Norwegian reality show features elebrities planning their funerals
Norwegian television has come up with yet another radical concept in reality TV: celebrity funerals. Kisten ("The Coffin" , a TV show from broadcaster NRK thats currently screening in Oslo and other major media markets in Norway, asks celebrities to prepare their own burial for the benefit of the cameras. The stars dont actually get buried, of course. The show acts instead as a dry run for the big day, giving its subjects a chance to decorate their own casket, pick a funeral playlist, and reflect on their lives and beliefs. The big names featured in the show wont be familiar to an international audience, howeverKistens first star was a 50-year-old singer called Bjarne Brøndbo, whose folk rock hits with the band DDR include the song "My Butt."
If it sounds bizarre, well, it isbut following the countrys recent primetime smash featuring a 24/7 stream of a bird box, Norway currently seems to be having a competition with itself to create the worlds weirdest TV. The surprising thing about the potentially ghoulish Kisten, however, is that its actually quite affecting.
Indeed, looking at the clips of Kisten available online, they show how refreshingly off-guard people can be in small countries where local celebrities operate within narrow limitsboth on their fame and on the potential damage a bit of unscripted honesty could do their careers. I suspect plenty of people are, like me, tired of listening to carefully coached celebrities blather inanely about how they feel "blessed." If we actually saw someone like Gwyneth Paltrow on TV telling us franklyas Brøndbo doesthat she was terrified of death but had neither a belief nor a wish to believe in an afterlife, we might just warm to her more.
The show is also very Norwegian. While international hit Big Brother couldnt have made its Orwellian inspiration any clearer, and Survivor channeled William Golding, theres something unmistakably Ibsen-esque about Kistens modesty, sobriety and seriousness. Pardon the easy cliché, but Im not sure how else you could describe a reality show that features a man doodling on a coffin before mumbling a folk song about last years roses.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/technology/2014/05/big-oslo-reality-show-about-celebrities-planning-their-funerals/9061/
Now if only we could have a funeral for reality TV itself...