America has Honey Boo Boo-Norway has Burning Wood
About Peter LakePeter Lake hails from the Midwest, but is now living in Germany. He is a professional writer who spent many years honing his craft at a well known newspaper. Peter originally sent an article to us through the citizen journalist program and decided to stay. We are glad he did.
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There’s no accounting for taste these days. America has the Kardashians, and Honey Boo Boo, and it’s all called “entertainment.” We’re not the only ones, however, who enjoy watching strange things on TV. The Norwegians have figured out the best way of all to enjoy the tube.
America has Honey Boo Boo-Norway has Burning Wood
(Newser) Only in Norway: A primetime TV program featuring four hours of people chopping wood, then eight hours of that wood burning in a fireplace ran this month … and 20% of the population watched some part of it. Not only that, but the program, called National Firewood Night, inspired quite a bit of controversy: “We received about 60 text messages from people complaining about the stacking in the program,” author Lars Mytting tells the New York Times. “Fifty percent complained that the bark was facing up, and the rest complained that the bark was facing down. One thing that really divides Norway is bark.”
Mytting’s best-selling book, Solid Wood: All About Chopping, Drying and Stacking Wood—and the Soul of Wood-Burning, inspired the program. “Firewood is the foundation of our lives,” explained the show’s host; 1.2 million households in the country have fireplaces or wood stoves. And lest you think the wood-burning portion of the program was anything like a TV Yule Log, think again: The fire burned live, rather than on a repeating loop, and the wood was continually replenished (with help from viewers, who sent in recommendations for where new wood should be placed). “I couldn’t go to bed because I was so excited,” said one viewer, who insisted she wasn’t being ironic. Stephen Colbert had some fun with the program, joking that it “destroyed the other top Norwegian shows like So You Think You Can Watch Paint Dry and The Amazing Glacier Race.
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James Smith
February 26, 2013 at 9:42 am
Well, the winters are long and cold in Norway. So anything to do with warm is bound to attract attention.
Jess
February 26, 2013 at 10:55 am
Wood burning is about as enlightening as Honey Boo Boo and the Kardashian’s so it’s all good. To think HBB just got exported to the rest of the world sickens me. THIS is what we are exporting now, redneckognize ( I know her catch phrase from going on infotainment websites) Scary scary when this is what we show the world is what America considers culture or entertainment. In case you can’t tell I hate, just hate, reality shows.
Joe Hagstrom
February 26, 2013 at 2:33 pm
I think a reality show consisting of me sitting on my ass typing another caffeine and alcohol fueled post for MMA would sell.
MSNBC would be wise to sign me up before I chase the money and go righty to lure FOX News into giving me a contract.
James Smith
February 26, 2013 at 2:41 pm
You whore! Need an assistant?
Michael John Scott
February 27, 2013 at 11:49 am
ROFL Joe…..Sorry but you’re already under contract to us so you’ll have to tell MSNBC to hoof it
Jason
February 26, 2013 at 2:49 pm
For all that people say they hate reality shows, one thing still has me confused. Why then do the same people who say they hate it watch it? Seriously, tv is about ratings. People don’t watch a certain show, it gets canceled and replaced by something else. Eventually, people will get it and reality shows will fade out. You can’t watch honey-boo boo or survivor or big brother or bachelor or amazing race or the kardashians and expect the show to magically go away. Turn the tube to written and produced shows that have a real script and actors….increase the ratings for shows like that and turn the tv off when it comes to the crap I named. It goes away after a few months. Let the people on the shows I named return to the shows they belong on, Jerry Springer and Maury.
Joe Hagstrom
February 27, 2013 at 12:26 pm
We need a union here to overturn MadMike’s reserve clause. Where’s Curt Flood when you need him?