SLOW TV

Slow TV is television, where ordinary events are given marathon live coverage in their entirety. The world's leader in this new phenomenon is undoubtedly Norway. It started in 2009 with the complete 7-hour train drive on the Bergen line, as seen from the driver's cab. That was followed in 2011 by live coverage of the 134-hour long Hurtigruten "quick route" ferry journey up the coast to the far north of the country. Both events attracted a lot of media coverage and many more viewers than expected. Since then, they have held an 8-hour marathon on knitting and a 12-hour one on firewood for wood-burning stoves.

Yesterday it was the turn of the weather, an event eventually stretching to 36 hours and including live chats with the weather experts of virtually every other country on the planet.

Norway's initiative, if it can be called that, has attracted both interest and critical praise from other nations. Whether it can be exported elsewhere is however another matter. Norway is one of the richest countries in the world, where people have a lot of time on their hands. That's an unusual combination of circumstances.

Walter Blotscher