Route 66 television show being filmed

Longtime Route 66 advocate Jim Conkle recently started a blog. In one of those posts, he mentioned that he and a camera crew are traveling Route 66 to produce a television show.

That included recent filming at Elmer Long’s Bottletree Ranch near Oro Grande, Calif., and the Harvey House in Barstow.

Conkle wrote:

So what is this NEW TV show going to be all about, you ask? Would you believe me if I said Route 66? Well at least the people and places that make the road what it is. In our post production meeting in the afternoon the question came up as to what venue do I see this show falling under? Good question so here is my answer; Looking at all the different channels now on TV we could be under the Travel-Discovery-Military-Food-Kids-Green-Outdoors-Sports-Paranormal-News-Weather, etc. As each of those headings will be covered in a full season for the show, if not in each episode.

In an e-mail, I asked him questions about the Route 66 television series. (Quotes from him are lightly edited.)

• Conkle says the production is being funded “out of our own pocket.” He says PBS has agreed to air the show “based on what I’ve shown them.” But he said he would consider commercial TV because public television brings in little income.
• The production company is Valle Vista Productions, based in California. “Don Fish Jr. heads up the team. Also Joe Loesch and his cousin Chris Loesch and their companies are going to be involved. Chris has a studio on old Route 66 in St Louis, and Joe is out of Nashville. So we have a really great team.”
• He said the show might be considered reality TV, but could evolve into something else. “The idea is to be multi-faceted in that we will feature in each episode the people who live, work and travel the road as well as the places to eat, sleep, shop and visit on the road. Sort of like what Huell Howser does with his California Gold show or Charles Kuralt used to do […] The show is NOT about me it is about the entire Route 66 community nationally and internationally.”
• Conkle really wants to get the production crew fully on the road by late spring or early summer.
• Conkle said a pilot episode has been created, but “we are not happy with it, so a new one is in the works.”
• Conkle was asked about New Jersey-based Vincent Video, which spent much of the summer on Route 66 and soon will shop a series for television. He said he was unaware of the company before my e-mail. “At this time, I don’t see a conflict and wish them luck.”