Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations is an American travel and food show that originally aired on the Travel Channel in the United States and on Discovery Travel & Living internationally. In it, host Anthony Bourdain visits various countries and cities, as well as places within the U.S., where he explores local culture and cuisine. The format and content of the show is similar to Bourdain's 2001–2002 Food Network series, A Cook's Tour. The show premiered in 2005 and concluded its nine-season run with the series finale episode (Brooklyn) on November 5, 2012.
The special episode Anthony Bourdain in Beirut that aired between Seasons 2 and 3 was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming in 2007.Nominees for the News & Documentary Emmy Awards In 32 Categories Announced By NATAS (PDF), p. 21. Emmys.tv, July 17, 2007. Press release. Retrieved 2011-03-13. In 2009 and 2011, the series won the Emmy for "Outstanding Cinematography For Nonfiction Programming".61st Annual Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Awards (PDF), p. 16. Emmys.tv, November 12, 2009. Press release. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
Episodes
Season 1
Season 2 Three special episodes were aired in 2006, one before the season, and two after.
Season 3 Season 3 was aired in two parts: six episodes in the winter of 2007, and nine in the summer and autumn of 2007. Two special episodes were also aired in 2007, book-ending the regular episodes.
Season 4 As with Season 3, Season 4 was aired in two parts: nine episodes in the winter of 2008, and ten in the summer of 2008. Various sources have referred to the summer episodes as Season 5, but in a post on his blog regarding the September 1, 2008 episode, Bourdain refers to it as the final episode of Season 4.Bourdain, Anthony (1 September 2008). Goodbye to all that. Travel Channel. One special episode followed the regular 2008 episodes.
Season 5
Season 5 is another split season, with 10 episodes aired in the winter of 2009, and 10 episodes following in the summer.
Season 6
Season 7
Season 8
Season 9
After Bourdain announced in May 2012 that he would be leaving to do a new show for CNN entitled Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, the Travel Channel suspended Season 8 and repackaged the remaining seven episodes left to air as "The Final Tour" to capitalize on the publicity surrounding his departure. In addition to the seven episodes from Season 8, three episodes — "Sex, Drugs And Rock & Roll", "Seven Deadly Sins" and "Off The Charts" — made out of old footage, were reedited to look like new and added to Season 9.Last Call, Anthony Bourdain Blog Travel Channel 03 September 2012
Related
Title Airdate
Production When visiting a location for the show, Bourdain generally travels with an assistant producer and three camera operators, who on average record forty-five to seventy-five hours of footage in total. They usually do not employ a boom operator or sound mixer, and episodes are generally unscripted. Bourdain has likened the general atmosphere of the crew to a music group: "I like to say we're like a band, perpetually on the road, a small crew of five very close friends with tiny little cameras".
Distribution Home video releases As of March 2013, Travel Channel has released seven collections of the series on DVD. Despite that the series has been shot mostly with high-definition video cameras, it is not available for purchase in high definition format like Blu-ray.
In March 2013, Netflix canceled instant streaming of the show without explanation, but restored a 25 episode "No Reservations Collection" in October 2014. Hulu offers 5 episodes from season 7 and 8
The DVD releases do not have subtitles enabled for the hearing impaired. (Broadcast episodes do have closed-captioning available.)
Collection 1 (4 discs) (2005) Disc 1- Paris, New Jersey Disc 2- Sicily, Las Vegas Disc 3- New Zealand, Malaysia Disc 4- Iceland, Vietnam Collection 2 (3 discs) (2006) Disc 1- Sweden, Puerto Rico, Quebec, U.S./Mexico Border Disc 2- India (Rajasthan), India (Kolkata/Mumbai), Korea, Indonesia, Ireland Disc 3- Ghana, Namibia, Lebanon, Pacific Northwest Collection 3 (3 discs) (2007) Disc 1- Russia, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong Disc 2- French Polynesia, Cleveland, Brazil, Argentina Disc 3- Singapore, South Carolina, Berlin, Tuscany Collection 4 (3 discs) (2008) Disc 1- Vancouver, New Orleans, London/Edinburgh, Greek Islands, Jamaica, Hawaii Disc 2- Into the Fire, Laos, Tokyo, Uruguay, Colombia Disc 3- Spain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Washington D.C., US Southwest, Bonus Features Collection 5 - Part 1 (3 discs) (2010) Disc 1- Romania, So Long Summer, Mexico, Venice Disc 2- Azores, Chicago, Food Porn, Philippines Disc 3- Disappearing Manhattan, Sri Lanka, Sardinia, Chile, Bonus Materials (Alternate Universe) Collection 5 - Part 2 (3 discs) (2011) Disc 1- Australia, Buffalo/Baltimore/Detroit, Down on the Street, San Francisco Disc 2- Thailand, Montana, NYC Outer Boroughs, Vietnam: No Place Like Home Disc 3- Brittany, Obsessed, Provence, Bonus Materials (Alternate Universe) Collection 6 - Part 1 (3 discs) (November 29, 2011) Disc 1- Panama, Istanbul, Prague, New York Hudson Valley, Ecuador Disc 2- Harbin China, Maine, Food Porn 2, Caribbean Island Hopping, Heartland Disc 3- Bonus Features: Burning Questions, Techniques Special, Holiday Special Collection 6 - Part 2 (2 discs) (2012) Disc 1- Where it all Began, Liberia, Dubai, Rome, Madrid Disc 2- Kerala, India, Paris 100, Back to Beirut, Bonus Features (What were we thinking, Making of India) Collection 7 (3 discs) (2012) Disc 1- Haiti, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Vienna, Ozarks Disc 2- Brazil: The Amazon, Boston, Japan: Hokkaido, Cuba, Macau Disc 3- Naples, El Bulli, Ukraine, Kurdistan, Cajun Country
Broadcast syndication In 2019, Ovation obtained broadcast and digital rights in the United States for seasons five through eight of the series, while season 9 has been released exclusively on the network's lifestyle and travel streaming service JOURNY and has yet to be aired on TV.
Online streaming and distribution As of August 2024, No Reservations is now available on multiple FAST (Free Ad-Supported STreaming) platforms as a dedicated linear streaming channel thru a new distribution agreement via Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel runs No Reservations episodes on a daily rolling basis, as well as episodes of successor series The Layover (TV series) and Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown in non-specific blocks. Selected episodes of No Reservations are also available for purchase on YouTube The complete library is available on a subscription basis thru Discovery+ and complete seasons can also be purchased thru Amazon's Prime Video service, except for Season 8.
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result 2008 American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Reality Series Eric Lasby (for "New Orleans") 2009Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series Myleeta Aga, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Paul Cabana Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program Todd Liebler and Zach Zamboni (for "Laos") Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program Jesse Fisher (for "Laos") 2010 Producers Guild of America Awards Best Non-Fiction Television Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming Anthony Bourdain (for "Prague") 2011 American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Reality Series Eric Lasby (for "Haiti") Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series Lydia Tenaglia, Christopher Collins, Anthony Bourdain, Stone Roberts Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program Todd Liebler and Zach Zamboni (for "Haiti") Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program Eric Lasby (for "Haiti") Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming Anthony Bourdain (for "Haiti") Producers Guild of America Awards Best Non-Fiction TelevisionAnthony Bourdain: No Reservations TCA Awards Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming 2012 Critics' Choice Television Awards 2nd Critics' Choice Television Awards Producers Guild of America Awards Best Non-Fiction Television Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Anthony Bourdain, Sandra Zweig, Stone Roberts, Tom Vitale Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program Todd Liebler and Zach Zamboni (for "Mozambique") Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program Nick Brigden (for "U.S. Desert") Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Programming Anthony Bourdain (for "Cuba")
Book
No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach is a 2007 companion book to the show. Written by Bourdain, it serves as a scrap book of the previous three seasons of the television show and has extensive photographs of Bourdain and his crew at work filming the series.
References
External links Official website Series schedule
Zero Point Zero Production Inc. TV.com Homepage Bourdain's quail of a time. February 7, 2009. Blogs of War: Anthony Bourdain Talks Travel, Food, and War . Google Talks, November 21, 2007. YouTube. Bourdain, Chris (July 20, 2008). "No Reservations Uruguay: A Brother's Diary" . No Reservations Crew blog. Travel Channel.