Falling into the category of “he makes more money than me but still hasn’t given me any” comes this announcement: Steerpike’s older and more successful brother Marcus is hosting a new show called Hidden City on the Travel Channel. It premieres December 6, so set your Tivos!
Hidden City is about exploring common urban destinations with an eye toward their dark sides – the crimes and misdemeanors that shaped our cities. The first episode, set in Marcus’s adopted hometown of Chicago, does the 1968 riots, Dillinger, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember.
The key thing to remember, though, is that because it’s Marcus and Marcus once climbed a mountain “for the hell of it,” he gets to do all kinds of adventurous things on the show. Oh sure, in the Chicago episode he drinks with a retired police detective, hangs out with a retired rabble-rouser, and learns how to operate a riot baton, but for reasons clear only to him, he also asks to be pepper-sprayed. I’ve seen the episode, and I can tell you, it didn’t go that well for him.
In future episodes, Marcus fires a tommy gun, gets tased, and is attacked by wild dogs. I shit you not. And he writes the show in addition to hosting. He asks for this stuff. They’re not doing it to him, they’re doing it because he wants it done.
Travel is running a full 12-episode season of Hidden City, with visits to Boston, New Orleans, Anchorage, and many more. December 6! Travel Channel!
You’ll also get to enjoy his very fluffy hairdo, which I must admit I never fail to enjoy.
If the jacket descriptions on all his books read “…once climbed a mountain for the hell of it” and “he once asked to be pepper sprayed” he’d be the eternal NY Times #1.
That’s winning.
Was the series Castle based on your brother’s exploits?
Just checking.
Cool. Good for Markus. So is he gonna asked to get tased too? That would be fun to watch… from a distance.
“Uh, no, my anger is growing right now.” That’s my favourite line from the pepper spray sequence.
Oh he is gonna get tased.
By the way, here’s the pepper spray preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HacghP2YXyQ
Ironically, of course, this episode was shot months before the Occupy movement began in the United States, and months before Pepper Spray Cop became a… a thing. I meant to ask Marcus at Thanksgiving whether his firsthand experience changed his view of the nonchalant way Pepper Spray Cop and his friends hosed down those protesters, but I forgot.
The idea, of course, that cops at UC Davis held protesters down and sprayed this stuff into their eyes, their mouths, and under their clothes, is especially shocking when you consider how effectively one squirt KO’d my brother. Honestly? I thought he’d eat it. He grossly understates his love of spicy foods. Marcus would take Habanero suppositories if they were available, yet that shit brought him down for 20 minutes.
ALSO! Another excellent thing about this TV series? People will start pronouncing our surname correctly.
SAY-KEY.
I always thought it was pronounced say-key. Did people say it like the Japanese drink, sah-kee? Or sack-ee?
We usually get Sack-eee, or Sack-hey. If it were Sah-kee, I could live with it, because… booze.
Aww, I thought from the headline you might be writing about this year’s IFcomp. The show sounds interesting though – reckon there’s any chance of seeing it in the UK?
That’s very cool! Marcus is a better looking Bourdain… just as entertaining and no where near as arrogant! 😀
Pshaw. Pepper spray is SOOO last Friday.
Wow, his face goes very pink. Grats, I think, to your brother on getting the show off the ground.
His fluffy hairdo remained intact, hahaha! I bet the TV people used product on it. Lots of product.
I wish I hadn’t cancelled my cable TV, because I’d totally watch that show if I could.
I find oven cleaner does a better job. One squirt in the eyes and they’re gone. Forever. They’ll never mug again.
Your brother’s hair is spectacularly curly Matt. And Say-Kee you say? I need to recondition myself henceforth. It’s always been the Japanese beverage for me.