A storytelling lesson from Norwegian television

In 2009, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK released a seven-hour television special called The Bergen Line: Minute for Minute, in which the viewer travels cross-country, in real time, on a train. The route is sometimes scenic (fjords) and sometimes not-so-scenic (pulled over at a siding while a freight train passes). There is music (Norwegian folk songs play alongside KD Lang & Take 6’s “Ridin’ the Rails”) and a lot of silence. The show’s popularity led to spin-off programs. More trips by train and ferry, one 12-hour special on firewood and another on knitting, and a 24-hour lecture series to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the signing of Norway’s constitution. But the iconic “Slow TV” is the original train ride. You can find other unadorned Norwegian train rides. Wordless, without music, camera changes, or edits.

That’s ten hours you won’t get back—but you may not want them back.

Maybe the story about “Slow TV” is that there is no story. And that’s okay. Because if you watch it and expect it to be different than it is, you’ll be disappointed. But there are millions of people who have watched it on its own terms. Slow TV is the kind of story that does a great job of filtering out its own fans. It is nothing other than exactly what it wants to be. And if there is a story here, it is told with pure authenticity, no matter how flawed. Can you say the same about your own stories?