Is slow TV taking over?

[A Lark Ascending]

This reflects exactly what I've felt about TV for the last ten years or so:

The return of Danish drama The Killing to television screens is the latest evidence of a shift towards long and glacially paced, small-screen drama. So why has slow TV taken off?

It's hardly The Sweeney. Car chases and explosions are thin on the ground. Sensational weekly denouements and wild plot twists are conspicuous by their absence.

The Killing's gradual, deliberate pacing seems to flout the conventions of the prime-time television crime thriller - a feature that puts it in company with other, similarly unhurried recent hit programmes.

BBC article

[BruceH]

If so, it's one of the few current trends I can wholeheartedly applaud.

[A Lark Ascending]

Maybe they'll also stop polishing off entire novels in one 90 minute episode too!

[cih]

not so sure about this though:

As such, the pace of slow TV invites viewers to actively engage with the programme, rather than their normal treatment as passive, argues Dr Amy Holdsworth, lecturer in film and television studies at the University of Glasgow and an expert in small-screen history.

I must admit I find it very hard to concentrate for any length of time on a show - even normal 2 hour detective shows lose me. Give me Columbo, so I know whodunnit at the start!

[A Lark Ascending]

not so sure about this though:

As such, the pace of slow TV invites viewers to actively engage with the programme, rather than their normal treatment as passive, argues Dr Amy Holdsworth, lecturer in film and television studies at the University of Glasgow and an expert in small-screen history.

I must admit I find it very hard to concentrate for any length of time on a show - even normal 2 hour detective shows lose me. Give me Columbo, so I know whodunnit at the start!

I tend to restrict my lengthy drama watching to Saturday nights. If it interests me than a disappear into it. But I can't do it often - too much music to listen to! The TV doesn't get turned on during the week (mainly because I fall into bed at 9.00!)

I started noticing my impatience with 'pacey' TV programmes with 'Spooks'. I quite enjoyed a couple of series but then everything started happening at breakneck speed - one episode had enough in it to make a whole series.

I look back to things like 'State of Play' or 'GBH' which gradually unfolded. That's why I liked The Killing.

Edited November 17, 2011 by A Lark Ascending

[Dave James]

I was hooked right from the get go on the American version of The Killing. Never thought very much about the pacing until now, but it is certainly deliberate. There's sort of a cinema verite or "you are there" vibe to it that makes you feel more involved and closer to the characters. Maybe that, along with the darkness of the whole thing, is what attracted me to it. If this is "slow" TV, bring it on.

[seeline]

Maybe they'll also stop polishing off entire novels in one 90 minute episode too!

That would be nice - I'm still a bit dizzy from watching the UK adaptations of Kate Atkinson's 1st 3 mystery novels. While I liked them, 2-3 episodes per book would have worked better, I think.

I guess my age is showing. Foyle's War is much more my speed.

[A Lark Ascending]

Maybe they'll also stop polishing off entire novels in one 90 minute episode too!

That would be nice - I'm still a bit dizzy from watching the UK adaptations of Kate Atkinson's 1st 3 mystery novels. While I liked them, 2-3 episodes per book would have worked better, I think.

Absolutely - so much had to be left out.

[Dave James]

I guess my age is showing. Foyle's War is much more my speed.

Foyle's War is first rate. Michael Kitchen is a marvel in his role as the title character, as is Honeysuckle Weeks as Sam Stewart. Great stories even if they're sometimes too clever by half. For a WWII buff such as myself, perfect. I've yet to see an episode of this series that I didn't thoroughly enjoy.

[JSngry]

I remember when "slow tv" meant one that too a while to warm up...

[kinuta]

Slow or otherwise, any form of tv is preferable to truly abysmal Japanese tv.

[A Lark Ascending]

Item on the news this morning. 'Has the Killing led to a revival of crochet?'

[sidewinder]

I see the Beeb is in furore over the number of gratuitous F-words someone has put in the new 'Killing' subtitles.

Talking of slow TV - over 3 and a half hours of Martin Scorcese's 'George Harrison' is in the frame. Good stuff though.

Slow or otherwise, any form of tv is preferable to truly abysmal Japanese tv.

Do they still do that 'Endurance' show?

Edited November 19, 2011 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

Talking of slow TV - over 3 and a half hours of Martin Scorcese's 'George Harrison' is in the frame. Good stuff though.

Yes, that was excellent.

[kinuta]

I see the Beeb is in furore over the number of gratuitous F-words someone has put in the new 'Killing' subtitles.

Talking of slow TV - over 3 and a half hours of Martin Scorcese's 'George Harrison' is in the frame. Good stuff though.

Slow or otherwise, any form of tv is preferable to truly abysmal Japanese tv.

Do they still do that 'Endurance' show?

I don't know, Sidewinder. I do not watch any tv except PBS newshour and the odd cooking programme.

TV here is terrible beyond words, we don't even have an evening news slot anymore, just a two hour sprawling news cum entertainment session, into which might be sandwiched about 5 minutes of hard foreign news, along with cute pet antics, surveys of noodle shops,surveys of hot spas with scantily dressed models, tips for budget meals and oddball news from around the country. Imagine The Sun running a tv news programme and you won't be far off the truth.

Edited November 19, 2011 by kinuta

[sidewinder]

Sounds like our Channels 4 and 5 !

I remember 'Endurance' from the 1980s when they used to show bits of it over here to general amusement (Clive James used to do a regular feature on it). People in barrels having buckets of cockroaches poured all over them etc. At the time it was pretty outrageous but - 30 years on - with that damned 'Celebrity Jungle Get me Out of Here' programme it has become the norm on that damn neanderthal ITV.

Edited November 19, 2011 by sidewinder