Bourdain’s Making of India, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Fraud-For-Profit That Is Glenn Beck

In the spring of 2010 Zero Point Zero productions sent a No Reservations crew to Kerala, India to make some fine television. They also sent an extra camera operator and show producer to document the entire process. The Making of India episode is a candid look into the inner workings of No Reservations, the Emmy Award winning travel program.

The first step to building an episode is pre-production and research for the planned location. It begins about 4 weeks ahead of the actual trip... and it usually starts very slowly. There is so much thinking and logistics that goes into planning out every scene that "it's like planning a dysfunctional family vacation."

Once the original planned scenes are set, it is time to call the "fixers." The crew gets a hold of someone who lives in the country and really knows the area. The fixers help out with planning and logistics and also help to suggest great scenes for the show. After the headache inducing work is done, it is time to head into the country and shoot some great television. It is tough. The hours are long. And it wears you down. Sometimes people want to know if The Boss is losing interest in travel. His honest response? "No. I'm addicted to this. This isn't going away." You can catch Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations this Monday at 9pm, Texas Time, only on the Travel Channel.

Timothy Braun
Austin, TX
August 27, 2010

Five Easy Pieces (a quintet of other matters on my mind: special addition for Glenn Beck and his lie-rally this 8-28-10).
1. Tomorrow, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Glenn Beck will give his own speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on how we can reclaim the honor of America. Interesting, I wonder why Beck thinks we have lost our honor? Glenn Beck, why do you hate America? Do you know the expression “love it, or leave it?”
2. Many people (Patton Oswalt comes to mind) have called Beck crazy. I think it is wrong to say ol’ G.B. is nuts. Crazy people know not what they do. Beck knows what he is doing. Beck is a fraud. He lies and misleads to make money.
3. Glenn Beck lies, you ask? Yes. Check the Pulitzer Prize winning Politifact.com.
4. Personally, I hope Beck has a safe, happy, health time at his fraud-for-profit event. With one exception. I hope an endangered bird poops on him while he speaks. And, I hope that bird is gay, and on his way to Canada for a soy-latte with other gay-endangered animals.
5. I bet your wondering why a picture of my beloved sidekick, Dusty-Danger, is linked to this post? Because I feel what Beck will do tomorrow is beyond wrong and tasteless. Beck is committing fraud on a level we rarely see. He is perpetuating fear to make money from sad people. Tomorrow, the modern day P.T. Barnum will give his greatest show, with a cavalcade of circus freaks (Sarah Palin), hoaxing heightened emotions in hard times. Dusty, in my eyes, is a better animal then Glenn Beck. I would charge the gates of Hell for my dog, my family, my friends, and my students. I wouldn’t walk to 7-11 for Glenn Beck.