River Road/Natchez Trace (American Historic Trails)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: B-
For
decades, all I knew about Tom Bodett was that he was the voice of a famous
hotel/motel chain and did National Public Radio duties. He is very knowledgeable and when he is not
being his down-home simple self, what he has to say is compelling. The River Road and Natchez Trace segments of America’s
Historic Trails are here back to back as they originally were meant to run
for TV broadcast, though not spliced together.
Running
nearly an hour total, it adds up to an informative trip to little-seen
locations and Bodett is armed with facts that we can bet he knows much of this
off the top of his head. That adds to
the compelling nature of watch these shows, which adds to the disappointment of
how short they are. Maybe they could
have included a few more shows. Where is
The Travel Channel keeping them?
The full
frame, color image was shot in analog videotape and it shows. Fortunately, the original source is
clean. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is
shockingly monophonic, despite the program being produced in 1996. It also sounds a bit compressed, so do not be
surprised, but those who do not like Bodett’s voice will not care either
way. There are no extras, unfortunately,
but this is a good sit-through if the subject appeals to you.
- Nicholas Sheffo
