2012-2013 was the brief, shining era of Slow TV.
What was Slow TV? Take a long event, like a train ride from one town to another, or an 8-hour knitting competition. Air it in its entirely, either with gentle music accompaniment or color commentary. You’ve got a show that’s relaxing and easy to watch – or leave on in the background while you do other things. There’s no worry about missing something important (and for the producers, it’s a cheap thing to film, too).
Netflix used to have a bunch of Slow TV shows, but at least here in Canada, they’ve all been removed. Searching for ‘Slow TV’ brought back the list of ‘see alsos’, none of which brought up any actual results:
Hunting around, I found the National Knitting Evening program on the NRK-TV (Norway’s state-owned broadcaster) Web site, along with another one:
- National Knitting Evening (8 hours) – giant balls of wool/yarn! Dedicated knitters!
- National Wood Night (4 hours) – chopping and gathering wood
- “Minute by Minute” shows (various) – there are several series covering things like slow boat rides, sightseeing, and so on
It’s too bad this never took off. I could see it being popular as a screensaver or idle video for Roku or Apple TV devices.