‘Samantha Brown’s Places to Love’ & More Travel TV Shows That Are Perfect Escapism
There’s always room on TV for travel documentaries. If you’re looking for some realistic escapism, these shows take the scenic route.
Samantha Brown’s Places to Love
After a quarter century hosting travel shows — including Great Vacation Homes, Girl Meets Hawaii, Passport to Green Getaways, Passport to China and more for Travel Channel — Samantha Brown knows what makes a good vacation: meeting the locals.
People are at the heart of her popular, award-winning PBS series Places to Love, which now has eight seasons under its well-traveled belt. Each of the show’s 30-minute episodes finds a new way of experiencing vacation gems around the world (the latest season included Germany and Costa Rica, as well as closer-to-home haunts like New Orleans and Traverse City, Michigan) while focusing primarily on the human connections that make it all so enticing. That shines through even when Brown is tasting some of the best wine in the world or picking cherries off a tree or having a wild time inner-tubing over rapids.
Brown doesn’t just show off the well-documented landmarks and famous highlights of her chosen destinations; instead, she finds new ways to explore the heart and soul of each city she visits. And that’s definitely something to love.
PBS (check local listings at pbs.org)
Fox
Extracted
In the grand tradition of extreme wilderness competition shows (think: Man vs. Wild but without the help of a survival expert like Bear Grylls), Extracted pits its contestants not only against each other, but also against the consciences of their loved ones.
The show, which premiered in February, finds 12 tough folks who are not already hardened survival experts — like 50-year-old former cop Woody Kaminer — challenged to make do after being dumped in a forest in British Columbia. Cameras strewn about the trees and on the ground record the action as the contestants see how long they can make it.
The twist? They don’t get to decide if they’re tapping out of the game. They each have loved ones sitting in a cozy studio watching the events unfold, and only they can pull these poor souls out. Hopefully, they all purchased their travel insurance.
Fox, Mondays, 8/7c
Apple TV+
The Reluctant Traveler
Comedy actor Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek, SCTV) calls himself a “great indoors” guy—not someone who likes to hit the road. So it’s perfect that in this series, he gets challenged to head out to unexpected locales, with both hilarious and touching results.
In the first season, the actor helped us see parts of Japan, South Africa, Utah, Costa Rica, the Maldives, Portugal and Finland through new eyes. For Season 2, Levy took off to Europe—Greece, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Scotland, France and Spain—while looking up his family tree. We’re anything but reluctant to watch Levy’s travels.
Apple TV+, available now
Max
Conan O’Brien Must Go
Some celebrities know how to treat their fans. The former late-night host is one of them: In this hilarious series, he travels to see people he’s met through his popular podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Fan. Last year, the veteran comedian—who previously hosted the travel show Conan Without Borders for TBS—wowed us in the first season’s four episodes (filmed in Norway, Argentina, Thailand and Ireland). For the upcoming Season 2, the show is getting upgraded to six episodes, and wherever he’s headed next, we know we must go too.
Max, available now
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