Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Collection 1
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Actor: Anthony Bourdain, Louisa Chu, Nari Kye, Uwe Boll, Zamir GottaBrand: Image Entertainment
Editor: Chris Martinez
Editor: David Robinson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 342 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-03-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Travel Channel
DVD Reviews of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Collection 1
DVD Review: The Anti-Tourist show
Summary: 4 Stars
The first time I sat and watched No Reservations with Tony Bourdain, it was because I'd stumbled upon the Paris episode while channel surfing one bored summer afternoon. Paris has long been a dream destination of mine, so I checked it out. From the get-go, my expectations were challenged and my interest piqued. The Eiffel Tower? Notre Dame? The Louvre? Not on this show. How about an absinthe bar followed by a hallucinogenic night back in the same hotel room where Oscar Wilde died instead? Or a visit to a wine cellar that leads to an eerie stumble through catacombs and sewers? Or the central market where we see a decapitated reindeer and hear our narrator apologize to children awaiting Christmas presents because "Santa cut Rudolph's f-ing head off?" I quickly realized that this wasn't some tired, formulaic, and superficial travelogue or some half-baked Fear Factor retread with the host trying to make the viewer squirm. This was intellectual and thoughtful, spiced with Bourdain's jaded attitude, searing sarcasm and caustic sense of humor. Furthermore, I liked that he sought out the understated, sublime, local favorites instead of the popular tourist stops and that he preferred the seedy and debauched over the posh and staid. This was a guy who was visiting Paris like I would like to do. This was an anti-tourist show hosted by an anti-hero. I was immediately a fan.
This dvd collection features eight episodes and, as many have already noted, it is an incomplete collection. According to Amazon's offerings, there are 13 episodes in the first season available for individual purchase, so why there are only eight here is hard to fathom. It seems likely that a more comprehensive and accurate compilation will eventually come around, so keep this in mind when contemplating purchasing this set. Also, these are edited with profanities (and there are many) bleeped out and there are no frills at all. It is episodes only, no commentary, behind the scenes, interviews, or anything. Again this leads me to think that a better release might be in order with Bourdain's predictably derisive commentary, the missing scenes available on the channel's website, and perhaps some other goodies. He has already amended his books, so it seems possible that the dvds will get a new look as well. The show and the fans deserve it. My four star rating is based on the content, however, and not the problems outside of the material contained herein. Whether you wish to spend twenty bucks on an incomplete collection that is badly in need of an upgrade is up to you. It is the nature of entertainment corporations to re-release popular items to force serious fans to re-purchase something that should have been done right the first time. Greed...don't ya love it?
The best episodes? A visit to his roots in New Jersey that demonstrates things aren't nearly so bad here in the states if you apply the same open-mind and tolerance to your countrymen that you do to your foreign country hosts, the aforementioned "French Don't Suck" visit to Paris, the humbling and life-threatening journey to New Zealand, his James Bond inspired trip to North Vietnam, and the harrowing yet introspective excursion to Malaysia.
The lesser ones are the Sicily, Iceland, and Las Vegas installments. Sicily was hokey and out of character. It felt forced, insincere, and uninspired. Iceland is like the Sweden episode from a future season; there is little of interest outside of Viking references, cold temperatures, and questionable food. He doesn't carry himself with passion in these spots as he does in those locales where his soul seems enriched by the experience. For Las Vegas, he tries hard to bring in a Fear and Loathing vibe, but let's face it; every other show on The Travel Network or The Food Channel seems to take place in that city and I'm just sick of Las Vegas already. Las Vegas is nothing if not THE most overrated city in the country, if not the world, and one more person's take on Adult Disneyland is one less I need to see. If only what happened in Vegas truly stayed there, I wouldn't be subjected to it every time I turned on the boob tube. That personal gripe aside, even the three sub-par ones are still worth viewing just to see these places and watch Bourdain struggle at times to find humor in the occasional ridiculousness of travel television.
Season one is a good beginning to what has become regular tv viewing for me. This is smart, engrossing, and fun television. Now if they can just get the true and complete collection together...
Description of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Collection 1
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 03/20/2007Bestsellers in DVD
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