STEPHEN FRY IN AMERICA
Laced with loads of British witticism and heaps of transcontinental charm, Stephen Fry in America follows renowned English comic/actor Stephen Fry on his journey as he travels to all 50 United States in the span of six one-hour episodes. Part fish-out-of-water story and part exploration of what his life might have been (Fry almost grew up in the U.S.), the series (which originally aired on BBC in 2008) depicts Fry road-tripping the U.S. in his trademark black London cab from New England to Hawaii. Along the way, he breaks bread with Navajos in the Monument Valley, speaks with the homeless in St. Louis, and attends a college football game in Alabama among a diverse smattering of all-American adventures and offbeat excursions. Sometimes the best way to see a place is through the eyes of a foreigner.
“I’m exactly like Anthony Bourdain if he was afraid of everything,” Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal says he told Netflix when pitching his food-travel series, Somebody Feed Phil. Indeed, Rosenthal proves the anti-Bourdain in this nerdy but lovable travelogue full of dorky outfits and flaccid dad jokes that plays out in low-impact fashion over two six-episode seasons.
Exploring more well-known locales such as Venice and New Orleans sprinkled in with a few more eccentric offerings like Cape Town and Tel Aviv, Rosenthal’s show lacks the sharp point of view or journalistic insights of Parts Unknown but makes up for it with an infectious optimism and earnest desire for human connection. The cheesy theme song declares Phil “a happy and hungry man,” and maybe that’s exactly what the world needs.