Gullible’s travels, Viking lore and pigs
A new series called “Paranormal Caught on Camera” (10 p.m., Travel, TV-PG) debuts with alleged poltergeist activity captured in a Texas motel room described as “seedy.” Other highlights include a UFO sighting over a sacred shrine and a chat with two hikers who claim to have spotted Sasquatch.
Time was, travel magazines and documentaries accented the food, wine and cultural diversity of places all over the world. Expeditions, even those undertaken merely by armchair travelers, were exercises in cultural enrichment and opportunities for expansion. For years, Travel brought us “No Reservations” with the late Anthony Bourdain, who truly focused on cultural exploration. Sadly, he’s impossible to replace.
It’s extraordinary to see just how much of the Travel Channel’s schedule is dedicated to supernatural snipe hunts and brain-sapping balderdash like “The Loch Ness Monster Lives: A Mysteries at the Museum Special” (9 p.m., TV-PG), or an episode of “Mysteries at the Museum” (8 p.m., TV-PG), featuring a tale of a “heartbroken ghost.”
And that’s just tonight’s offerings. Over the years, Travel has also promoted “The Dead Files,” featuring a medium, “Ghost Adventures” and “Kindred Spirits.”
› “Nature” (8 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) presents “Wild Way of the Vikings.” Viewers hoping for the kinds of epic battles and debauches depicted on History’s “The Vikings” will be disappointed. “Wild Way” emphasizes the creatures that shared the forests and fjords with the Norse explorers, from the reindeer of Norway to the puffins and otters of the Scottish coast to the eider ducks still raised on farms in Iceland. Ewan McGregor narrates this appreciation of the Viking way that encompassed a great reverence for the land and sea.
› Speaking of appreciating critters, the documentary “Amazing Pigs” (8 p.m., Smithsonian) accentuates the diversity and adaptability of pigs, particularly feral creatures formerly imported to new habitats that were forced to adapt new behaviors to survive and thrive.
It’s said that America’s hordes of wild boars are descended from pigs brought over by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. “Amazing” showcases feral pigs that escaped from farms in the Bahamas and had to learn how to swim in order to survive. They’ve not gone unnoticed. These swimming pigs have even become a tourist attraction.
Dear Travel Channel: I’d rather watch swimming pigs than people who pretend to believe in ghosts!
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
› Connor operates under a cloud on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
› “Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) helps a Los Angeles gastropub get its groove back.
› Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Consuelos guest-star on a ’90s flashback episode of “Riverdale” (8 p.m., CW, repeat, TV-14).
Contact Kevin McDonough at kevin .tvguy@gmail.com.