Soo, you think USA TV sucks...

[PhoenixHope]

Okay, so I saw this bit of weird news and couldn't resist bringing it over.

In Norway a special is watching a fire burn.

Norwegian public television has unlocked the key to great programming: live-streamed fire! Reuters is reporting that the channel on which this special is to be broadcast (NRK) is expecting higher than usual ratings for the 12-hour prime-time fire special, which will also feature "firewood specialists" adding color commentary and cultural segments with music and poetry.

If you need a little context, in 2011 NRK broadcasted a 134 hour non-stop special featuring a cruise ship going up the Norwegian coast to the Arctic garnered 3.2 million viewers (60% of Norway's population) at its most-watched point.

So, yeah, even if USA TV might sometimes suck at least we ain't watching a cruise ship cruising or a fire burning. Because all watching those two things would do for me is put me to sleep.

[huggle]

Those cruise ships (Hurtigruten) are actually pretty cool. Awesome coast, interesting harbours. The ships are both cruise and mail ships so they stop really everywhere. You can go ashore, do some sightseeing, take the next ship to continue your trip and so on. I've always wanted to do that =)

Compared to political discussions or stuff like Jungle Camp or Big Brother, watching a fire would be utter bliss. There are so many different colours, depending on what wood you use. And if they add music and poetry it sounds like quite a romantic thing. A bit like a campfire but with a comfortable sofa. Doesn't sound all that bad to me.

[PhoenixHope]

*shrug*

Different strokes, but I feel that watching a fire burn would only be slightly more interesting than watching paint dry.

As far as the cruise thang - it sounds interesting to be on, but I'm not sure how interesting it would be to just watch.

[trekkiedane]

Those cruise ships (Hurtigruten) are actually pretty cool. Awesome coast, interesting harbours. The ships are both cruise and mail ships so they stop really everywhere. You can go ashore, do some sightseeing, take the next ship to continue your trip and so on. I've always wanted to do that =)

Me too
But I could never decide whether to go during the 'season' (summer) or in the autumn (where it might be a rougher sea).

They're not cruise chips of the glitz 'n' bling-type though... they're more like ferries, really.


As to fall-asleep-TV: I really like those Führerstandsmitfahrt-films. And speaking of Norway, here's the first part (of two) of Bergen to Oslo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ7LORizfZg

[huggle]

I'd love to go in winter. I've never seen an aurora - I live too far in the south
Midsummer would be cool, too, because of all the festivities and 24 hours daylight. And there might be more animals to see.

I'd like to travel on the MS Lofoten because she is exactly my age but my sister did the trip a few times and recommended the MS Polarlys, at least in winter, because she is larger and more comfortable.

We have a whole series of these train documentaries on German TV. I am not sure but I think they are in season #15 now (so there must be about 300-500 episodes). Most of them have a high sleepingpill-factor My dad always watches them.

[trekkiedane]

During the night the Danish childrens channel have video of sleeping characters... the same characters the kids watch when something's on are on -but sleeping.

Many a time have I walked into a room and found a kid sleeping while the TV is showing some kiddie-character sleeping

[PhoenixHope]

LOL!

Hey, if it works.

And, you know, I think (sadly or not, depending on your POV) when I was a kid I'd have probably loved something like that.
(Watching my favorite characters just sleeping, but I always thought I was just a weird child, but apparently not.)

Basically, I came back to say after posting this I was informed that sometimes on Christmas some cable channels will show a yule log with a fire burning in a fire place behind it, so apparently watching a fire burn isn't necessarily just an outside the US thing.

Me if I'm not doing something over Christmas I'm generally playing games on my PC (or the internet) or watching DVDs, but I guess channels that stay on all the time have to have something airing.

[huggle]

Bavarian TV has something they call "Space Night". It's 6 hours of satellite images (mostly from ISS) and pretty terrible music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5EVYoTO8oM
Sometimes they insert short interviews or other stuff.
Here's Ulrich Walter explaining the interior of Columbia, starting on the bridge, then continuing to the living quarters. In the kitchen he shows how the freeze-dried meals get prepared (beans & broccoli, in this case) : they come in plastic bags which first get put into a machine that injects warm or cold water and then he puts it in the oven for about 30 minutes.
Then he shows how to prepare freeze-dried grapefruit juice and how in space you can drink it even if you stand on your head.
After that he shows the fax machine (they are just receiving new orders from Earth) and the handbook for the experiments they have to perform.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lul3SwkffGs

[RJDiogenes]

^^ I'd love "Space Night."

We have the burning log here-- and not just at Christmas, I don't think. Our On Demand has a section called "TV Screen Savers" and it's a bunch of relaxing stuff like a fire or a fishtank or a starfield (like on Star Trek) or a tropical beach at sunset. They're pretty nice if you want to just chill out or meditate.

[trekkiedane]

Back in the days of the public service TV monopoly they would rarely be able to fill a whole evening of TV without gaps (as a lot of shows run for 42 minutes and the remaining part of the hour is left to commercials). Sometimes they needed a filler for as much as 5 minutes before regular shows like the news.

For those gaps they had an aquarium they could point a camera at

[huggle]

we had a very popular filler with Antje the walrus from Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZju7NZpe7U

[trekkiedane]

I remember that one; the go-to filler on (and logo of) NDR

[huggle]

BR (Bavarian TV) has nice ones. They interviewed people what they particularly like about Bavaria and they all end with "I am XY and here I'm at home" I particularly love one with a Pakistani butcher who has an almost unpronouncable name that's several miles long and who speaks a surprisingly good Bavarian