TVSquad

It's that time of year when we get all the deliciously creepy shows and movies haunting our TV sets as we head into Halloween. Turner Classic Movies is airing some great ones this weekend, including Poltergeist, Dr. X, and The Blob. Check out their schedule to see when they're airing.

I have to agree with John that sometimes the ghost hunter shows don't always deliver. Then again, sometimes just the idea of where they're going is frightening. Last night, I watched an episode of Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel, and the guys took their gear into the bowels of an abandoned insane asylum. I happened to grow up in a town with an abandoned insane asylum (converted to very nice retail/business now), and I know firsthand that these places are pretty creepy.

The idea of a guy traveling around America and making a glutton of himself in a different city every week doesn't sound, at first blush, very appealing to me. No one needs another over-eating American stereotype gorging themselves for our amusement every week. Did we learn nothing from Morgan Spurlock?

That said, I love Man v. Food, which begins its second season tonight at 10PM on the Travel Channel. I love the show mainly because I like the host, Adam Richman. Richman is amiable and a bit shlubby, and I identify with that. And as unpleasant as that stereotype of the gluttonous American might be, I love comfort food, and that's what Man v. Food is all about.

Howdy from Pasadena! Anyone who's been following either TV Squad's or my personal Twitter feed has noticed that I've been busy at the first day of the TCA press tour. Cable is up first; today was a relatively light day, with the Travel Channel, Fox Reality, and Turner making presentations. AMC will have a cocktail party later today, where I'm sure Matthew Weiner is going to be bombarded by reporters with Mad Men questions before he even reaches the shrimp spread.

The first panel was for the Travel Channel's ode to regional food and gluttony, Man v. Food. Host Adam Richman and executive producer Charlie Parsons took questions from the critics about their upcoming second season and about why they pick the cities they pick. I love the show, but I always wondered how Richman was able to withstand the quantity challenges he puts himself through in many of the episodes. Richman's answer? A workout regimen that makes him sound more like a GNC employee than a guy scarfing seven pound cheeseburgers.

It's really a no-brainer. What's a better second home for CBS's perennial Emmy-winning reality show The Amazing Race than the Travel Channel? What doesn't make sense to me is that the Travel Channel picked up seasons 12-14 of The Amazing Race. Season 13 premieres September 28 on CBS, with Travel debuting last year's Season 12 a few weeks earlier on September 3. But why didn't the Travel Channel just pick up the whole catalogue?

One of the things that makes The Amazing Race such a fantastic show is it gives us the opportunity to travel the world and see such wonderful and exotic places. Coupling those excursions with the Travel Channel's own wonderful documentaries about those same places would make for a great night of entertainment and information. Because of the travel aspect of it, it's one of the few reality competition shows that can be rerun without losing 90% of its appeal. It could be a preemptive move to establish a home on a cable network in case CBS ever pulls the plug; the show is only picked up one season at a time and always seems to be on the bubble.

Friday's TCA, which continued cable TV presentations, felt like three days rolled into one.

Just how jam-packed and eclectic are the programs and announcements that were made?

Here's a sample: Dynasty diva Joan Collins is checking into BBC America's Hotel Babylon, Richard Dreyfus (Jaws) is not afraid to get back into the water as host of The Discovery Channel's Ocean of Fear: The Worst Shark Attack Ever and Jonny Fairplay (Survivor) of CMT's Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull-Riding Challenge sadly announced that his beloved grandmother passed away two weeks ago.

Welcome to TV Squad Lists (formerly 'The Five'), a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

Just to clear up any potential confusion, this post is not about traveling television sets, nor is it about fictional TV characters who happen to travel. This is a list dedicated to real travelers who have taken us on fantastic journeys in the form of their own television shows.

While flipping through ye olde Idoite Boxe you may have noticed former Monty Python member Michael Palin traveling to exotic locales, talking to interesting people, and learning about bizarre local customs. Palin has been doing travel documentaries and series since 1988, and has been to over 80 countries. I myself have only been to two, and that's only because I count Texas as another country. Palin will add a new location to his itinerary starting this evening when Himalaya airs on the Travel Channel. Now you can watch a man who used to sell dead parrots try and traverse the highest mountain range on the planet.