What is the must-have travel accessory of 2020? A parent, of course. Who would go anywhere without one? Not Jack Whitehall, Russell Howard or Romesh Ranganathan, all of whom have presented travelogues with Mum or Dad in tow. Or, if your aged parent is no longer easily portable, an adult child can be substituted, à la Bradley Walsh (and Barney) on ITV’s Breaking Dad.
So, who is the celebrity attraction in Rogue Trip? British viewers may struggle to correctly pick out the news anchor Bob Woodruff, but he has been a familiar square jaw on US television since he joined ABC News in 1996. In January 2006, his career path took a diversion when he sustained a brain injury from a roadside bomb in Iraq. Now all that experience – of reporting from war zones and adapting to unforeseen change – has been channelled into this new series for Disney+. Over the course of its six episodes, Bob and his 28-year-old son, Mack, will visit places including Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Ukraine. “Rougish nations” is their term to describe these former no-go conflict zones, which are beginning to open up to travellers.
First up, though, is Colombia, and as soon as the Woodruffs and their many producers roll into Farc guerrilla territory in their convoy of Ford pickup trucks, it is clear what young Mack is bringing to the mix. Some uniformed guys with huge guns force them to pull up at a military checkpoint and, while Woodruff Sr immediately leaps out of the car to engage in conversation, Woodruff Jr hangs back: “I can tell my dad is totally in his element … I’m way out of mine right now.”
This dynamic – Bob taking the lead in asking personal questions of complete strangers while Mack looks embarrassed – continues throughout the series. What is nice, though, is how the show does not try to obscure the awkwardness, instead allowing Mack’s sheepish presence to undercut that crusty top layer of bombast that can build up over several decades working in US news media. Whenever Dad begins to veer too far into Kent-Brockman-from-The-Simpsons territory, Mack is on hand with a cautionary cringe.
Whether this angle is fresh enough to justify yet another intergenerational travel show is another matter. Getting paid to discover cool places and bond with a loved family member has to be among the sweetest gigs in showbiz, so it is revealing who gets to do it and who does not. The preponderance of men in the travel genre, for instance, surely tells us something about TV commissioners’ values and priorities.
It is impossible to stay irritated for long, though, when Colombia is so full of wonders. This land of giant guinea pigs, barefoot cowboys and narco-farmers turned ecowarriors would be fascinating whoever was reading the voiceover script. With all the resources of Disney behind it, Rogue Trip can combine the awe-inspiring grandeur of a National Geographic wildlife documentary and the sentiment of a Pixar movie into an appealing package for family viewing.
Through the father’s desire to widen the horizons of his son, we also find out what this well-travelled man really thinks is worth highlighting about these places. Wildlife in the rainforest is fine, but what Bob keeps harping on is the universal importance of family, community and home. Every generation wants the next to have it better.
So, from Mack’s and Bob’s point of view, the upside of this trip is obvious. The downside, you assume, is those little crumbs of insight into their private family life that they can’t help but let slip, for nosy people like me to seize on. Does Mack still feel aggrieved that his dad was travelling so much during his childhood? Is his hero-worship of Bob a by-product of emotional distance? Is Bob still hankering after his glory days behind enemy lines, to the extent that he has lost touch with the concerns of the present?
The most curious titbit, however, comes right at the episode’s end when Bob nervously says: “I got a question for you. What do you think your sisters are gonna think about this when they see it?” Well, Bob, I imagine they will be absolutely hopping mad to be passed over like this for your favoured son. But maybe it is just human nature, this unconscious tendency to bestow all the best opportunities on the people who remind us most of our younger selves.
