04 September 2007

What Bugs Me About the Travel Channel


Here's what bugs me about the Travel Channel. I expect it to be focused on travel and it rarely is, at least not in the purest sense. They are constantly running shows like Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Taste of America, Most Haunted, Made in America, and World Poker Tour.

Now I get that they tie cuisine to location and some people want to tour the most haunted sites in America but shouldn't this be an occasional option rather than a constant? Shouldn't there be more "Top 10 Islands", "Great Cruises", "Places to See Before You Die", "Exploring Asia", "New Resorts", etc? Sure they do these kinds of shows but it seems to be in the minority compared to the prime-time/bulk of what they offer which is only tangentially travel related.

If I want food shows, I'll go to the Food Channel. If I want haunted shows, I'll go to the Sci-Fi channel. If I want poker, there's no shortage of channels that cover this.

Heck, PBS was doing travel shows for years before the Travel Channel came along and they had no shortage of places to do travelogues on. So why aren't we getting more enticing travelogues of exotic lands? Show me insider glimpses of places I might one day want to see. Tell me about bargain spots. Tell me which resorts are great for families and which are great for romance. Introduce me to amazing vistas and breathtaking nature. Seduce me into going someplace I haven't considered before.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, I got a link to your site from dcblog...you were one of their top 5 last Thursday. I added a link for you!

http://dcblogs.com/?p=574

lacochran said...

Wow! I had no idea. That would explain the sudden increase in traffic. Wonder how *they* found me...?

Thanks for the info!