Travel Channel to find new home

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The network for wanderers seems to be doing a bit of that itself these days. Cox Communications, which owns the Travel Channel, is shopping it around, with several companies expressing interest. So, will it wind up with Scripps Networks, which has the Food Network and HGTV? Or, could it wind up part of Rupert Murdoch‘s empire over at News Corp?

So far, Scripps seems to be in the lead, with Rupert’s folks not crazy about the climbing price of the channel. The latest bids, word is, are north of $1 billion. Back in June, when Cox first put it on the block, industry watchers figured it would fetch between $600 million and $700 million. Last week, the $900 million mark was pierced and has since been left in the rearview mirror.

The Travel Channel hasn’t landed yet, and it could take a while for the dust to settle. We’ll keep watching … the action, that is.

Anthony Bourdain creates animated web series

by Katie Hammel on

I’m a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain and I love No Reservations. A show that combines travel to places both exotic and familiar, pure rockstar gluttony and classic Bourdain snark – how could it go wrong? So when I heard that Bourdain was creating an animated web series for the Travel Channel (relax, it will NOT be taking the place of No Reservations) I figured it couldn’t be anything less than awesome.

Based on the sneak peak, the show looks like its going to have plenty of Bourdain’s signature sense of humor. In the first episode, “Robo Chef,” Bourdain laments how much effort it takes to create the perfect celebrity chef – all that work and then they go off and get their own talk show! – so he decides to make one himself. But when he accidentally puts in Rachel Ray’s brain instead of Alton Brown’s, things go awry.

According to Bourdain himself, future episodes won’t be all about his issues with Food Network chefs. They’re designed to be alternative versions of No Reservations – “representing things we never could have done on the actual show – or representing the way things should have gone on the show – or animated acknowledgments of what already went terribly wrong on the show.”

One of the six webisodes will be posted on the Travel Channel website each month. The first will debut November 2nd.

That hotel room coffee maker has more uses than you think

by Grant Martin on


It’s so crazy, it JUST MIGHT WORK. Alton Brown from the Food Network’s Good Eats has a much better use for your hotel room’s coffee maker than for making weak, disgusting brew: use it to make oatmeal.

His recipe? Put two packets of oatmeal, honey and jam packets into the carafe, then put a tea bag in the filter. Run water through and you have a magic oatmeal concoction in no time!

Now, I’m not a big breakfast person nor a large fan of elaborate schemes to save $3, but this plan is too ingenious to ignore. I’m trying it on the road next week.

[via wikihow]