What has happened to the Travel Channel?

[kbelle8995]

Samantha Come back. Samantha!

I miss her. Great Hotels was fabulous. The only show I enjoy anymore on the travel Channel is Bert the Conqueror. At least he spends time in amusement parks.

 

[hookedonears]

Lining up with DisneyDoc5.

Dont like him....and I dont want to camp with Bedouins.

We use to like him, but have to admit that he's not nearly as interesting as he use to be. His show however, is one of the few on that channel that has anything to do with travel and other cultures. It's amazing, we say it just about every night, we have 100 channels, but nothing is on TV.

 

[kylmac]

That is too funny-I was just thinking that where in the world are all the travel shows on the travel channel as I was trying to find an old Disney segment for my son to watch to get us ready for DLP this weekend. I was surfing throughout the days programs and saw "$40 a day", "Man vs. Food", etc. not travel related shows per say. I was thinking how fun to have updated Disney travel related shows and heck I'd even enjoy seeing other theme parks included as well. The way they cover Disney-look at the rides, hotels, food, grounds. I would love to see a show that covered Busch Gardens (Tampa and Williamsburg), all Six Flags, etc. They could do 30 minute segments or 1 hour depending on the theme park.. They could easily do an hour show on Universal Orlando and Hollywood. I wish I knew Samantha Brown-I miss her! I saw her do a podcast for DVC members (back in July) and she looked great! Great thread but now I want to write someone at the Travel Channel to express my views only to be told there is no new programming right now (summer time). I would assume that Fall will bring in some new programs (fingers crossed).
Rant over!
Elizabeth

 

[Golf4food]

I can't stand Anthony Bourdain - glad I'm not the only one feeling this way!

I have never seen anything from Bourdain that makes me think he is anything other than a pretentious, self-absorbed @$$ - to put it nicely.

 

[TigerTown]

... Unfortunately our oldest went through a phrase of watching Full House over and over and over...

That was our middle child. That kid has seen every episode of Full House at least twenty times.

 

[dmccarty]

Lining up with DisneyDoc5.

Dont like him....and I dont want to camp with Bedouins.

Bourdain generally turns me off with his know it all attitude. The recent shows I have seen he has tuned the attitude down or they are doing a better job of editing. Bizarre Foods is much better. Well, better if you like watching the host eat bugs and worse.

I did eat a lunch once that did use grasshoppers and ants as part of the meal. Not bad at all. Funny thing was the kids and DW wanted no part of the meal. BUT, there were cookies. Good, chocolate chip cookies. The cookies had ants sprinkled on top. They were crunchy and good. The kids wanted the cookies but they did not want ants. They did not believe me that the black specs where ants. They thought I was just saying the specs were ants so I would eat all of the cookies and they would get none....

I warned them....

The convinced themselves that I was lying and they ate the cookies and ants. They loved the cookies.

Oh, yeah, the History channel last night had on some history or at least science.

Later,
Dan

 

[sayhello]

I miss Samantha, I miss the Travel Channel, I can't stand Anthony Bourdain - glad I'm not the only one feeling this way!

Actually, I enjoy Anthony Bourdain quite a bit. He's adventurous, willing to make a fool of himself on screen, is willing to learn a great deal about the people and the places he's traveling to. I always learn a tremendous amount from his shows.

Yes, his language takes some getting used to, but I find his shows to be wonderful.

Sayhello

 

[BriarRosie]

Actually, I enjoy Anthony Bourdain quite a bit. He's adventurous, willing to make a fool of himself on screen, is willing to learn a great deal about the people and the places he's traveling to. I always learn a tremendous amount from his shows.

Yes, his language takes some getting used to, but I find his shows to be wonderful.

Sayhello

I'm a fan of Bourdain, too. I actually like that he's got a snarky attitude, but he always seems very respectful of the cultures he's visiting. Some of the comments he makes just crack me up.

 

[sayhello]

I'm a fan of Bourdain, too. I actually like that he's got a snarky attitude, but he always seems very respectful of the cultures he's visiting. Some of the comments he makes just crack me up.

Exactly! I totally agree.

Sayhello

 

[kylmac]

If I recall (my 12 ds watched alot of "Full House") there was an episode that went to WDW. I think the boy that dated one of the girls was the voice of Aladin. So it is kind of travel related! I just watched "Cake Boss" where Buddy was down at Epcot for the Food and Wine Celebration plus it was his daughters birthday as well. That man can make a serious cake! So that was kind of travel related.
Elizabeth

 

[ChrisFL]

I think identification of shows based on the name of the channel has gone the way of the do-do bird.

I don't know if this is an intentional attempt to make all cable channels less individual, so we can all start just going "on-demand" instead........I mean, would that really be any worse than where the channels are now?

Some channels also changed their names, just to be less confined to one subject, like I don't think A&E goes by "Arts and Entertainment" anymore....heh, reminds me of EPCOT vs. Epcot. They water-down the subject matter and change the name so its somehow justified

BTW, I do like watching Anthony Bourdain, but definitely his shows aren't for everyone

 

[gr8leg8]

Burt Wolf is one of my favorites!

He did a series called Travels & Traditions,
not sure if he has anything current.

 

[MODisFan]

I really enjoy Sand Master's on the Travel Channel. They travel the globe buiding awesome art out sand. While it's only a 30 minute show, there is usually 5 minutes or so about the location and some great scenery. I too miss the traditional travels show. In general, I am ready for the realty-tv era to be done!...thanks a lot Real World

 

[corgi_monster]

Too many of the shows have become food-centric. If I wanna watch a tv show about food, I'll watch food network!

 

[Golf4food]

I really enjoy Sand Master's on the Travel Channel. They travel the globe buiding awesome art out sand. While it's only a 30 minute show, there is usually 5 minutes or so about the location and some great scenery. I too miss the traditional travels show. In general, I am ready for the realty-tv era to be done!...thanks a lot Real World

Sand Masters is a cool show. We like it a lot. The things they do with sand are unbelievable.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

It is not just the Travel Channel.

There is a pattern on the channels that I have noticed over the years. A channel starts off with a certain subject, like travel, cooking, history, science. The next thing you know, the channel has switched to reality shows that MIGHT have something to do with the channel.

This has happened with the Food, History, Discovery, A&E, Travel and various home improvement channels. The channels go from showing programs that are interesting and usually informative to something else.

I watch less and less TV every year since there is just nothing worth watching. We have not watched the old networks in almost a decade. Seriously, we watch more Disney channels now because it is the better than what is on the other channels. Which is not really good because Disney has some BAD TV shows. The kids like them those shows though.

Course Disney does have Phineas and Ferb!

Later,
Dan

You pegged it right there this is what I have been thinking reading this thread. I am not a reality show person, never watched Survivor, Big Brother etc, those shows started the reality craze and now it is just way, way over done. I too loved Travel Channel and had been noticing the decline in quality programming along with Discovery. As to the Disney channel seen a huge decline there as well all we watch on it is P & F. I have been seriously thinking of dropping our satellitte and looking into a Roku or something on that line so I just get what I really wasnt to invest my time into watching.

 

[MainStreetFireman]

There are two issues at play here.

The first is that, as "broadcast media" can now include viral videos, and adding the advent of lightning-quick Internet speeds and on-demand programming, a steadily decreasing number of viewers sit home to catch a specific show at a specific time.

Additionally, reality TV is like crack to both airers and viewers. On the production-side, they don't have to negotiate lucrative financial deals for any of the performers until a successful 2nd or 3rd "season" (whatever that means anymore) forces them to share profits. By that time, production has made a ton. And if it doesn't fly, there is not much invested or risked. On the viewer-side, it panders to the absolute basest and most prurient level of voyerism. It's like Twinkees. We know they're not the best choice for food, but we consume them enough for them to be a major snack food.

As it always is, it's about the money. And there is just too much of it to be made in the current paradigm.

 

[SoScary'09]

Aw I kind of like the travel channel still. Although yeah, I do miss Samantha Brown. Whatever happened to Rick Steve??? Or is that PBS? lol

 

[BriarRosie]

Aw I kind of like the travel channel still. Although yeah, I do miss Samantha Brown. Whatever happened to Rick Steve??? Or is that PBS? lol

Rick Steves is on PBS, correct. I like watching him, too. He's got that relaxing "Mr. Rogers" thing going on. Some people might find him boring, but I like him!

 

[ChrisFL]

There are two issues at play here.

The first is that, as "broadcast media" can now include viral videos, and adding the advent of lightning-quick Internet speeds and on-demand programming, a steadily decreasing number of viewers sit home to catch a specific show at a specific time.

Additionally, reality TV is like crack to both airers and viewers. On the production-side, they don't have to negotiate lucrative financial deals for any of the performers until a successful 2nd or 3rd "season" (whatever that means anymore) forces them to share profits. By that time, production has made a ton. And if it doesn't fly, there is not much invested or risked. On the viewer-side, it panders to the absolute basest and most prurient level of voyerism. It's like Twinkees. We know they're not the best choice for food, but we consume them enough for them to be a major snack food.

As it always is, it's about the money. And there is just too much of it to be made in the current paradigm.

The thing is, they can make "reality" shows that are still relevant to the subject matter of the channel.

For example, there was a show a year or so ago...a team of people were trying to make Leonardo DaVinci's inventions, from drawings, etc and build them to see if/how they work. I don't recall the name of the show, but while the concept was great, 75% of the show was the characters arguing with each other and breaking/fixing stuff during the build. It became almost unwatchable.

Why not just show the actual build and more historical information? All of these "reality" shows start to look the same.