This weekend, while flying Song from JFK to LAX, I was investigating their very nice, very Jet Blue-ish service of 24 free cable channels (apparently not Jet Blue-ish enough, though – Song will be reabsorbed by Delta in May). While leagues ahead of the kind of predigested infotainment coughed up by most airlines, the pickings were still slim, nowhere more so, than on the Travel Channel. What a sad irony. It could have been an ad-worthy “lifestyle travel” moment – winging across the country, gearing up for my own trip through the California deserts by watching smart travel docs about other fantastic destinations. Instead, I was treated to a steady feed of Great Lake Homes of America, World Poker Tour and America’s Most Haunted Places. Amid the dreck, though, was a promising ad for the second installment of 5 Takes, a series that started last year with five would-be documentarians traveling through Europe, editing their material on the fly for the next week’s episode, and communicating with viewers via a forum and blogs about where to go next. This year’s series will cover the Pacific Rim – there’s a preliminary “webisode” online here. The first episode airs April 3.