I was watching JoJo New York, a travel guide show about New York City for Mandarin speakers (with English subtitles) on the ImaginAsian channel. It occured to me that there is a real lack of travel shows about New York, almost as if it just sells itself. When probably half of prime time TV uses New York as their backdrop, it almost does sell itself, but CSI: New York, Law & Order, King of Queens or Conviction can’t tell you where to get decent Greek food or vintage jeans. Sometimes you need a new perspective – you just need to have someone view things with the naive wonder that a tourist visiting the City can have.
Host JoJo Zou definately has that spunky look of wonder down pat as she explores aspects of the City that most non-English speaking Chinese — not to mention most visitors or natives — never have the courage to experience. She does unusual tourist things, like go on a bike protest with Critical Mass, play a saw with street performers, and venture to far flung eateries in the Outer Boroughs, like Astoria and Coney Island. That, of course, is something wonderful.