I really like this show. Part food show, part travelogue, with a healthy dose of history, politics, and current events. I know that Bourdain is widely regarded as an ass, but he is very gracious on this show, and he will eat anything.
CNN has really been producing excellent original programming lately. “This is Life” with Lisa Ling and the 70’s/80’s series with Anderson Cooper are outstanding.
I love his other two shows, too, the older one "No Reservations, " and “Layover,” where he only spends 24 hours in a city.
I like “Parts Unknown” too.
That’s exactly my kind of television.
Is he widely regarded as an ass?
And his crew really tries to come up with neat shots. My favorite is the closing of the Cuba episode. A looong dolly shot, well over a minute long as the camera moves down the pier catching all the people sitting on the wall. As the shot continues, the pace slightly quickens along with the original musical score. It is so mesmerizing I Googled it and even Tony himself considers it one of the best live shots.
“Please take note of the tail end of the episode. A long tracking shot of people, mostly young Cubans hanging out by the Malecon in Havana. We have sort of a bet among ourselves — those of us who make the show — where we challenge each other to see how long we can hold a sequence without voice over, or dialogue. Just allow the images to speak for themselves. I think we outdid ourselves this time. I’m very proud of it.”
Dennis
The wife and I have only recently discovered him, but our favorite episode so far is when he interviewed President Obama in Hanoi, in a little hole-in-the-wall noodle shop.
Lisa Ling doesn’t grab me at all, but Anderson Cooper is great. The wife agrees on both counts.
Big fan of Anthony Bourdain … with the exception of the episode that had long segments about his interest in martial arts. Other than that, I find it remarkable that he can take a totally shitty part of the world, and show us a vibrant culture with interesting people and cuisine, without totally losing sight of the economic and political situation.
This. There are foods and locales that I don’t think I could enjoy because my palate is too narrow and my sense of security too fragile; I enjoy living vicariously through his programs, even if only for an hour at a time.
I often regard him as an ass but I still enjoy some of his programs.
Aren’t most chefs?
Yes, and kind of full of himself.
Still, I like the shows for the most part. I love the one where he visited the coldest settlement in the world, Oymyakon I think. He had a blast talking to people there, getting great food, and being entertained by a memorable bar owner.
I loved his Detroit one, too. It gets a bad rap(and deserves some of it), but Detroit remains a great city, an even better metro area, and has a lot of culture/food to share.
I like the show as well. I find it’s an interesting take on the travel show.
I really like the theme song by Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan (love QOTSA and Screaming Trees). I wish I could find the whole song.
I think he was a bit of an ass in his younger years. He’s changed. Become more self aware and reflective. Perhaps a little too much so.
Regardless, I’d sooner have dinner and drinks with him than 90% of chefs and cooking celebrities we see on cable TV these days.
Yes, this is for sure. I think with Anthony Bourdain, what you see is what you get.
Didn’t he have a near death experience?
I don’t know anything about that but he’s done a lot of drugs in his younger days, so perhaps.
Personally, I’d say “smart-ass.” Cynical, sarcastic, humorous, etc. No personal knowledge of him, but one restaurant I was in in which he had done a program raved about how cool and friendly he and his whole crew were.
And PS: I like his various programs, too.
In his book, he describes being a Punk - hanging out in the same crowds at the Mudd Club and CBGB’s while also being a chef and a heroin addict.
His voice in Kitchen Confidential is cocky and punk. But also a good guy who’s figured out a few things as he aged. And he always states how he deeply appreciates that he fell into this type of role and how much he loves it.
That’s definitely the sense I’ve gotten about him, as I’ve watched most of “Parts Unknown”, as well as “No Reservations”, and read a fair amount about him (though I’ve not read his book).
I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to work with him when he was younger (and I’m not sure I’d want to work with him today, either), but I think that traveling with him, or spending an evening drinking with him, would be highly entertaining, and thought-provoking. I’ll say this: through his shows, I’ve learned about places and cultures that I knew very little about.
I’ve watched all of his shows going back to A Cook’s Tour, and as much as I enjoy the man, halfway through the first season of Parts Unknown it started to feel like I’ve seen it all before.