04 July 2016

What To Watch on The TeeVee, 4 July 2016

As asserted here in these endeavors a few times, Anthony Bourdain's "Parts Unknown" is the best show on the TeeVee. Alas, Orlando coverage compelled CNN to cancel the last season's last episode (Buenos Aires). But, there's a mini-marathon of re-runs on tonight, and you must watch the 8 pm (EDT, anyway) show from Massachusetts, my home state. The show is set mostly in two of the parts of the state (legally, a commonwealth; extra points for knowing the number of "states" in the USofA that are not "states", without looking it up) that most attract me: Provincetown (and far Cape Cod) and far northwestern towns. I grew up in Springfield and did grad work at UMass in Amherst (on the southeast edge of the far Berkshires); which was then the only UMass.

Turns out these two opposite ends of the state share a common characteristic, and with Bourdain: drugs. The show was first aired in November, 2014, and thus predates much of the recent hoopla of white, suburban, soccermom addiction meaning we should view drugs as a public health issue rather than police issue. Somehow, Bourdain's cooking shows extravagantly transcend, with prescience of the wider world, just food. You must watch.

OK,for those that can't, won't, or missed it, here's a page with the best bits.

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