Go Back  DVD Talk Forum > Entertainment Discussions > TV Talk
Reload this Page >

What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Community
Search
TV Talk Talk about Shows on TV

What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 05-28-20 | 11:22 PM
  #1  
Traxan's Avatar
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Gold Edition
 
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,483
Likes: 0
Received 35 Likes on 22 Posts
What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

It's now the paranormal/ghost channel. Nothing but metaphysical/ghost shows. Food shows like Bizarre Foods and Man v Food no longer exist. I just realized this now but it has been going on a while, I take it? Anyone know what got into them to go down this route?
Old 05-28-20 | 11:57 PM
  #2  
DJariya's Avatar
DVD Talk God
 
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 87,176
Received 6,024 Likes on 4,073 Posts
From: La Palma, CA
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Ratings. The Ghost shows get the big ratings. Hence the rebrand to TRVL Scripps used to own Travel, but sold it to Discovery and then Discovery did the revamp.

They officially gave up on producing any travel shows a few years ago.

I believe repeats of Andrew Zimmern's shows air on the Cooking Channel.
Old 05-28-20 | 11:58 PM
  #3  
DVD Talk Godfather
 
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 51,041
Received 2,951 Likes on 2,253 Posts
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

The fact that they changed and few of us noticed tells you everything you need to know about why they did it...
The following 2 users liked this post by fujishig:
rduncan (05-29-20), tanman (05-29-20)
Old 05-29-20 | 12:02 AM
  #4  
DJariya's Avatar
DVD Talk God
 
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 87,176
Received 6,024 Likes on 4,073 Posts
From: La Palma, CA
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

I used to watch the Travel Channel pretty religiously. Samantha Brown, Anthony Bourdain and Zimmern. But like I said, after the rebrand, I gave up.

The funny thing is the international version of Travel Channel still shows actual travel content. When I've watched them on trips to Asia, they still are branded Travel Channel and show the old travel related shows and some new stuff exclusive to that region.
Old 05-29-20 | 01:02 AM
  #5  
tanman's Avatar
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,959
Received 1,830 Likes on 1,254 Posts
From: Gator Nation
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Youtube took over. Now there a lot of great content some with pretty high production levels available to just about any destination. This channel is one of my favorites for obvious reasons

The following users liked this post:
DJariya (05-29-20)
Old 05-29-20 | 01:08 AM
  #6  
DJariya's Avatar
DVD Talk God
 
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 87,176
Received 6,024 Likes on 4,073 Posts
From: La Palma, CA
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Yes there is some great travel content on YouTube. Steph Tayler ^^^ as he posted is an awesome content creator and stunningly attractive.

Mark Wiens

Kara and Nate

The Best Ever Food Review Show

Davidsbeenhere

Yellow Productions and lots more.

But, right now with travel on hold, a lot of these creators are soon going to run out of content.


Old 05-29-20 | 02:53 AM
  #7  
JeffTheAlpaca's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 29,656
Received 1,359 Likes on 1,094 Posts
From: CA
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

A Wealth of Entertainment (AEW) or channel 387 on Directv is kind of like what the Travel Channel use to be
Old 05-29-20 | 03:06 AM
  #8  
Josh-da-man's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 49,442
Received 4,481 Likes on 2,949 Posts
From: The Bible Belt
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

It's not unusual for channels to drift away from their original mission into a bunch of inspid shit. See: MTV.

The Food Network has been taken over a bunch of stupid competitions like Chopped and Guy's Grocery Games. AMC went from American Movie Classics to a bunch of whatever. VH1 just seems to show old sitcoms. TLC is just a bunch of "reality" crap.
Old 05-29-20 | 08:26 AM
  #9  
DVD Talk Special Edition
 
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,135
Received 117 Likes on 91 Posts
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
It's not unusual for channels to drift away from their original mission into a bunch of inspid shit. See: MTV.

The Food Network has been taken over a bunch of stupid competitions like Chopped and Guy's Grocery Games. AMC went from American Movie Classics to a bunch of whatever. VH1 just seems to show old sitcoms. TLC is just a bunch of "reality" crap.
Cable is dying a slow painful death. Within the next few years, a lot of these channels will start vanishing.

If you like travel programs, diginet channels Create and DABL offer a variety of travel programs.

Last edited by ddrknghtrtns; 05-29-20 at 09:52 AM.
Old 05-29-20 | 09:15 AM
  #10  
JeffTheAlpaca's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 29,656
Received 1,359 Likes on 1,094 Posts
From: CA
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

I miss the days when MTV2 and FUSE played music videos and concerts.

Ditto for VH1.

VH1 now airs reality shows geared towards African Americans now and could be a sister station to BET.
Old 05-29-20 | 09:36 AM
  #11  
Banned
 
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 14,020
Received 1,018 Likes on 674 Posts
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Viacom is a big culprit of these brand changes on TV. Not many have noticed, but Comedy Central has slowly but surely been downsizing on their original programming and getting shows like the Office for all day re-runs. It's gotten worse since the merger with CBS.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/b...streaming.html
Old 05-29-20 | 09:39 AM
  #12  
Senior Member
 
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 747
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by tanman
Youtube took over. Now there a lot of great content some with pretty high production levels available to just about any destination. This channel is one of my favorites for obvious reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SFuZ9j1DwU
If the front looks as good as the back I won't need more things to do in Oahu.
Old 05-29-20 | 09:43 AM
  #13  
Banned by request
 
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,800
Received 779 Likes on 583 Posts
From: Goodbye and Good Luck
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by DJariya
I used to watch the Travel Channel pretty religiously. Samantha Brown, Anthony Bourdain and Zimmern. But like I said, after the rebrand, I gave up.

The funny thing is the international version of Travel Channel still shows actual travel content. When I've watched them on trips to Asia, they still are branded Travel Channel and show the old travel related shows and some new stuff exclusive to that region.
Same here. Thankfully there's a decent amount of stuff on Hulu as well, you just have to search for it. But this current Travel Channel programming is shit. I don't plan on traveling to any paranormal place anytime soon.

Originally Posted by tanman
Youtube took over. Now there a lot of great content some with pretty high production levels available to just about any destination. This channel is one of my favorites for obvious reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SFuZ9j1DwU
Screw YouTube. I have no stomach for that ADD programming. Takes more than titties to get me interested in a good travelogue.
Old 05-29-20 | 10:10 AM
  #14  
DVD Talk Limited Edition
 
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 6,161
Received 541 Likes on 402 Posts
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

I watch “Paranormal Caught on Camera” and “Ghost Nation“

But Ghost Nation is really bad. I really like Ghost Hunters (old and new versions), but Ghost Nation is just terrible. Editing, episode pacing, lack of evidence in the episodes, narration, etc. It features some of the original Ghost Hunters cast, which is why I’m comparing them.
Old 05-29-20 | 01:44 PM
  #15  
cultshock's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 29,504
Received 3,943 Likes on 2,677 Posts
From: Never 51
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
It's not unusual for channels to drift away from their original mission into a bunch of inspid shit. See: MTV.

The Food Network has been taken over a bunch of stupid competitions like Chopped and Guy's Grocery Games. AMC went from American Movie Classics to a bunch of whatever. VH1 just seems to show old sitcoms. TLC is just a bunch of "reality" crap.
Yeah, this kind of thing is happening with tons of cable "specialty" channels. It's become a joke, cable TV deserves the slow death it is going through, most of the channels are useless as shit and have nothing to do with their originally branding anymore.
The following users liked this post:
Alan Smithee (05-30-20)
Old 05-29-20 | 01:59 PM
  #16  
DVD Talk Special Edition
 
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,135
Received 117 Likes on 91 Posts
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by cultshock
Yeah, this kind of thing is happening with tons of cable "specialty" channels. It's become a joke, cable TV deserves the slow death it is going through, most of the channels are useless as shit and have nothing to do with their originally branding anymore.
Sort of like they are forcing people to ditch cable and adopt more streaming services.
Old 05-29-20 | 02:04 PM
  #17  
Hailey G's Avatar
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 13,022
Received 1,040 Likes on 488 Posts
From: Detroit, formerly known as Obi-Wanma
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by Red Hood
Viacom is a big culprit of these brand changes on TV. Not many have noticed, but Comedy Central has slowly but surely been downsizing on their original programming and getting shows like the Office for all day re-runs. It's gotten worse since the merger with CBS.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/b...streaming.html
I have noticed that the office is on pretty much all the time on Comedy Central now. Like so many channels now that basically show 1 show over and over 90% of the time.
Old 05-29-20 | 05:34 PM
  #18  
cultshock's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 29,504
Received 3,943 Likes on 2,677 Posts
From: Never 51
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by ddrknghtrtns
Sort of like they are forcing people to ditch cable and adopt more streaming services.
They forced me to ditch cable nearly 15 years ago.
The following users liked this post:
Alan Smithee (05-30-20)
Old 05-29-20 | 05:42 PM
  #19  
PhantomStranger's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 29,295
Received 1,210 Likes on 1,012 Posts
From: The Phantom Zone
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Cable is quickly becoming a wasteland of cheap reality programming and reruns. What's happened is that an entire generation of Millennials and younger basically don't consume cable at all, which has crippled cable ratings across the board.

That new paradigm has forced tv execs to go after the very cheapest contest and hope they remain relevant. We will approach a point in the next five years when traditional cable economics don't make sense for the channels anymore. They will either fold up shop or become low-revenue streaming channels.
Old 05-29-20 | 06:38 PM
  #20  
JeffTheAlpaca's Avatar
DVD Talk Hero
 
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 29,656
Received 1,359 Likes on 1,094 Posts
From: CA
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

I don't think MTV Live has shown anything new since 2017. They repeat the same old concerts and Later with Jools Holland.

The music videos are new but there is probably a surplus of live concerts and shows across the globe they could show or televise.
Old 05-29-20 | 09:24 PM
  #21  
DVD Talk Special Edition
 
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 1,135
Received 117 Likes on 91 Posts
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by cultshock
They forced me to ditch cable nearly 15 years ago.
Same here! Saw the direction they were headed and promptly cancel.
The following users liked this post:
Alan Smithee (05-30-20)
Old 05-30-20 | 02:21 AM
  #22  
tanman's Avatar
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,959
Received 1,830 Likes on 1,254 Posts
From: Gator Nation
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by E Unit

Screw YouTube. I have no stomach for that ADD programming. Takes more than titties to get me interested in a good travelogue.
Ok boomer.

Joking aside, people who say that are thinking about YouTube from 10 years ago. There's a lot of excellent well produced material on YouTube now. Yeah what's popular on YouTube is still crap but maybe just don't watch those videos and find something that interests you.
Old 05-30-20 | 02:27 AM
  #23  
tanman's Avatar
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,959
Received 1,830 Likes on 1,254 Posts
From: Gator Nation
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by PhantomStranger
Cable is quickly becoming a wasteland of cheap reality programming and reruns. What's happened is that an entire generation of Millennials and younger basically don't consume cable at all, which has crippled cable ratings across the board.

That new paradigm has forced tv execs to go after the very cheapest contest and hope they remain relevant. We will approach a point in the next five years when traditional cable economics don't make sense for the channels anymore. They will either fold up shop or become low-revenue streaming channels.
It's just shifted. Now the original content is on streaming subscription services because that's where all the money is now. I will shed very few tears for many of those cable channels.

And actually now that I think of it your reasoning doesn't apply to a lot of channels. Why did the history channel switch to 24 hour pawn stars and american pickers? Their previous content wasn't expensive to produce. Same thing with the travel channel and TLC etc. I just think that the general population loves reality TV (unfortunately)
Old 05-30-20 | 02:51 AM
  #24  
tanman's Avatar
DVD Talk Legend
 
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,959
Received 1,830 Likes on 1,254 Posts
From: Gator Nation
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by barelypure
If the front looks as good as the back I won't need more things to do in Oahu.
Oh it is just as good and then some. And she even has a great personality on top of all that. This is the absolute sexiest video she's done:




Old 05-30-20 | 09:21 AM
  #25  
Traxan's Avatar
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Gold Edition
 
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,483
Likes: 0
Received 35 Likes on 22 Posts
Re: What the hell happened to The Travel Channel?

Originally Posted by cultshock
Yeah, this kind of thing is happening with tons of cable "specialty" channels. It's become a joke, cable TV deserves the slow death it is going through, most of the channels are useless as shit and have nothing to do with their originally branding anymore.
I remember when Bravo was a high brow arthouse movie channel. Now it's the "Real" Housewives channel. What a fall from grace
The following 2 users liked this post by Traxan:
Alan Smithee (05-30-20), PileOfFudge (06-06-20)


Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.