Author Topic: "Around the World in 80 Ways"  (Read 15083 times)

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Offline apskip

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"Around the World in 80 Ways"
« on: April 25, 2011, 10:54:29 AM »
The History Channel has announced a new series that sounds a bit like Around the World For Free. Here is the scoop on it, except that no specific timetable for the telecasts has been announced:

Robert "Boston Rob" Mariano and Dennis Anderson Are Set to Go "Around the World in 80 Ways"

New Series Premiering 2011 on HISTORY(TM)

NEW YORK, April 25, 2011 - Robert "Boston Rob" Mariano (Survivor, The Amazing Race) and Dennis Anderson (creator of the monster truck Gravedigger) will host the upcoming new series AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 WAYS, it was announced today by Dirk Hoogstra, Senior Vice President of Development and Programming for HISTORY. In HISTORY's 10-part series slated to premiere later this year, they will take on an epic challenge: to circumnavigate the globe using 80 different modes of travel without repeating any vehicle.

"This series captures HISTORY's commitment to highly compelling entertainment within a historical framework," said Hoogstra. "The dynamic between our two hosts will make for great television, while viewers can journey around the world with them to explore the ingenuity of travel in every era, throughout all stages of technological advances."

Rob and Dennis will have to employ every conceivable means of transportation - blimp and fighter jet, ostrich and canoe, chariot and hitchhiking - and will even have to build their own vehicles. Sometimes they will work together and other times they'll race. But the hosts are notorious for their vicious competitive streaks and have been known to cheat, torment, boast and battle their way to the top. In this extreme expedition, nothing is off limits.

"Boston Rob" Mariano made his first television appearance on Survivor: Marquesas in 2002. Mariano is a four-time Survivor contestant and a two-time competitor, along with his wife Amber Brkich, on The Amazing Race. He has hosted several television events and shows and starred in a regular segment for the CBS Early Show. An avid sportsman, Mariano is Boston-born and holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Boston University.

Four-time Monster Jam world champion Dennis Anderson is the creator and driver of Gravedigger, the world's most recognized monster truck brand in the history of the sport. Anderson has won more than 3000 races and 500 trophies over a three decade career and has appeared on numerous television series such as America's Toughest Jobs, Conan O'Brien and Monster Jam. Anderson also continues to expand the Gravedigger brand through his Muddy Motor Sports Park and restaurant outside Kill Devil Hills, NC.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 WAYS is produced for HISTORY by Original Productions, a FremantleMedia Company. Thom Beers and Philip D. Segal are Executive Producers and Jeff Conroy is Co-Executive Producer for Original Productions. Julian P. Hobbs is Executive Producer for HISTORY.
« Last Edit: May 26, 2011, 07:21:28 AM by TexasLady »

Offline Prophet

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2011, 02:48:08 PM »
Sounds like an interesting show, especially with Boston Rob involved! :lol:
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Offline Peace, Love, TAR! :D

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2011, 04:25:53 PM »
 :hearts: I can't wait for it to premiere!
"Like most things, it can be fixed by whipping a rock at it." --Courtney Yates; Survivor: China/Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains

Offline coolio

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2011, 06:48:26 PM »
Sounds like an interesting show, especially with Boston Rob involved! :lol:
Anything with Boston Rob is fantastic!  :yess:

Offline Jobby

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2011, 05:21:17 AM »
As long as it don't end up as... TOTINE. (or something like that)


Offline Pedaler

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2011, 11:36:39 AM »
Boston Rob has started tweeting and posting about the show.  It started filming a few days ago.  Here's a photo Rob tweeted:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Yesterday, he posted some photos on Facebook from Cusco, Peru. From the photos and due to the short travel time from L.A. to Peru,  I'm assuming he went by commercial plane.  I wonder if the show will consider military planes, private planes, cargo planes, etc. different than a commercial plane.  Otherwise, it's going to be a longgggggggggg journey for Rob and his co-host.

Link for photos : http://www.facebook.com/bostonrobmariano

p.s.  Old time TAR viewers should recall that Cusco was the site of the first pit stop in TAR 7.

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2011, 01:36:31 AM »
Wow...already?? Poor Amber....
Is there an online site to follow?
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Offline Pedaler

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2011, 10:46:33 PM »
Wow...already?? Poor Amber....
Is there an online site to follow?

No Peach,  He just periodically posts to Twitter and Facebook

Can you correct the thread title?  It should read 80 Ways instead of 80 Days.

Offline apskip

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #8 on: May 25, 2011, 05:36:22 PM »
Wow...already?? Poor Amber....
Is there an online site to follow?

No Peach,  He just periodically posts to Twitter and Facebook

Can you correct the thread title?  It should read 80 Ways instead of 80 Days.

Pedaler,
Either Peach could or I could correct the thread title, but since it is already correct that will not happen.

AUTHOR's NOTE - as a result of action by a Moderator I double-checked once again whether "Ways" is the correct title ending or "Days". There is confusion in the press about this, but the Futon Critic says "Ways" so that must be right, as that individual has only been wrong only once in 5 years. I apologize to Pedaler.   
« Last Edit: May 26, 2011, 08:53:11 AM by apskip »

Offline Pedaler

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Days"
« Reply #9 on: May 25, 2011, 09:30:51 PM »
apskip, You're pompous and still wrong.  Look again at the program name that's cited at least three times from the press release in your initial post and then look again at the thread name. 

 

The program name is a play on the name of the Jules Verne novel.


Offline apskip

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Ways"
« Reply #10 on: August 15, 2011, 04:42:04 PM »
The 10-part series premieres 4th Quarter, 2011 on the HISTORY Channel and is created by Thom Beers and his Original Productions team starring Rob Mariano and Dennis Anderson.

Whether rushing down Victoria Falls in a barrel, hang gliding over Rio, or crossing the Kalahari by ostrich, Rob and Dennis had to employ 80 different forms of transportation without repeating any vehicle. It's an extreme expedition that took the hosts not only across the miles, but through time as they explore the history behind the many ways people have gotten around throughout the ages.

This adventure took Rob and Dennis through Brazil, Peru, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Dubai, India, Thailand, and the United States. Sometimes they must join forces, while at other times they work against each other. At times they even have to invent and build their own means of transport.

But these macho men are both accustomed to being champions and have been known to torment, boast, and battle their way to the top. Although AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 WAYS is not a competition, these two can't resist turning everything into a good-natured dare of their own. In their playbook, nothing is off limits when humiliating consequences await the loser.

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Ways"
« Reply #11 on: September 19, 2011, 09:18:18 PM »
Around the World in 80 Ways will premiere Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 10 pm EST. The website for it is
http://www.history.com/shows/around-the-world-in-80-ways
"Like most things, it can be fixed by whipping a rock at it." --Courtney Yates; Survivor: China/Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains

Offline apskip

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Ways"
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2011, 02:48:06 PM »
It's on! The first episode was telecast by the History Channel on Sunday night at 10pm, repeating at 2am Monday.

This is the epic adventures of Boston Rob Mariano and Dennis Anderson, the Monster Truck guy. The rules of this are to circle the globe using 80 different forms of transportation, never repeating any form. They are off and moving:

1. Rob drives an old Cadillac convertible into the desert somewhere and Dennis comes along with a Monster Truck and smashes it.

2. They take a tow truck some distance to reach the next one.

3. Dennis has constructed a Walking Beast with 8 legs, 454 hp and 13,000 pounds going 2 mph. they find that is just too slow.

Next, not shown and not counted is however they chose to get to LAX airport.

4. They fly to Cuzco, Peru mimicing Rob's start of Amazing Race 7.

Next, there was no indication of how they got from the airport into the heart of the city.

5. From the municipal bus station, they get a long-distance, high-altitude bus to Lake Titicaca. this is Dennis' first trip out of the U.S. but he plays the role goodwill ambassador, leading the local in American folk songs that they didn't understand but could do the gestures for.

6. However, they got off 35 miles short of their destination so they can take a special route that cuts out that distance. It involves a series of 3 zip lines that took them across valleys and down. Dennis went first without luggage and Rob, a supposed expert on zip lining from his Amazing Race days, came with Dennis' backpack as well as his own (although he had neither on the second zipline). Then they both had to climb down a harrowing set of ladders just to reach the start of the third zipline.

7. That took them to a village where they bought 2 horses and navigated part of the short remaining distance to Lake Titicaca. That did not get them there, so they traded the horses for a small motorbike which did finish the job.

8. A Water Taxi took them on Lake Titicaca to a floating island.

9. At the floating island they got reed boats and raced them back to the shore. Dennis got a ticket by the water police for some obscure reason.

I can recommend this show. The antics of Boston Rob and Dennis are very entertaining.

Offline apskip

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Ways"
« Reply #13 on: October 10, 2011, 09:47:02 PM »
This show is running on gimmicks and gotten much less interesting. How do you bridge maybe 4000 miles from Cuzco Peru to Rio de Janeiro? If you are the producers of this show, you simply ignore them and hope nobody notices. So, how do you get from Cuzco to Rio on new forms of transportation? You don't; it's that simple. So Rob and Dennis were taken somehow (airplane, anyone?) to Sao Paulo, Brazil and placed on the top of a tall building. I don't think they had officially used an elevator yet, so that would have been possible. However, it's not as photogenic as being lowered on a window washer vehicle down the side of a 25 story building. That doesn't get them any closer to Rio but it does get them off the building.

We discover that, despite his time on various Survivor locations, Rob is not an adventurous eater. Next, they walked (or more likely took an unshown taxi) to the outskirts of a 20+ million metro area to find a truck stock. There they caught a rail train which has maybe 4 hopper cars hooked to a locomotive. That took them maybe 400 miles closer to Rio, only 50 miles away. In that area there was an ostrich farm, so Rob and Dennis had a race with ostriches hooked to a different cart they each sat in and then took that same mode of transportation into the local town. For their next trick they took a harvester aka combine on a sugar cane field and put the collection vehicle and the combine into a race to the lengthy end of that field.

Next, they somehow were allowed to paint the lines of a road with yellow paint, which they botched pretty badly. They found a handcart on railroad tracks that their producers had conveniently arranged to be there. It was easily to move downhill and hard uphill. It got them to the suburbs of Rio on the beach and there there was a waiting swanboat to take them the last segment to Ipanema Beach. However, it was too difficult to navigate in the surf, so they abandoned that.  All of a sudden they end up on Sugarloaf Mountain (another instance of cheating, I think). It is possible to get there on 2 cable cars from somewhere in Rio, but not from where Rob and Dennis were.  I would have been photogenic, but the producers missed an opportunity there. Finally, they were ready to come down and Rob elected hang gliding, but Dennis would not consider it. He was shown running down (yeah, for how many inches would that be viable?) and then buying up an ice cream cart. He rode that cart to Ipanema Beach and supposedly beat Rob there. I don't believe it. That had to be totally staged, as Rob would have gotten down in any 15 minutes including the mandatory safety lecture. Given the distance, Dennis was just not going to beat him.

This is the summary of the new forms of transportation:
10. Window Washer Vehicle
11. Rail train
12. Ride an ostrich cart
13. Combine/Harvester
14. Paint road lines
15. Handcart
16. Swanboat
17. Hang gliding (Rob only)
18. Ice Cream cart (Dennis only)

Offline apskip

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Re: "Around the World in 80 Ways"
« Reply #14 on: October 11, 2011, 08:53:16 AM »
I have decided that this series is too hokey for me to continue watching. Without watching, it would be impossible to do any recaps of it, so I urge anyone interested to pick the ball up and run with it.