Articles tagged “anthony bourdain”

Travel Channel's new CEO has the challenge of making the brand relevant in a time when most travelers are turning to digital content for inspiration.

We like it when these people make headlines.

Parts Unknown confirmed this season that its mission goes far beyond culinary or even cultural interests. It's entertainment that reveals and comments on today's socioeconomic realities, and we're all the better for it.

This is not the Tokyo that the city's Olympic committee wanted anyone to see before or after it was selected as the 2020 host. Bourdain takes Tokyo's bizarre side culture and questions just how strange it, or each of us, are.

Old news reels intermixed with gorgeous images of local landscape and people, an open and honest conversation about socioeconomics and politics, and a plate full of food -- these are the ingredients to one of this season's best episodes yet.

For the last decade destinations have fought hard for airtime on reality shows, but we may be seeing a new metric for tourism success: the Bourdain Bump.

Viewers are able to see a destination through Parts Unknown's honest and cadid lens, which means that amazing meals are grounded in conversation about locals' everyday reality and the most beautiful vistas are given context through history. Any other travel show would highlight the food without any talk of politics, pig blood, or scheming tour operators.

Bourdain's insights on the relationship between food, culture, and politics hit close to home for many viewers Sunday. It's his ability to observe a destination with the same degree of truth and humor in Israel as in the U.S. that makes Parts Unknown such a rarity.

Travel television doesn't have to be boring. And for once it's actually pretty funny.

Viewers are a fly on the wall of Bourdain's visit with an old friend in Spain. Surprisingly, he skips over any questions of Spain's hurting economy and instead focuses on the beauty of a lifestyle that seems rare today.