Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Apple TV+
In the past, I’ve expounded upon a phenomenon known as “Mom Cinema.” Mom Cinema is defined (by me) as movies starring esteemed older actresses, whose characters are stuck in a rut and looking for a new lease on life. They usually find it in some stunning, lush locale far from home.
On the opposite side of the Mom Cinema coin is “Dad Television,” which has just added an excellent new entry into the canon with Eugene Levy’s new travel show, The Reluctant Traveler, streaming on Apple TV+ Friday.
Don’t ask me why moms get movies and dads get TV; it’s just the natural order of things. And I should know: My biology degree from a dodgy online university’s three-day course has been stuck somewhere in the mail system for five years. Dad Television is similar to Mom Cinema in that they exhibit a mutual love of watching celebrities travel. Dads just happen to enjoy this more in a docuseries format, seeing Stanley Tucci eat his way around Italy or rewatching an Anthony Bourdain show for the hundredth time—they never get tired of Bourdain!