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Zach Anner Brings Wisecracks and His Wheelchair to a New Travel Show

Move over, Rick Steves. There's a new travel show host on the scene and he's much funnier than you. What also makes Zach Anner different is that he has cerebral palsy, which he says is the "sexiest of all the palsies.” Anner's condition is explained on his Facebook fan page: "He also is confined to a wheelchair like that kid from Glee, but for real, and can't sing."

The 26-year-old became an Internet darling for his hilarious audition video to Oprah's Your OWN Show contest. The comedian proposed that if he got his own show, it would focus on travel "for people who never thought they could travel" that would tell you "how to have the perfect vacation when things don't go right at all."

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Travel Shows / Television Travel / Food Travel / Jamie Oliver / Road Trips / → All Tags

'Naked Chef' Jamie Oliver Goes Carbon-Neutral For New Travel Show

Yes, you are allowed to ask why in tarnation is Naked Chef Jamie Oliver dressed all of the Village People, all at once. The Photoshop job is actually to promote the British debut of his new travel show, "Jamie's America," where the famous TV chef skips from England to the US for a road trip through the various foods of yankee social groups.

In case you're not interested in watching yet another personality hobnob with locals around the country, trying their homefried chicken, then perhaps you'll be more intrigued by what the show is looking to do: become the first carbon-neutral travel television show.

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Travel Shows / Television Travel / Food Travel / Ruth Reichl / American Airlines / → All Tags

Gourmet Mag And American Airlines Team Up For New Food Travel Show

Whether or not the Travel Channel decides to pick up "Confessions Of A Travel Writer," television will still be getting a new travel show this next season. Due to air on October 17, PBS will debut it's new show from Gourmet Magazine. Taking cues from Anthony Bourdain and the old Gourmet show "Diary of a Foodie," the new "Adventures With Ruth" will follow notorious critic (and Gourmet editor-in-chief) Ruth Reichl as she explores food vacations.

Lending star power to the show will be occasional visits from food-loving celebrities, like actresses Frances McDormand and Lorraine Bracco who hit up some cooking schools with Ruth. While it's just another show seeking to explore cultures through their food, it'll perhaps draw in the Lifetime channel-loving public who might be turned off by Bourdain's and Zimmern's more raw approach.

The ten episodes of Ruth's show was sponsored by American Airlines, so you know someone was flying first class. As a result, the show will also air on American's in-flight entertainment. Fingers crossed that Ruth visits the elusive Olive Garden cooking school in Italy!

Related Stories:
· Gourmet Magazine preps travel-themed TV show [Reuters]
· Food TV Shows For Chef Eric Ripert and Gourmet Magazine’s Ruth Reichl [True/Slant]
· Travel TV Show Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: DC Falter]

Confessions of a Travel Writer / Travel Shows / Travel Channel / Jaunted On TV / Parties / Shira Lazar / → All Tags

What Did You Think Of The 'Confessions Of A Travel Writer' Premiere?

Did you catch us on TV last night? The pilot episode of the show "Confessions Of A Travel Writer" aired at 9pm EST yesterday on the Travel Channel, and our Shira Lazar is the sole representative of new media among the five travel journalists starring.

We took in the show from the pool lobby at the Grace Hotel in midtown New York City, where we drank Pisco Sours and patiently waited for them to fix the audio. Alas, they never did and so you at home had a better seat for the show than we did, although we did catch the 11pm re-run.

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Travel Shows / Travel Channel / Confessions of a Travel Writer / Shira Lazar / → All Tags

Find Out What Happens When 5 Travel Writers Get In Front of The Camera

Was it really as much fun as it looked?

It's a Monday night during the summer and you've probably got nothing to watch on your DVR except "Weeds" if you're fortunate to have Showtime and those old reruns of "Mama's Family." (Don't lie, you know you watch it.) But there's something a little different coming to your tube today from the Travel Channel, Confessions of a Travel Writer.

This Monday, August 10, at 9 E/P, join Charles Runette and 4 other travel writers on a 7-day trip to Chile. See what happens when personal agendas get in the way of what seems like a dream job.

Full disclosure: Here's why we're interested in this show. Our very own Shira Lazar is actually one of those four other travel writers and we were able to get her reports back from Chile as they were happening. But we never heard anything about those "personal agendas." Maybe tonight's episode will reveal all! For a more in-depth look at the show, check out this interview with Charles Runnette on WorldHum.com.

Jaunted will actually be attending a screening of the show tonight and we will bring you back the full report. But if you manage to catch the show yourself, tell us what you thought in comments below.

Related Stories:
· Travel Channel [Official Site]
· Jaunted in Chile [Jaunted]

Travel Shows / Airplane Retirement / Airplane Graveyards / → All Tags

Airplane Repo TV Show In The Works And We Can't Wait

If you loved the passenger antics show Airline, but wish it showed a lot more behind the scenes, then have we got some news for you. Like we've said before, the recession hasn't been kind to the airlines and as a result, more than 1,700 planes will be taken out of service.

One man who strongly figures into the final days of an airliner is the repossessor Nick Popovich, and the producers of the DIscovery Channel show "Dirty Jobs" are working on creating another show to follow him on his day-to-day fun of taking back big-ticket items from struggling companies and individuals.

Since the repo firm nets between $600,000-$900,000 per job and claims past highlights like taking 203 helicopters from a struggling flight school, this show means some high stakes and high flying. Just listen to what the man himself has to say about the job:

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Rick Steves / Travel Guides / Travel Shows / Iran / Books / → All Tags

The Appreciation: Rick Steves

After I graduated from college in 1992, I moved to Latvia for a couple of years to do the expat thing. As I criss-crossed the continent in search of further adventures, I held my trusty copy of Let's Go: Europe close, relying on it to point me toward the best hostels, museums, and cheap restaurants. Let's Go served me well, and I won't speak ill of it, but when a fellow backpacker shared with me an early copy of Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door, I never looked back. I felt Steves' Back Door guides not only contained better practical information, but helped me become a better traveler myself.

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Travel Shows / New York City / Rick Steves / Arthur Frommer / Samantha Brown / → All Tags

Travel Trends at the NYT Travel Show

The New York Times held their annual travel show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City this weekend. The show caters to both travel professionals and those looking for a deal on their next vacation. Booking stations throughout the exhibition floor let travelers book cruises, international tours or a spa vacation.

The show also lets the novice traveler learn form the best in private seminars hosted by Rick Steves, Arthur Frommer and Samantha Brown. Most of the destinations represented also showcase their unique cultural through food, dancing or everyone’s favorite, freebies.

Walking the floor of the NYT Travel Show it became clear that this year’s political message of taking personal responsibility is being reflected in the year’s travel trends too. Philanthropic Travel, Eco-Travel and given the status of today's economy, less expensive local journeys all took center stage at this year’s show.

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Bear Grylls / Man vs. Wild / Travel Shows / → All Tags

Man vs. Wild Reality Check

Reports are swirling today that Bear Grylls, who stars in the Discovery Channel show, "Man Vs. Wild", where he escapes treacherous rain forests, mountain sides, and deserts, by graphically eating live animals and building lots of fires, is a fraud.

They say that his producers make it look like he's roughing it, but at the end of the day, when cameras are off, he checks into a luxury hotel, hops in the jacuzzi and uses the WiFi connection.

The Discovery Channel has launched an investigation to find out the truth, saying:

Discovery Communications has learned that isolated elements of the 'Man vs. Wild' show in some episodes were not natural to the environment, and that for health and safety concerns the crew and host received some survival assistance while in the field. Moving forward the program will be 100 percent transparent and all elements of the filming will be explained up-front to our viewers. In addition, shows that are to be repeated will be edited appropriately.

No Bear!:
·   Bear Grylls Thrills Bogus [NY Post]
·   Man vs Wild More Like Man vs Hotel [HotelChatter]
·   Bear Grylls Fake, But Still Hot [D-Listed]
·   Grylls To Be Transparent [BBC]
·   Bear Grylls On Flickr [Flickr]
·   Man vs. Wild Locked Until August 6, 2007 [Wikipedia]

Travel Shows / HD Travel Show Reviews / Jeremy Piven / → All Tags

High Definition Travel Show Review: Journey of a Lifetime with Jeremy Piven

High Definition television is causing a resurgence in travel themed programming. We tend to think the genesis for these programs was the oft mocked, briefly aired Taradise. This new breed of travel programming is often shallow, mildly informative, and sometimes even unintentionally entertaining. We will let you know which of these shows we consider either best-of-breed, or unwatchable, we can't decide. Feel free to submit your own suggestions.

Travel Show: Journey of a Lifetime with Jeremy Piven

Channel:Discovery HD

Broadcast Times: Various

Typical Episode: Jeremy Piven, in India, wearing U2 t-shirt, renting a moped and calling it a motorcycle.

Typcial Dialougue: "The intensity of this city was softened by this oasis that was inspiring and humbling."

Typical Web Board Show Comment: "You guys took it way too seriously and/or were way too sober when you were watching it. I mean Jeremy Piven trying to pick up that Jewish shama? And then trying to pick up that Bollywood star? Seriously I thought it was hilarious the incredible cognitive dissonance he showed. And yes after the first half we devised a drinking based on whether he said "namaste" or two drinks if he hit on someone inappropriately."

Little Known Fact: Jeremy Piven's hair plugs don't hold up in High Def.

Hybrid: Apocalypse Now meets PCU

Related Stories:
· HD Travel Show Review Coverage [Jaunted]

Get Out! / HD Travel Show Reviews / Travel Shows / Lindsay Clubine / Travelistic / → All Tags

Get Out! Girls on Travelistic

Travelistic, which launched today, bills itself as the YouTube of Travel. And while you should definitely go over there and check out their treasure trove of travel videos, what we really care about is the fact that they are the only site we have found that allows you to enclose Get Out! girls videos.

So, in the spirit of our HD Travel Shows review we are in the midst of, here is a totally compressed Get Out! girls video.

If you click on the above video, Lindsay and her sidekicks will teach you the karmic effects of turtle spotting in Hawaii--like, the more you know.

Since Travelistic currently defaults embedded videos to play, we had to jury rig things a bit otherwise Jaunted readers would have been forced to endure Lindsay all day long.

Related Stories:
· High Definition Travel Show Review: Get Out! [Jaunted]
· High Definition Travel Show Reviews [Jaunted]

Travel Shows / HD Travel Show Reviews / Lindsay Clubine / Get Out! / → All Tags

High Definition Travel Show Review: Get Out!

High Definition television is causing a resurgence in travel themed programming. We tend to think the genesis for these programs was the oft mocked, briefly aired Taradise. This new breed of travel programming is often shallow, mildly informative, and sometimes even unintentionally entertaining. We will let you know which of these shows we consider either best-of-breed, or unwatchable, we can't decide. Feel free to submit your own suggestions.

Travel Show: Get Out!

Channel: HDNET

Broadcast Times: Various

Typical Episode:  Three girls in bikinis take a surf lesson in Cabo.  The girls sun together, surf together, shower together, and drink together.

Typcial Dialougue:  "How cool was it to see nothing but blue water all around us."--cut to shot of girls swimming underwater.

Typical Web Board Show Comment: "Poor Lindsey Clubine... Do you think she knew she had the ultimate CT in her bikini this week? It was so noticeable, even the wife commented."

Little Known Fact:  Host Lindsey Clubine holds case #26 on NBC's Deal or No Deal.

Hybrid: Where in the World is Matt Lauer meets Maxim Magazine

Lindsey Clubine photo in question post click.

Related Stories:
· HD Travel Show Review Coverage [Jaunted]

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