President Not Amused.
Despite a shaky start, Stephen Colbert’s spin-off late night Comedy Central TV show is now more essential viewing than The Daily Show with John Stewart.
Colbert pretends to be a rabid right wing pro-Bush TV talk show host. And he is hilarious.
George Bush has probably never seen Colbert’s show. But he knows the routine now after being nuked by Colbert at the annual dinner for political correspondents dinner.
Globe Trekker (also called Pilot Guides outside the United States and originally broadcast as Lonely Planet) is adventure tourism TV. This British series was inspired by Australian Lonely Planet travelbooks and has been in production for over 10-years. It is broadcast in over 40 countries across 6 continents.
Commercial TV generally depresses me. If I had a gun I’d shoot the TV, or myself.
A great exception to the rule is this program which I love. A huge success, it is phenomenally accurate at showing what it is like to travel the backpacker circuit. No need to go yourself, actually.
Now when will we have decent hiking and gymnastics television?
Ian Wright is the face of backpacker travel. As the first and best of the Globe Trekker (also called Pilot Guides) travellers, he has already won three U.S. TV Cable Ace Awards.
None of the other travel hosts come close. Ian is the best.
I hope he stays on for a second decade with the show and visits another 50 countries.
And I forgive him that dreadful spin-off project, Ian Wright Live.
I was never a particular fan of Ewan McGregor, but he seems to be an interesting guy.
I like his 2004 reality TV show, The Long Way Round, a motorcycle road trip 18,887 miles (30,395 km), 3 months, around the world.
He even got rear-ended by a driver just outside Calgary.
A theme of the TV show was the eye-opening plight of children around the world. McGregor and his wife just adopted a girl from Mongolia, one of the regions he biked. Good on them.
Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC are all struggling to find the new paradigm. (Haven’t heard that cliche in a while, have you?)
iTunes got it going. Disney is doing some interesting things.
TV is terrible, as is. It will change for sure. Soon.
Certainly programs will be on demand, any time, with or without commercials. Certainly you will have options to subscribe or pay as you go.
Cult shows with a small, loyal following will be financially feasible. Hiking TV? Gymnastics coaching TV?
I can hardly wait.
Many years ago the first infomercial I watched was for Bowflex. (They still do a convincing job.)
A ripped young guy was unbelievably defined — supposedly by the machine. Later his coach told me that kid had never seen a Bowflex before the shoot. He was a gymnast, of course, from MAC (Multnomah Athletic Club) in Portland.
Based only on the infomercial, Madonna’s representative phoned him for a “date” … before learning how young he was.
I should file this story with InfomercialScams.com
Your source for uncensored complaints about infomercial products.
Justin Leonard runs this site. (No, not the golfer.)
It’s amazing — the success of late night adult cartoons.
Family Guy reruns can out draw Letterman and Leno at times.
I was initially negative about South Park and Family Guy. It seemed dishonest to disguise adult material in a show that looks like children’s content.
I got past that.
South Park and (the comparatively tame) Simpsons often have a warped moral to the story. But Family Guy has only one goal — to make you laugh. Or, perhaps to make the writers laugh. Their pop culture references and absurd cutaways work for me.
Is Family Guy immoral? The Parents Television Council ranked only WWF Smackdown and The War at Home worse TV over the past 2 years.
While taking me out on a kayak trip, Peter and Joyce Long were interviewed by a local news team regarding another looming ecological disaster. Polluting the the world’s largest limestone spring.
In the well-edited sound bites they represent cautious environmentalism.
… Homer: Florida?! But that’s America’s wang!
… Plant Psychiatrist: They prefer “The Sunshine State.”
I first learned about Florida from Miami Vice.
Sonny Crockett was the coolest cop on TV. He drove a Testarossa!
I wanted to put on expensive shoes (without socks) and drive that Ferrari to Key West. In the end I managed to drive a Chevy Nova rental — but without socks!
See annotated photos of the southern most end of the USA by jumping to my photos on flickr.
I know what you are thinking. What ever happened to Rico Tubbs? (Philip Michael Thomas)
Palin became famous as one of the Monty Python comedians.
But I like him even better for his excellent travel series:
» Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
» Pole to Pole (1992)
» Irish Railway Journey: Derry to Kerry (1994)
» Full Circle (1997) circumnavigating the Pacific Ocean
» Hemingway Adventure (1999) retracing Ernest footsteps
» Sahara (2002)
» Himalaya (2004)
He is credited with a “Palin effect”, where places he visits immediately see increased tourism.
Rick McCharles 