Kick Things Down a Notch: The Peculiar Success of Slow Television

Last week, a Norwegian television station aired what they called ‘National Knitting Evening.’ The evening was an 8.5 hour unbroken broadcast of a sheep being shorn, a team of knitters knitting, and the production of an adult-sized sweater as the final result. Yes, the station aired 8.5 hours of knitting… and over 1.3 million people tuned in to watch. Is it a joke? Is it lunacy? Perhaps--but it’s all part of the growing movement known as Slow TV.

“I’d rather watch paint dry” used to be an insult, used to denigrate whatever you’re electing not to watch. Now, it may actually become a viable preference. Originating in Norway, there is a new fad gripping Scandinavia and other parts of Europe: Slow Television. This movement is dedicated to providing viewers with a programming that moves at a snail’s pace, offering a comforting alternative to the fast-paced, story-driven programming we’ve come to expect.

What kind of programming has been spawned by Slow TV? How about a nine-hour train trip across Norway, with the camera peering out the window all the while? Not to mention the entire night of wood-burning--12 straight hours’ worth--from a fixed perspective, trained on the fireplace. But far from a novelty act, this brand of Slow TV is developing quite a growing audience and its own style of programming coverage of the events entailed.

These examples above were both products of NRK2, a sister station to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Back in 2009, NRK2 had a great idea: how about celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National railway by broadcasting the entire trip across their beautiful homeland? With the program entitled ‘Bergensbanen -- Minutt for Minutt,’ the broadcast followed a train ride from Bergen to Oslo, through all 182 tunnels that the route traverses. Four cameras were used to produce the documentary, showing both exterior and interior views, along with interviews with both crew, train conductors, historians/past workers and passengers. It was supposed to be a one-time celebration of the train and the beauty of Norway… and then 1,246,000 Norwegian viewers tuned in at some point throughout the broadcast. To put that into perspective, that’s over a fifth of the population of the entire country.

Check out a small portion of the initial broadcast here; it becomes quite soothing and hypnotic.

NRK2’s attention was piqued, as was their ratings, so they decided to do it again. In 2011, NRK2 aired ‘Hurtigruten -- Minutt for Minutt,’ which showcased eleven documentary cameras mounted around the Norwegian Coastal Express. Footage from a 134 hour voyage (that’s over five full days) was shown uncut on the network, garnering over 2,542,000 viewers tuning it at some point throughout the broadcast. Yes, a five-and-a-half-day-long documentary, which set a new Guinness World Record and officially sparked a craze; Slow TV had arrived.