No Reservations Can Teach Us About Life

From last night’s episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in Cleveland: When you’re dead, it robs life of many pleasures. Harvey Pekar Brilliant!

Dear Travel Channel: Please Replace Andrew Zimmern With … Anyone Else

I want to like The Travel Channel‘s Andrew Zimmern; I do. He has all the right avuncular qualities about him: he’s pudgy, he’s bald, he’s quirky. He’s got very pinchable cheeks. And he’s entertaining in a “Hey, look at my crazy uncle!” kind of way. Unfortunately that only takes one so far, especially in the [...]

Updated Update: Man vs. Wild Fraud/Scam

Okay I’m fairly certain this’ll be my last post on the Man vs. Wild fraud fiasco. Joe commented on my initial post and pointed us to this YouTube video: I don’t intend to stir the pot with this. I just found it interesting. I’m over it now. I’ve made my peace with it. Now if [...]

Interview with Anthony Bourdain

Gadling sat down for an interview with Anthony Bourdain last week. Check out the full text here.

Update: Man vs. Wild Fraud/Scam

I’m a bit loathe to call it “fraud” or “scam” because I don’t think that’s entirely accurate but that seems to be the accepted verbiage for this whole flap. And, frankly, that’s how people are searching for it, so … Bear Grylls updated his blog today with a somewhat vague response to the whole thing: [...]

Man vs. Wild’s Bear Grylls A Fraud?

This is disheartening to say the least. Jaunted points us to a NY Post article revealing that much of what’s seen on The Discovery Channel’s Man vs. Wild is staged: “Discovery Communications has learned that isolated elements of the ‘Man vs. Wild’ show in some episodes were not natural to the environment, and that for [...]

Free TV Online: Kill Your Cable Box Once and for All

Brooke from UsVersustheWorld.com brings us TV Links – a website packed with links to tons of free TV episodes online, like Law & Order, The A-Team, and even Man vs. Wild! I have no idea how or if this is legal, but it’s pretty damn cool! Yet another reason to scrap your $70+ monthly cable [...]

Things I’ll Miss When I’m Gone: The Big Glowing Box

“Hi, I’m Mike. And I’m a television addict.” “Hi, Mike!” I’ve cut back – honest – on how much of my time I feed into the big glowing box in the corner of my living room. But there are certain things I’ll miss while traveling – Law & Order, Family Guy, Law & Order: Criminal [...]

Why I Travel: Television Made Me Do It!

We provide a counterpoint to Scott McNeely’s ‘Why We Travel’ piece from the Viator.com blog.

Man Vs. Wild Premieres Tonight

I’ve apparently had my head in too many LP guidebooks lately, because TravelGearBlog.com is reporting that the new season of Man vs. Wild is premiering tonight! Where have I been? Even better: the episode is based in the Florida Everglades about two miles from where I grew up. Here’s the inside scoop on tonight’s episode: [...]

When Did America Become the World’s Most Wussified Nation?

This is the disclaimer that opens every segment of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, among other cable TV programs. I’m not sure to what content they’re referring. There’s no nudity. No violence. And every potentially FCC-defying naughty word is bleeped. Have we really become this politically correct? This wussified? Tuning in to Much Music – Canada’s [...]

Can Miss: 1000 Places to See Before You Die

Caution: Acerbic TV show review ahead. I had really high hopes for The Travel Channel‘s 1000 Places to See Before You Die. I’m not sure why. Before its debut, all I knew about it was the nifty commercials featuring a young guy or girl visiting one of the world’s most recognizable landmarks and pushing a [...]