The New Hampshire show is on tomorrow night, Thursday, Jul. 24th at 10:30PM ET. Chat here during the show or come by afterwards and tell us what you thought.
Samantha should have visited Mt. Sunapee for skiing which is much more beautiful and overlooking Lake Sunapee. Also, she really should have gone to visit Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH which is a beautiful, classic college campus that plays a very important role in the state of New Hampshire. She could have enjoyed her "homecoming weekend" at Dartmouth's famous homecoming bonfire. Hopefully, she can explore more of NH's natural beauty in another episode!!!
I'm sure being home and being on camera felt like an out-of-body experience but I think you did a great job showcasing Portsmouth. I've been to Friendly Toast once, found it by accident on one of my many drives when I'm bored silly. Can't say I had the pancakes you did or that I want to. LOL My dad and your dad must go to the same barber.
All the "should haves." remember, it's only a 22 minute show. She was showing us around where she used to hang out as a teenager. I enjoyed the show and I felt as if she was an old friend showing us around. Her Dad is cute! I see where Sam gets her cute face! The show was well done!
Another favorite of mine, and I don't know if it's because I actually enjoying seeing the sites, or seeing Samantha back at home. What a treat for us to get to see.
I am curious however, if Sam was born in Texas...how did they make their way all the way up north to New Hampshire?
Samantha, I'm caught up with watching last night's airings now, and although you may have been scripted in more notorious episodes to encourage pushing oneself out of one's "comfort zone", I far preferred seeing your filming in perhaps your most comfortable surroundings of all - that's a Weekend to look forward to, to refresh and restore by, far more natural, infinitely more sincere. But I have heard much about Flo's - nice to fill in that corner of my imagination with a virtual visit now. Thanks for the tour last night, Sam.
I'll also add here, as I don't want to spray posts psychotically all over this forum and already left one about your blogs elsewhere yesterday, that the London episode last fall was most pleasant as well. Nice to see a Free House; always nice to see St. Paul's, and that windy view from above.
My screensaver these days is either a wonderful sunrise view from the Little Mountain here, or a really magnificent view from the castle walls of Lincoln Cathedral. But I surely understand the lighthouse. Just the other day I saw here a t-shirt that said "Black Moose Trading Post, Kittery, Maine" which reminded me of you and that corner of the country. But I've got to shoot up the mountain here in a bit - hope you and everyone have a good Weekend.
I really liked this episode. I was so excited when I found out that Sam would be doing a show in her hometown. It was cool to see her in a place she's always known! I'll have to go to that hot dog place some day. I had no idea she was from such a small town! Who'd have thought she'd grow up to be a citizen of the world (practically)?
I have to say I truly enjoyed this episode,as well. It was almost like being Samantha’s best friend, and she took us home with her to meet her family, and then she showed us all her favorite places.
While I’m sure that the detractors of “Great Weekends” will see New Hampshire as further evidence that the new show is “all about Sam” instead of travel, I have to say that, as an admitted “Samaholic” (aka Brownhead), I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to this episode -- and it didn’t disappoint. Having watched a number of the new shows now, I have come to the conclusion that the Travel Channel is taking the tack that, much like Tony B., the star of this particular show is not the locales but Samantha herself -- and why not.
Accepting that, what better way to showcase your star than to have her go back to her roots and show a side of her life that we would all love to see about people we are fascinated by (or just plain like). Sam, to her credit (and those around her) has never been shy about sharing her world -- foibles and all. I cannot recall a more honest celebrity when it comes to that. And no one can say that in the half-hour allotted to the show, one didn’t get a feel for the environs and denizens of New England that shaped her life. Thanks Sam to you, your family and your friends for allowing us a glimpse into what made you who you are.
OK, as someone who grew up in New Hampshire, I'm confused. Either there's a lot of bad info about Samantha out on the web (quite possibly) or this show was not on the up and up. The show said the Sam grew up in New Castle, NH outside Portsmouth. Yet her dad said that they didn't move to the area until 1987, when Sam would have been about 18 years old (assuming her published birth date of 1969 is correct). Other sites on the web consistently have her growing up in Derry, NH and graduating from Pinkerton Academy, the high school in Derry. One site even has her as the captain of the cheerleading team at Pinkerton. If you lived in New Castle you would have gone to high school at Portsmouth High - Derry is more than 50 miles away. Also, Pat's Peak, where she is shown skiing, would nave been a logical place for people from Derry to have gone skiing. It's an easy drive from Derry, but a much longer one from Portsmouth. And, there are other ski sites closer to Portsmouth.
After high school, Sam is supposed to have gone to Syracuse University where she graduated with a music degree. So when did she actually live in the Portsmouth area?
As I noted above, the web has a lot a bad info, but can anyone straighten all this out?
But what about the sweaters? Thank you for a lovely show, my husband and I enjoy your shows, and as I am couch bound recovering from some oral surgery today, a super-duper-uber thanks to all of you! I can't wait to explore NH again, and Zurich, wow - but I digress- you wore some amazing sweaters in this NH episode- I have been looking for the white cable knit fisherman style turtleneck you are wearing, for years now! Please post, I hope it is still something I can buy! Thanks and keep up the great work!!
I was very disappointed with this episode. Except for maybe a minute or two, the entire show was spent either indoors or on the ski slope. I really wanted to see what coastal NH looks like, but instead got to see what the insides of a hot dog shack, several restaurants, and a brewpub look like.
Compared to Sam's better shows, for example, Seville and Venice, where you actually got a good taste of those destinations, this was a non-starter.
This episode was so-so. There was pretty much nothing in it that would inspire me to visit New Hampshire. To me it just looked like any other town in the Northeast. Again, was it really necessary for Sam to hang at a brewery and bar for 2 segments? I like to drink occasionally, but it's not the reason why I travel.
I did think it was cool seeing Sam with her Dad and family.
I enjoyed the show because it got us to know Sam, as a person better, and it was cute seeing younger pictures of Sam. That show was really about Sam, and can't think of it as a travel show. But Sam and her people know how popular she is, and knew it would be fun to see where she grew up. I'm glad they did this different type of a show. It was refreshing.
Travel Channel Discussions 
