8.01.2008

Travel shows

Even though I love traveling (though I haven't been able to do it very much in recent years), I'm not a fan of travel shows. I'm interested in what they're talking about and want to discover new places, even if it's just via the TV, but what I find annoying is when the host does everything, to let us know, "Watch me--I'm having a great time!"

Yesterday I was watching something about Southeast Alaska, and I thought we were going to get different information and insight into the isolated life there. But we ended up getting images of the host introducing himself to the people, and in other scenes, he was struggling to drill holes and attempt difficult tasks. I'd much rather see information and images of the people in Alaska doing things, not the host bumbling through, giving us running commentary of his struggle.

Other shows will show the host swimming or taking crazy rides, exclaiming "I'm so scared!" or eating food, saying "This is delicious!" Well duh, it's supposed to be--I don't have to watch you eating it to understand that concept.

The "host having a good time in front of your eyes" structure must work, otherwise they wouldn't use such a gimmick in so many shows, on various stations. But it still doesn't make me want to watch.

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