Did you hear the new rumor about Oprah Winfrey? No, not that one! This one says that come 2011, her daytime talk show will leave Chicago and be based out of Los Angeles.
According to Deadline Hollywood, the big O planned on calling it quits way back in 2002, then again in 2006. At that point she renewed her syndication contracts through 2011. But now, it looks like she’ll be moving the show from national syndication to her very own OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) station.
While there’s no denying that Oprah’s success is a positive force for Chicago tourism (even those who can’t get the coveted tickets for her show will make the pilgrimage out to Harpo Studios to take a tour or shop at the Oprah Store), the daytime diva hasn’t really been all that connected with Chicago for many years. Sure, she tapes the show here, she flies in for special events, and she lobbied (unsuccessfully) for Chicago’s Olympic bid, but other than that, she doesn’t spend a whole lot of time here, preferring instead her gigantic estate in Montecito, California.
For tourists and die-hard Oprah fans, I’m sure she will be missed. For residents (especially those who had their commutes disrupted when she closed down the streets for her massive season launch party), it’s sad to lose an icon, but hey, we’ve still got the Sears Tower…..oh, wait, nevermind.
According to “entertainment insiders”, Oprah’s company will make the announcement outlining her plans to move, sometime in the next six months.
Welcome to another week of Gadlinks! There are plenty of cool travel reads on tap today. Have a seat and enjoy!
Bummer! Just when I thought I’d seen everything in Colombia, I find the Cano Cristales river, which based on these photos, does look like an awfully beautiful place. [via Been-Seen]
Medellin, in Colombia, used to be the murder capital of the world — but no longer! Check out five of the most dangerous cities in the world. [via Open Travel]
I’m heading to the Middle East in January, and after reading this article I have every intention of visiting Jaffa, on the southern edge of Tel Aviv. [via NY Times Travel]
I think we’d all agree that there are some bad TV re-runs out there that deserve to be taken off the air. But I’m not sure that Family Guy is one of them.
Venezuelan authorities have banned the cartoon from future broadcast. Any TV station that doesn’t drop the show will be fined.
What prompted this reaction? The recent episode in which Brian, the talking dog, started a campaign to legalize marijuana.
Watch out future cartoons, so you don’t offend the Venezuelan government! It has happened before, and it will surely happen again. The Simpsons was banned there last year because of its “messages that go against the whole education of boys, girl, and adolescents.”
Televen was one station threatened with a fine for showing The Simpsons in the morning hours. What did they do to avoid the fine? They were forced to show public service films as an apology. And they replaced The Simpsons with Baywatch.
Really, now. Baywatch is better?
It seems as though the government and TV in Venezuela are closely linked. President Hugo Chavez hosts his own talk show. And if new regulations go into effect, cable stations would be forced to broadcast all of Chavez’s speeches.
There’s an old saying that goes, “you don’t want to see how your sausage was made.” Essentially, it means that you’re better off just enjoying the final product than seeing how many hands get dirty in the process. Recently, though, television has shown a lot of metaphorical sausage making. Shows like the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch and Dirty Jobs attempt to show viewers a behind-the-scenes look at how people’s jobs are done. They are not glamorous or sophisticated, but they attempt to be as real as reality television will allow. Last night, the Travel Channel aired the pilot episode of Confessions of a Travel Writer, and I was particularly interested in watching since I routinely make that sausage myself. What I saw left me embarrassed, appalled and disappointed.
Hosted by Charles Runnette, a freelance travel writer, the show focused on five journalists on a press trip to Chile. For those of you who are unfamiliar with press trips, they are sponsored tours in which journalists get shown around in hopes that they will write stories about that destination. In other words, it’s a free trip. But it is also work. I am not here to argue the merits of press trips. I am, however, here to discuss the merits of this show – or lack thereof. Press trips are hectic affairs in which journalists are shown myriad hotels, restaurants and points of interest. It’s essentially a business trip on crack. The show did a good job of showing the frenetic energy of these trips. “I thought it was fairly representative of press trips and what it’s like being a travel journalist,” Julie Blakley of BootsnAll and WhyGo France told me. Essentially, writers get shuttled around like they are on a school field trip. The schedules are packed, the accommodations not always what we would select for ourselves and sometimes the other journalists annoy you. But, at the end of the day, it’s a job and all jobs have pros and cons.
Runnette provides the voiceover that guides the audience. He utilizes this bully pulpit to belittle his fellow writers, the trip’s host and the accommodations. From being placed in “the worst room in the hotel” to whining about being in the back row of the plane, he spends much of his time griping. He then makes a point of saying that travel writers who complain about traveling should pursue another line of business. I’m not sure if Charles is the pot or the kettle, but he’s certainly brewing up a hot cup of hypocrisy.
To a certain degree, the program fell victim to the pitfalls of any reality show in that it was beholden to the confines of the genre. Editors have to make entertaining television and their agendas are dictated by producers. David Farley, a writer whose work has been featured in several publications and whose book, An Irreverent Curiosity, is in stores now, told me that “the show would have been better suited for several episodes so that we could get to know the characters. In one episode, we can only see the archetypes they sought to parade across the screen.”
However, Runnette’s personal agenda was clearly to showcase how amazing he thinks he is. He did so at the expense of not only the other journalists featured in the episode, but to the detriment of the entire travel writing industry. His pretentious attitude, pithy asides and overall negativity highlighted the worst traits that a journalist can display.
A travel writer who has written for various nationally syndicated publications and who requested that his name not be used in this article told me that “the show focused on a small subset of the industry – the most parasitic, entitled subset. I hope my friends and family don’t think that’s what I do for a living.”
My biggest problem with the the show, though, was in regard to its intended audience. Do people want to watch a show about travel writers? Or would they prefer to watch shows about the destinations themselves? I just don’t think watching people go on a press trip is entertaining. And I say that as a narcissistic writer.
As this was a pilot episode, there is no guarantee that the show will return. If the feedback over at WorldHum is any indication, the show garnered a fair amount of attention but very few acolytes.
I hope that the show does not get picked up. I prefer to not have to overcome the negative image that others may generate about this industry. But what about you? Did you watch the show? Are you interested in what the job of a travel writer is like or do you just want to enjoy the end products? Essentially, do you really want to see how our sausage is made?
We love the jovial, devil-may-care and knowledge-thirsty attitude of “Three Sheets” host Zane Lamprey, so we jumped at the opportunity to interview him. As the star of one of the most ingenious television concepts ever, comedian Zane travels the globe to learn about the drinking customs of different cultures around the world. And it is really fun to watch.
“Three Sheets” was almost lost a year ago when Mojo HD went off the air, and on December 18, 2008, the above rally was held in New York City to save the program. Looks like fun, no?
Zane answered our questions on his way back to LA from a photo/promo shoot he did at FLN headquarters in Knoxville. Read this interview to learn more about that now internationally recognized burp game, the little toy monkey he brings everywhere, and to find out some of the craziest things Zane’s had to drink (hint: dead stuff).
Gadling: Do you really get drunk? Like, do you ever watch the footage and go “I have no recollection of that?”
Zane Lamprey: No. If I really drank as much as many people perceive that I do, I would not be the right person for the job. That’s not to say that I fake it, or “call it in,” I just know how to pace myself. It’s probably a good reason why a kid fresh out of college would not be suited for my job. I know I wouldn’t have been!
G: Tell me about the monkey.
ZL: He smells like the floor of a dive bar … He was the first rule of the drinking game: “The first person to spot Pleepleus gets to make someone else drink.” I hid him in the very first episode that we shot (Ireland) and he’s made it through four seasons. The name is made up. I wanted something that sounded like a bizarre Greek name. The funny thing is that people who watch the show can pronounce his name. And people who read it, or hear it in conversation, have a hard time pronouncing it or recalling it. It’s pronounced “Pleepleus” … Oh, I guess that doesn’t help.
G: What’s the craziest thing you’ve had to drink? Have you ever refused anything?
ZL: Well, I’ve had a lot of alcohol with dead stuff in it. Those were all bad in their own right. So, I’d have to say the worst one was the very first one I had. It’s the first time I’d had booze that tasted like roadkill. It was in Belize at the Maruba Spa. They make something called Viper Rum, which is overproof rum with a dead snake in it. Don’t ask how it tastes. Use your imagination. If you didn’t feel like vomiting, imagine harder …
G: Is there a clause in your contract about whose fault it is if you drink something that kills you?
ZL: Okay, that’s a first … No. But I’m going to call my lawyer.
G: How did the burp-thumb-to-forehead game get started (and does it have a better name than that)?
ZL: It’s the German sign for “good burp.” In the third episode that we shot, back in March of 2006, we were in Belgium at Delirium Cafe, a bar that holds the world record for most different beers available — at 2,006 beers. I burped, and François, the bartender I was interviewing, made the “good burp” sign. The rest is history. You can see it in the Belgium episode.
G: What’s your favorite place you’ve been to visit with “Three Sheets”?
ZL: Every place that we go was chosen because we thought people would like to see us go there. We haven’t really gone anywhere that I wouldn’t want to return to. But, if I had to pick a place to go tomorrow, I’d go to Dubrovnik, Croatia. I left my wallet there.
G: Who decides where to send you? Anywhere you’d particularly like to go?
ZL: I give my two cents when the production company asks me, but when I see the list of where we’re going for the season, I’m like “Looks good to me!”
G: We’re all jealous of you, so what’s the hardest part of your job?
ZL: Well, no one really wants to know the real answer to that. It would take away the allure of what I do. It’s like pulling the curtain to reveal the wizard. Obviously my job is amazing. Sure, the traveling can be a bitch sometimes, but it’s not really that bad. I go to the left when I enter the plane — think about it — so I’m a little spoiled. The jet lag can turn into getting sick. But the worst part of the job is what I leave behind. I love my crew, Eric, Curtiss Christina, Bert, Mike, and they’re the only reason I haven’t gone crazy on the road. But it can be extremely lonely and frustrating to be away from loved ones.
G: What else are you working on? What’s next?
ZL: I always have plenty of balls in the air … Um, that didn’t sound right … I always have plenty of things going on. There are a lot of other projects in the works. As for “what’s next,” it’s the project that gets legs. Only time can tell.
G: Which has been your favorite episode of Three Sheets and why?
ZL: Hmm … I like the episodes that I’ve brought my friends and family along on. I brought my mom on a few episodes and that was amazing. Experiences are best enjoyed when they’re shared. My crew and I have seen the world. It’s nice to let someone else in for a change. It also give us a renewed energy. A friend along for the ride gives all of us a little more pep in our step — like when Steve McKenna came to Amsterdam with us. He went to the red light district and became a prostitute for the day. He was very popular with the sailors and made enough money to buy drinks for the rest of the trip. I wish I was kidding.