The Un-Road Trip
The Un-Road Trip is an American reality television series featuring Boaz Frankel, a Portland, Oregon resident, as he travels 12,000 miles across North America using 101 non-gas powered modes of transportation.[1] Most of the show was filmed over a ten-week period beginning in April 2009.[2] It was first aired as a weekly series on Halogen TV, beginning on April 22, 2011.[3]
| The Un-Road Trip | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Boaz Frankel |
| Written by | Boaz Frankel, Todd Lewis |
| Directed by | Todd Lewis |
| Starring | Boaz Frankel, Caroline Avery Granger, Paul Gude, Peter McKay |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Marshall Nord, Becky Henderson |
| Producers | Todd Lewis, Boaz Frankel (co-producer) |
| Cinematography | David Temple |
| Editors | Cliff McGinnis, Todd Lewis |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | Halogen TV |
| Original release | April 22 – June 24, 2011 |
| External links | |
| Official website at Halogen TV | |
| Production website | |
Production
The basis for the series was a two-month trip Boaz Frankel took in spring 2009.[4] While involved in other projects, Frankel kept in touch "with executives or producers" at cable networks including the Discovery Channel, hoping to turn the video footage from the trip into a series; executives at the latter "wouldn’t quite commit, but were ...eager to keep in touch."[4]
When Frankel became aware of Halogen TV, a secular channel owned by The Inspiration Networks, he contacted them. Marshall Nord, Halogen's program director, had him flown to North Carolina to meet with staff producer Todd Lewis; as a result, Halogen licensed the video footage Frankel had made during his spring 2009 trip, and "signed him to produce, co-write and host a 10-episode series of 30-minute" episodes.[4] In late July 2010, Frankel returned to North Carolina where intro segments he wrote for the series were recorded; the segments were set in a "rustic wood cabin that once served as a general store in Jim and Tammy Bakker's Heritage USA amusement park" and featured Frankel, two of his friends and an actress playing a third friend, ...pretending to listen to Frankel as he describes slides he has taken on the real trip depicted in the video footage he licensed to them. Their "(often-sarcastic) responses lead into actual video vignettes, which then form the core of the series."[4]
List of episodes
The following is a list of episodes:[5][6]
| No. | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Onward from Oregon" | April 22, 2011 | |
| Boaz begins a car-free cross-country journey on a motorized cooler, traveling through Lodi on an agricultural helicopter and sailing around Santa Barbara on a catamaran. | |||
| 2 | "From Cali to Camels" | April 29, 2011 | |
| Boaz, in Los Angeles, hops on the Kangoo Jumps craze and rides a camel in Albuquerque.[7] | |||
| 3 | "Cruisin' to the Capitol" | May 8, 2011 | |
| Boaz is in Chicago with a walking rickshaw and a wine bike, then in Washington D.C. for a ride on a secret subway. | |||
| 4 | "Caloosahatchee or Bust!" | May 13, 2011 | |
| In Florida,[8] Boaz avoids alligators on Lake Okeechobee and kayaks the Caloosahatchee River.[9] | |||
| 5 | "Escape from Punta Gorda" | May 20, 2011 | |
| Boaz escapes on a Harley, with brief rides in a shopping cart and a unicycle. | |||
| 6 | "Bike the Big Apple" | May 27, 2011 | |
| Boaz is in New York City on a cargo bike, sees the future at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the past in a 1920s barnstormer. | |||
| 7 | "Boaz’s Bike Bonanza" | June 3, 2011 | |
| In New England, Boaz travels 30 miles on a Segway PT, rides a bike through the New Hampshire hills, and gets airborne on a paraglider. | |||
| 8 | "Canada on Couch Bike" | June 10, 2011 | |
| Boaz covering many kilometers on Couch Bike, then returned stateside for a rollercoaster ride at the Mall of America. | |||
| 9 | "Westward Bound" | June 17, 2011 | |
| Boaz heads west, through Minneapolis on a Pedal Pub, Idaho on a seaplane and hitchhiking in Seattle. | |||
| 10 | "The End of The Un-Road Trip?" | June 24, 2011 | |
| Following a wipeout in Seattle, a jug band jam on a seven-man bike, Boaz ends his journey back in Portland on a Velomobile. | |||
References
- Oliver, Claire (1 May 2011). "Southwest Portland resident embarks on 'The Un-Road Trip'". The Southwest Community Connection. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
- Brones, Anna (April 2, 2009). "Crossing the Country With Anything But a Car: WendTV Interviews Boaz Frankel of Un-Road Trip". Wend magazine. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- "The Un-Road Trip". The Un-Road Trip. Halogen TV. Retrieved 2011-06-27.
- Carlin, Peter Ames (August 17, 2010). "Boaz Frankel un-roadtrips his way to a TV series". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- "Episodes". Halogen TV. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- "Episode List: The Un-Road Trip". TV Tango. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- "The 'Un-Road Trip' passes through Albuquerque". Media Release. Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau. April 28, 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- "The Un-Road Trip". Keen Blog. KEEN, Inc. May 14, 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
- "The Un-Road Trip came and went". Great Calusa Blueway Kayak and Canoe Paddling Trail website. Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau. May 28, 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-25.