The Los Angeles show is on tomorrow, Thursday, September 11th at 10:00PM ET. Chat here during the show or come by afterward and tell us what you thought.

You can also check out the most recent crew blog from this episode here.

I've missed the last several episodes mainly due to the new Fall TV season starting. But, I will DVR L.A. since I live 30 minutes outside it and work there. I'm interested in seeing what Sam manages to cover in 22 minutes.

I'm watching the show right now. Fencing, watching Sam workout, etc. What is this show about? I didn't learn anything useful for a trip to LA. It's actually BORING! I usually love Sam's shows, but lately I'm feeling dragged through 22 minutes.

I thought watching a movie in a graveyard was pretty cool!!

Icecream,

You ask, “What is this show about?”
This new series can seem confusing to the viewer who tunes into a Passport show hoping to see the general tour and practical travel information that we used to expect from Passport to Europe and Latin America. With the domestic locations in Great Weekends, the new producers are apparently following a different theme in each show. They are having Samantha do things that travelers wouldn’t normally know about or try to do.
The theme of the week is usually mentioned in the opening minutes. In this show, Samantha was acting out the fantasy of what it might be like to be a film star and have a Hollywood lifestyle.
I personally feel that locations themselves have always made for pretty good themes, and this need to adhere to a specific theme can be very limiting. It’s why we spent time in Wyoming watching Sam learn the best technique for shoveling horse manure. It went along with the cowgirl fantasy theme, yet was not something most viewers would really be eager to see or strive to duplicate. Not me, anyway.
If your desire is to learn new things, travel guides are provided on this site. Viewers can go there if they want to explore specific things seen on a show that might interest them.

I also thought the cemetery segment was a fascinating one to include in L.A. I see from a bit of research that the movie shown there this weekend was Pee Wee’s Big Adventure! I would like to have been there for that, if I weren’t over 3000 miles away. I also rather liked the fencing lesson and Sam’s pointed defense of her job.

Too bad the editors couldn't sneak in some Great Hotels footage from Sam’s surfing lesson at the Del Coronado. We know you CAN stay up on a surfboard, Samantha! Why it’s in the promo and not the show is anybody’s guess. But Samantha looked great in L.A. and her outfits were quite stunning. Maybe she is not all that far from achieving this particular fantasy.

Mother O.

I was a bit depressed after watching Sam’s LA episode. No, not with the show itself, but it reminded me of the fact that for the first time in years I didn’t make the trip to Hollywood for the annual Cinecon film festival over the Labor Day weekend. Her side trip to the cemetery reinforced this feeling of regret as the movie they were showing, Fairbanks’ silent “The Adventures of Robin Hood”, I saw at last year’s convention.

By the way, if you have an opportunity to be in Hollywood, try to visit the Hollywood Forever Memorial Park, whether or not there is a movie to be seen. It’s fascinating to wander throughout the cemetery and literally stumble across the resting places of Hollywood royalty (and wasn’t it touching to see Sam getting choked up coming across the grave of Mel Blanc). The occupant who gave me pause upon seeing was famed director Cecil B. De Mille. De Mille was a Hollywood pioneer who was instrumental in the formation of one of the great studios, Paramount Pictures. The amazing thing is that Hollywood Forever abuts the Paramount Pictures studio complex, separated only by a wall. Talk about not only spending your life at work but the afterlife as well!

I thought this episode flat out sucked. It was probably almost as bad as Miami.

Seriously for such a large and dynamic city as LA Sam chose a chopper ride, fencing lessons, cocktails, fire dancing and hanging at a cemetary....Geez, whoever did research for this episode did a horrendous job. Even though the movie cemetary itself was somewhat interesting, the segment itself was boring.

Great Weekends has been really hit or miss and this was unfortunately a huge miss. I think Sam needs hope back on an international do what she does best and be a guide for international destinations.

Hey Sam!! You should have visited Long Beach when doing the LA show! Or better yet, do a weekend show in Long Beach alone...since we really are not LA at all. Nor are we Orange County (where I'm originally from), but we are right in between. You have the best of both worlds! We have the Queen Mary, Aquarium of the Pacific, 2nd Street (our "Melrose"), Shoreline Village (ok, touristy!), great, great restaurants, bars, shopping and so much, much more!! It's often overlooked being so close to LA, but it's a wonderful ocean side diverse community with tons o' stuff to do. We also have the Toyota Grand Prix and one of the largest gay and lesbian pride festivals in the country! It's a fabulous, fun, down to earth California city! Come visit!

On last nights show, Samantha was on the Freedom of the Seas. Is there a way to get a copy of that show? I didn't get a chance to see it and my family and I will be cruising on that ship next year.