Is anyone else obsessed with the Travel Channel?
 

What are your favorite shows? ATM I like Great Hotels and Girl Meets Hawaii.

:)

The Travel Channel used to be a lot better. Now it seems half the programming is Vegas Poker tournaments and World's Best Dangerous Animals.
It's such a wasted opportunity. I loved shows like Lonely Planet and Travelers, but I'm not sure if they even come on anymore.

I love the "Ten Best" shows especially the weird ones like "Ten Best Bathrooms". Also the ones about the cool things rich people buy!

I would probably like it a lot if my cable company offered it. I like what I saw from the few times I have seen it.

Was so pleased when our cable company offered it. It's gone downhill rapidly, as many others have noted:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34391397

We don't get it. :-( We are going to New York next month. I guess New York was highlighted all last week and we couldn't watch it.

It was much better when it was about travel. Now is should be renamed the Vegas Tourist Bureau Channel. You get better travel shows on the Food Network when they sample cuisine from around the world.

We don't get it but if we did, I'm sure we would be...if I could get it off Trading Spaces or While You Were Out?
O-)

Finally a pretty good week - "The Best of NYC" week. I wish it was on last month before my trip!

The problem with the Travel Channel is that it's 24-hour. The fact that they have to sell all that advertising time means that they have to run filler product-- i.e., Vegas Poker Tournaments (hello?! You're boring us to DEATH!!), endless reruns of "The World's Greatest Roller Coasters/Pools/Bathrooms/Beaches", etc. They could do so much better, like running "Lonely Planet", original docs on the history of cool places, whatever. I'd love to see a series on "Architectural Places"-- you know, interesting buildings of a given city. It's a travel channel-- how about INFORMING US, instead of just presenting things everyone already knows?

Many of the shows on TTC are hard to distinguish from infomercials.
You can practically see the money being passed from the Las Vegas casino industry to TTC execs in order to maximize their exposure.
Also, the Ten Best lists are often way off base if their purpose is to actually show the ten best of whatever it is they're listing. They're for entertainment purposes, which is fine. And all those types of things are ultimately subjective anyway.

But....I miss the 'old' Travel Channel, I miss Ian Wright's treks, Rick Steves, etc etc.

Well do all of you that hate it now express your views to the travel channel??? I think you should!
I didn't realize Lonely Planet wasn't even on anymore. I do notice all the poker shows, ugh. Isn't there now one on nbc,abc,cbs,fox (one of the main channels) also now???

I saw a neat show on the 10 best bridges... and I still do like the Great Hotels show.

I am SO obsessed with the Travel Channel! Great Hotels, Worlds Best, Travel Channel Secrets...everything. I have seen every behind the scenes in Vegas type show at least twice!!

Reply to Cerlaurie,
In case you missed it here is link to Travel Channels Top 10 sites to visit in Manhattan:http://travel.discovery.com/fansites.../nyc/main.html
(Click on photo of southern Manhattan to view slide show)

I like Travel Channel Hawaii features because they help keep memories of my visits there alive. Also ((l)) Lonely Planet &((y)) Rick Steves which still air on PBS in NY.

I'm sick of all these poker tournaments and I don't like the haunted places. I do like the Vegas shows, Top 10, and Great Hotels. We like laughing at how much Samantha Brown eats and drinks!

is that obsessed or upset with the Vegas Channel? i must be masochistic b'cuz i turn to its programming schedule everyday hoping something worthwhile will be on only to be disgusted once again. methinks the only decent program is the Great Hotels with the biggest goofball. oh there is the World Odyssey on Sundays at 11:30pm! kind of shows how much TC sucks when its most redeeming program comes on at the least desirable time.

anyone have thoughts on Fine Living? i've seen the titles of some travel programs it carries and they seem enticing.

>)

Shows like "National Geographic Today" and "Earth Pulse" on the National Geographic Channel are much better travel shows than anything that comes on the Travel Channel.

I was until it became a complete, pandering shill for Las Vegas, cruise lines, and a group of predictable resorts. Now it's T&A visits a lotta places to get our picture taken in front of a lotta places so you can see T&A in front of a lotta places. I miss silly sot Ian and only enjoy Lonely Planet stuff -- true enough: National Geographic is much better if you actually want to travel vicariously.

BTW: T&A refers to "tourists and adventurers," of course.

The Travel Channel aka The Las Vegas Channel has really declined in quality the past few years. Really, what does the World Poker Tour have to do with travel??? Fine Living has some decent shows including Travels with Rudy Maxa, The Great Adventure and The Thirsty Traveler. Also, I can still see Rick Steves and Lonely Planet (now Globe Trekker) on PBS.