Talk:Slow television

Disputed (August 2013)

As the article is currently written it gives the impression that this idea is a product of Norwegian Broadcast Company. This is however incorrect, and the article needs to be rewritten. --Koppadasao (talk) 14:10, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Unless Koppadasao can verify (via reliable sources) that this idea is not a product of Norwegian Broadcast Company, there doesn't appear to be any real basis for dispute. Based on this, I will remove the "disputed" tag. WikiDan61^ChatMe!_ReadMe!! 15:51, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

The article already contest it's own content. Although it would've been better it the Andy Warhol stuff was dated and referenced, it is clear that Norwegian Broadcasting Company didn't invent slow TV. Other TV companies has shown railroad lines from end to end in the same way Norwegian Broadcasting Company has done it. Best know is German Bahn TV. The only part of this that can be claimed to belong to Norwegian Broadcasting Company is the fact that they extended the concept beyond rail transport and was likely the first to transmit such a journey live on TV.

Additionally British Video125 has been making shows showing railroad lines from end to end since 1985. As far as I've found out, and I hope the lawyer for said company will confirm it one way or another, they were the inventor of the concept both Bahn TV, Norwegian Broadcasting Company, and others has since copied and evolved.

As the article is rather big, I'm not sure how to rewrite it in such a way that the concept are given credit where credit is due (both to Video 125, Bahn TV, Norwegian Broadcast company, Andy Warhol and other). As I see it, more research are needed to rewrite the article. I expect you to reapply the disputed tag until then.

--Koppadasao (talk) 16:20, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Ah! Found the reference to the Andy Warhol film. It wasn't there when the tag was added. Since that film was shot in 1963 it is clear Andy Warhol invented the concept, and everyone else just copied it and evolved it. --Koppadasao (talk) 16:26, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Actually, the article makes no claim that Norwegian Broadcasting invented the concept. It does make a claim that Swedish Tumlarmedia "widely introduced" the concept, a claim that is not supported by any other statement in the article. That being the case, I think we are fine if we simply remove the note about Tumlarmedia, and note that Norwegian Broastcast's offerings represent a recent example (perhaps even a resurgence) of the phenomenon. None of this rises to the level of marking the entire article as disputed. WikiDan61^ChatMe!_ReadMe!! 16:30, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Saw that note about Tumlarmedia when I added the year of the Andy Warhol movie. Still the article is highly biased towards Norwegian Broadcasting Company. And we can't call it a resurgence either as, if I remember correctly, Bahn TV ended it's satellite broadcast shortly before the Norwegians made the Bergensbanen show. If I'd know how to rewrite the article I would've done so when I first saw it.

What other tags are available to mark it's disputed flavor?

--Koppadasao (talk) 16:41, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Before jumping to retag the page, let's discuss the dispute. Clearly the Norwegian Broadcast System didn't invent the concept, but the term "slow TV" came into general parlance in reaction to the popularity of these Norwegian shows. One can certainly mention earlier examples of slow TV (Germany's Bahn TV In Fahrt, America's Yule Log, etc., but one must give nod to Norwegian Broadcasting for the present popularity of the genre. WikiDan61^ChatMe!_ReadMe!! 17:00, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

I think we can forget it. Having more information, I'm rewriting the start of the article as we speak. --Koppadasao (talk) 17:03, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

I think that will do it. --Koppadasao (talk) 17:47, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Nicely done! WikiDan61^ChatMe!_ReadMe!! 17:54, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Proposed merger with "Slow movement"

User:Huggi has proposed merging this article and several others into Slow movement. Please discuss the merger proposal on Talk:Slow movement. Bistropha (talk) 19:41, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

Note: The merger proposal has been modified to exclude this article. See Talk:Slow movement for discussion. Bistropha (talk) 04:29, 28 August 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose merging, but then add some more examples of slow television as modeled after slow cinema. I could think of several quality television shows that have one or many slowly-evolving narratives or extended story arcs; or that occassionally or even mostly use slow cinematography, such as:
  • Twin Peaks (1990–1991);
  • The X-Files (1993–2002);
  • Farscape (1999–2003);
  • Lost (2004–2010);
  • Invasion (TV series) (2005–2006);
  • Surface (TV series) (2005–2006);
  • Stargate Universe (2009–2011);
  • The Borgias (2011 TV series) (2011–2013);
  • Game of Thrones (2011–present).

I guess it' not necessarily only about extended storytelling across episodes, like in soap operas or space operas, but about slow cinematography in each episode, and slow episodic narration, as taken over from slow cinema. In comparison, the reimagined Battlestar Galactica (2003–2009, including the miniseries) has an extended story arc, but is by no means slow-paced in nearly all of its episoes. -Mardus /talk 22:16, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

Regarding the title and the examples

The title of this page or article is about "television" and examples from "radio" need to be excluded, or else the title changed to include radio. The section on Harvard marathon radio programs is an example. Also every example needs to have a reliable source specifically claiming that it is "slow television", and not just television. Handthrown (talk) 13:51, 7 June 2017 (UTC)

Good point. I've removed the Harvard radio section.Vejlenser (talk) 00:07, 8 June 2017 (UTC)

The Yule Log: Slow television or not?

It seems obvious to make this distinction, but it doesn't seem to have been recorded so far. According to the article, Slow television's "name is derived both from the long endurance of the broadcast as well as from the natural slow pace of the television program's progress." That seems succinct and clear enough.

A TV broadcast of a film of a train journey or a sea voyage qualify as Slow television because their natural slow pace corresponds directly to the progress of the TV program.

But a TV broadcast of Yule Log burning does not qualify if its long endurance corresponds primarily to the way it was looped to make it artificially long. The unqualified mention of The Yule Log opens the article to other similar films which are manufactured and modified to appear to be, but which are in reality not Slow television.

It's not difficult to see where to draw the line. Is the pace of the recording naturally long and slow by nature, or by artifice? The Yule Log program was made artificially long and that should be enough to exclude it from this category, but for now I have edited its description to make it clear that it does not fit the established definition of Slow television. Twistlethrop (talk) 03:09, 3 January 2019 (UTC)

Background section: Warhol's Sleep, and citations for early slow TV

I've edited the entry for Sleep to reflect the fact that it was never TV but film, and that it was not shot as a contiguous piece but made up of short sections that were spliced and looped. I've included a citation for that.

• The article still has no sources for this section's reference to early slow TV by WPIX etc. At the time of writing, I have not been able to locate any.Twistlethrop (talk) 18:09, 18 January 2019 (UTC)