TVSquad

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.

The reason I like Anthony Bourdain are many. For one, he knows a lot about food but he's not pretentious about it. Two, he isn't afraid to try bizarre foreign foods. And three, he's really blunt and honest about the state of the food industry and the whole celebrity chef culture. He also happens to be a good writer (check out his mystery stories too).

Our friends over at Gadling.com have an interview with Bourdain. Justin asks him about his early experiences traveling overseas, the one time he ate street food that forced him to go to the doctor, and where the show will take him this season (and how he chooses where to go).

The new season of No Reservations starts at 10pm tonight on The Travel Channel.

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.

I was always a bit uncertain as to just how it was World Poker Tour fit in with the Travel Channel. I understand that the games took place in different places across the globe, but that always seemed like the equivalent of making a show about janitors who work in a hospital and calling it a medical drama.

Okay, maybe that wasn't the best analogy, but the point is that World Poker Tour, after almost five years on the Travel Channel, is heading over to GSN, which seems like a much better fit. World Poker Tour, one of the first popular "poker" shows and the one that made people like me who said "who the hell wants to watch people play poker?" choke on our words, will become part of the network's Friday night "Casino Night" lineup.

The fifth season of World Poker Tour is currently airing on the Travel Channel. It will hit GSN early next year.

Nice guys will always finish last while Anthony Bourdain is on the scene. If you don't the know the chef turned best-selling author and Travel Channel host, than you've been missing out. Bourdain brought gonzo to the kitchen, or out of the kitchen as the case may be. His first tome Kitchen Confidential was a Hunter S. Thompson-inspired machismo trip through the world of haute cuisine. Chefs are bad asses in Bourdain's world of sex, drugs and rock and roll. They are the magic men (and the occasional woman) who conjure the sacred from the profane. The journey between the raw and the cooked is not for the feint of heart.

Now that Bourdain's got a few seasons at the Travel Channel under his belt, it's no surprise that he should feel compelled to hold forth on the relative merits of food on television.

A slate of shows that all have one thing in common - a testosterone-laiden center - have been renewed for your viewing pleasure. Here's what's on the menu for those of you who shun the metrosexual kind:

The Henry Rollins Show
Ex-Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins will be back for a second season on IFC. Premiering on April 13th, the late-night talk show is adding an editorial element with guest-star commentator Janeane Garofalo making the occasional appearance. Twenty episodes have been ordered up.

Well, thank goodness! I was watching TiVo'd episodes of Samantha Brown's Passport to Europe when I saw a short promotion for the return of GlobeTrekker with Ian Wright. The guy is a total nutcase and it makes for brilliant television! While Samantha Brown attempts to take a more aristocratic view of travel, Ian Wright gets down to the nitty gritty. He has one of those personalities that everyone likes so he can easily chum around with the locals, even though he doesn't speak their language. Plus, he's always willing to eat, drink, or try anything (i.e. run toward hot lava, get bucked off a bull). And he travels to locations that aren't on most tourists' radar, such as Cambodia, Vietnam, the Arctic Circle, and Mongolia. (Read a great interview with Ian here)

New episodes of GlobeTrekker begin on Monday, Sept. 4th at 8 pm.

Vacation homes? Luxury hotels? Hawaii? Europe? Yes, please!

I'm absolutely convinced that the Travel Channel's Samantha Brown has the best job on the planet. Years ago, I used to get a kick out of her Vacation Homes show where she would tour small and large vacation homes and joke (nicely) about the decorations and the locale. Lately, she's appearing in the Passport to Europe series. This morning, I watched as she munched on a fresh waffle and toured a comic book museum in Brussels, Belgium. I think what I like best about Samantha is her accessibility. She seems like a swell gal with a wry sense of humor and a lot of energy. She seems to vacation the way 'normal' people would vacation.

Who do you think has the best job in television?

When fighting broke out in the Middle East recently, chef, author, and TV show host Anthony Bourdain found that he was trapped in Beirut with his crew. They were filming an episode of the Travel Channel series No Reservations. Bourdain and the four people with him were stuck in the city for a week, and eventually found their way back to the U.S. Bourdain held a chat at The Washington Post web site recently.

Bourdain not only talks about the food he tasted there, but also offers a view of the people he encountered, in a way you might not see on the cable or network news coverage.

[via Bookslut]

When you used to say the word "Beirut", people would equate it to "hell on earth". But lately, the city has experienced a bit of a rebirth and has become a major tourist attraction. I would imagine that's why food expert and raconteur Anthony Bourdain and his crew flew over there this month to do an episode of his Travel Channel show No Reservations.

However, because of the battles between Israel and Hezbollah that broke out last week, Bourdain and crew are now stuck in the Lebanese capital, which is being hit for the first time in many years by artillery fire. After a thread about their predicament got started on the Travel Channel's bulletin board, Bourdain responded with his usual brand of weary nonchalance: "We are all of us (Diane, Jerry, Toddles, Tracey and me) in good health, good spirits and working ferociously on our tans and sipping blender drinks while watching the fireworks from a secure location. Our masters at Travel Channel have made sure we are being well looked after."

I would hope that the Travel Channel folks are trying to get Bourdain and crew out, but it's probably really difficult right now. Here's hoping that everyone continues to be safe.

[via Pop Candy]

Drew Carey is hosting a new show on The Travel Channel called Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures. The first episode aired last month (did anybody see it?). The hook for the show is that the comedian travels the world to teach us about international sports, beer and fight songs. It also looks like he gained back that weight he lost.

After seeing a promo for the show, I went to the Travel Channel's fan website to learn more about it. I discovered links to video, blogs and photos but none of them actually feature Drew Carey. The blog is from one of the producers and the behind-the-scenes video is voiced and edited by a cameraman. WTF? Where's Drew? Phoning it in. That's where he is.

Anthony Bourdain has a new book out, and Jessa Crispin (I've always loved that name) interviews him over at Bookslut (love that name too). The cook/world traveller talks about the banning of certain foods, why he's so angry at Woody Harrelson, and why he got canned by the Food Network and why he brought his show to the Travel Channel. Hint: even though it was a show about travelling around the world eating different food, Food Network wanted less, um, travelling.

Bourdain's new book, The Nasty Bits, is pretty damn great, by the way. It's a collection of his columns over the years. The man knows food, but he's a helluva writer too.

Programs from the Discovery Channel and some of its associated networks are now available through iTunes. The shows include Mythbusters, Shark Week, The Save-Ums, Extreme Engineering, Breed All About It, The Most Extreme, Passport to Europe, World's Best, America's National Parks, and Kenny the Shark. The episodes will cost the usual $1.99. Personally, I like the idea of having Mythbusters and Shark Week being made available, but I'm not to sure people will be that interested in downloading and watching something like America's National Parks, much less paying to watch it. Then again, everyone isn't me.

[via Digg]

If you're not watching the Super Bowl today, you don't have to go out and, like, do something outdoors. You can still veg out in front of the television with a beer and some chips. Here are the five stand-out options for your television viewing pleasure:

5. TBS: Yes, Dear marathon. It seems like an odd choice of show to be watching all day long, but TBS thinks somebody will be interested. Sixteen episodes of Yes, Dear begin at 7 pm ET.