Re: Huell Howser retires

Awww, Huell retired. Gonna miss that folksy guy. Some of my road trips in CA came about because of his shows, especially his climb of Half Dome, and his trip to the Bristlecones, among many others. I handed out his DVD "Yosemite Week" for Christmas presents.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-1128-huell-howser-20121128,0,6710999.story

I love the episode he did in Death Valley right after a big rainfall. His episode on the firefall was classic too.

I visited a lot of places after first seeing them on that show. I haven't watched it in years, however.

I love his shows and will miss them. I learned about places in California that I would not have known about without him having a program on them.

I thought what is with this guy, when I first saw him many years ago, but he grows on you. Looked for Conness Lakes after seeing him go there. He went to Le Conte Falls, but he took a mule there. I went to Whiskeytown Falls after I saw his show there. On the Whiskeytown Falls show he said "I'm sweating through my shirt". Sent him an e-mail after I went to Whiskeytown Falls. His e-mail reply sounded like it was written by him. He tried to sell me a DVD of the show in the reply. One of the few people who would go out on the trail for a show back then.

I first saw what the cables to the top of Half Dome looked like on his show. Also LeConte Falls. I heard last night on the news that he donated all the shows to Chapman University and they will make them available online.

I'll take his job...

Wouldn't we all. What a job, explore California and get paid for it. Sign me up.

I wouldn't be surprised if PBS didn't find a replacement.

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plawrence
I wouldn't be surprised if PBS didn't find a replacement.

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Some times people can't be replaced and a show still have the same appeal. It is Huell's show and it was his personality that set it apart from other travel shows. Just like there are other wildlife shows, like Jeff Corbin, but they never had/have the appeal that Steve Irwin's show "The Crocodile Hunter" did. I did not watch "California Gold" because it was a travel show that high lighted California's treasures, but because of him.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2012 11:30AM by parklover.

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parklover
It is Huell's show and it was his personality that set it apart from other travel shows.

Really? His personality was what I really, really hated about the show. He'd go to "amazing" places and spend his entire time there trying to find people that would admire him. That would have been okay if it hadn't meant the genre was preempted. It'll be a long time before someone else can come along and do it right.

Anybody remember Ralph Story?

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eeek

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parklover
It is Huell's show and it was his personality that set it apart from other travel shows.

Really? His personality was what I really, really hated about the show. He'd go to "amazing" places and spend his entire time there trying to find people that would admire him. That would have been okay if it hadn't meant the genre was preempted. It'll be a long time before someone else can come along and do it right.

Anybody remember Ralph Story?

Are you sure you actually saw the show?

I've seen many, many of his shows and never even once saw anything even remotely approaching him looking for admiration.

What I saw was the polar opposite of what you're claiming.

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parklover

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plawrence

I wouldn't be surprised if PBS didn't find a replacement.

Some times people can't be replaced and a show still have the same appeal. It is Huell's show and it was his personality that set it apart from other travel shows. Just like there are other wildlife shows, like Jeff Corbin, but they never had/have the appeal that Steve Irwin's show "The Crocodile Hunter" did. I did not watch "California Gold" because it was a travel show that high lighted California's treasures, but because of him.

I watched it because the show did highlight California treasures.

And while I enjoyed watching Huell as the host of California Gold, I don't think he was that unique as a host as to be irreplaceable.

In the Bay Area, there was another similar show called Bay Area Backroads hosted Doug McConnell. Doug McConnell is another very personable host (though he carries no Southern accent like Huell did).

And actually it looks like PBS is picking his current show (shown locally in the Bay Area on PBS), OpenRoad with Doug McConnell, Exploring the West for national distribution starting this fall. So maybe this show will become the de facto replacement for California Gold (though it covers the entire West and doesn't focus just on California).

.

Actually the "travel" show (for me) to watch is Motion, on the Live Well Network. I only get to catch it when I am in SoCal. Now I REALLY would like Greg Aiello's job!

I remember our family gathering around the TV to watch "The Happy Wanderer." Then we would pile in the station wagon, on weekends, and go to some of the locations featured on the show.

One can watch past episodes of Motion online if one doesn't have access to the Live Well Network on TV:

http://livewellnetwork.com/Motion/7624634

.

But one can't watch past episodes of Motion online if one happens to be connected to dial up..(.it takes 1/2 hour to load a 9 second youtube video)


I was just thinking, though, last night, how things have improved just a bit. I used to not be able to get a cell phone signal inside of my home. Now I get one bar


Hopefully the Digital 395 project will help some of us rural residents!

http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,60987

btw... the pass the guy went thru is called "Russell Pass"
According to Secor it's class 2

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