The passive engagement of ambient television
November 26, 2020 5:38 AM Subscribe
Isn't this what baseball is for?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 6:45 AM on November 26, 2020 [23 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 6:45 AM on November 26, 2020 [23 favorites]
Yeah, in the before times I used to be home alone on Saturday mornings, which is incidentally when English soccer games would be playing, so I could have the soccer running while I do laundry and catch up on some magazines.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 7:02 AM on November 26, 2020
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 7:02 AM on November 26, 2020
“Emily in Paris” was just renewed for a second season; its formula of thin fictional storytelling wrapped in exotic backdrops was an instant success that seems destined to be reiterated many times over, in other locales, with other Emilies.
I wonder if these spin-offs will also follow the formula that Emily rhymes with Paris. Evelyn in Berlin? Yvonne in Milan? Um... Mildred in Madrid?... Sidney in Sydney... Never mind.
posted by ejs at 7:10 AM on November 26, 2020 [7 favorites]
I wonder if these spin-offs will also follow the formula that Emily rhymes with Paris. Evelyn in Berlin? Yvonne in Milan? Um... Mildred in Madrid?... Sidney in Sydney... Never mind.
posted by ejs at 7:10 AM on November 26, 2020 [7 favorites]
Satan in Edmonton
posted by Philipschall at 7:15 AM on November 26, 2020 [47 favorites]
posted by Philipschall at 7:15 AM on November 26, 2020 [47 favorites]
Is there any Evil more Banal than White Supremacy?
posted by sexyrobot at 7:23 AM on November 26, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by sexyrobot at 7:23 AM on November 26, 2020 [8 favorites]
For me Travel Man fulfills the same need with the required dollop of existential angst.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:31 AM on November 26, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:31 AM on November 26, 2020 [9 favorites]
dont want to watch assholes being assholes
I quickly adopted the same criteria - and finding shows like this is exceptionally difficult. Discovering Ted Lasso last month saved my spirits in so many ways.
posted by Silvery Fish at 7:36 AM on November 26, 2020 [14 favorites]
I quickly adopted the same criteria - and finding shows like this is exceptionally difficult. Discovering Ted Lasso last month saved my spirits in so many ways.
posted by Silvery Fish at 7:36 AM on November 26, 2020 [14 favorites]
So it's like Ready Player One, only female rather than male and to do with social media rather than video games and movies, right?
posted by acb at 7:39 AM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by acb at 7:39 AM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
i like stating it the other way around: ready player one is emily in paris for the aging male gamer set.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:44 AM on November 26, 2020 [27 favorites]
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:44 AM on November 26, 2020 [27 favorites]
My partner tried watching this and bounced off the first episode hard. Her feedback - between this and when Carrie went to Paris in Sex in the City, it's clear that Darren Starr had a terrible trip to Paris once and now hates the place and its people.
posted by thecjm at 7:50 AM on November 26, 2020 [12 favorites]
posted by thecjm at 7:50 AM on November 26, 2020 [12 favorites]
I have not seen EiP and almost certainly never will, but in general...during the first three months or so of the pandemic I was voraciously watching movies and television and I think I blew out the part of my brain that drives me to watch things, because I just haven't felt the desire to at all for several months now, aside from the occasional terrible action movie like Snake Eater 3: His Law, American Ninja 2: The Confrontation and Action U.S.A., all of which ruled.
If you decide to watch Snake Eater 3 and, as most people are, you are a Road House enthusiast, your viewing experience will be greatly enhanced if you consider it part of a Road House Cinematic Universe.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:25 AM on November 26, 2020 [10 favorites]
If you decide to watch Snake Eater 3 and, as most people are, you are a Road House enthusiast, your viewing experience will be greatly enhanced if you consider it part of a Road House Cinematic Universe.
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:25 AM on November 26, 2020 [10 favorites]
I watched Emily in Paris and would pause when I would go to the bathroom or whatever because I didn't want to miss what happened. Given the number of thinkpieces on how bad the show is or whatever, obviously not everyone thinks this way. As a child of immigrants though, I'm pretty used to being told that my taste is unsophisticated and uncultured.
posted by chernoffhoeffding at 8:26 AM on November 26, 2020 [10 favorites]
posted by chernoffhoeffding at 8:26 AM on November 26, 2020 [10 favorites]
because my other criteria is "don't want to watch assholes be assholes".
Somewhere near the beginning of the pandemic I decided I didn't want to watch any entertainment that could be succinctly described as "assholes gonna asshole". This for me eliminates all news, all reality shows, all sitcoms, most dramas, most movies. I watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, and otherwise try to pretend TV doesn't exist.
posted by Daily Alice at 8:54 AM on November 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
Somewhere near the beginning of the pandemic I decided I didn't want to watch any entertainment that could be succinctly described as "assholes gonna asshole". This for me eliminates all news, all reality shows, all sitcoms, most dramas, most movies. I watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, and otherwise try to pretend TV doesn't exist.
posted by Daily Alice at 8:54 AM on November 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
Satan in Edmonton
He's a local.
Hey now, being a kid in Edmonton was pretty alright; you could bike for hours through the various ravines feeding the river valley and almost never see a car, and the sledding opportunities were insane as long as you didn't live in frickin' Mill Woods or something. Also, waterpark in winter!
...although perhaps one could argue that this is why I grew up to be a monster, but at minimum I'm more congenial than Emily so I'll insist on Edmonton getting some credit for that.
posted by aramaic at 9:05 AM on November 26, 2020 [6 favorites]
He's a local.
Hey now, being a kid in Edmonton was pretty alright; you could bike for hours through the various ravines feeding the river valley and almost never see a car, and the sledding opportunities were insane as long as you didn't live in frickin' Mill Woods or something. Also, waterpark in winter!
...although perhaps one could argue that this is why I grew up to be a monster, but at minimum I'm more congenial than Emily so I'll insist on Edmonton getting some credit for that.
posted by aramaic at 9:05 AM on November 26, 2020 [6 favorites]
As a child of immigrants though, I'm pretty used to being told that my taste is unsophisticated and uncultured.
The most amusing thing was US/UK critics telling French people how and why they should be offended by the show.
posted by elgilito at 9:22 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
The most amusing thing was US/UK critics telling French people how and why they should be offended by the show.
posted by elgilito at 9:22 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Pretending that Netflix is inventing ambient television erases all cozy murder mystery programs, from Columbo and Murder She Wrote through Poirot and Midsummer Murders. Disposable one-off characters, little change in the protagonist, moments of revelation: there are slight structural tweaks and occasional radical experiments but 95% of the time you know the episode’s shape.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:28 AM on November 26, 2020 [23 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 9:28 AM on November 26, 2020 [23 favorites]
I thought “ambient television” was just “television,” for a lot of people.
posted by atoxyl at 9:32 AM on November 26, 2020 [14 favorites]
posted by atoxyl at 9:32 AM on November 26, 2020 [14 favorites]
watching people play "among us" on twitch is also ambient. little shallow murder mysteries with no structural variety, one after another. ideally you can find a group that doesn't shout too much.
posted by idiopath at 9:34 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by idiopath at 9:34 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Cobra Kai is my Emily in Paris.
Also pretty sure I saw Satan at costco the other day, wearing his mask pulled down and not physical distancing (Edmonton local here).
posted by piyushnz at 9:49 AM on November 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
Also pretty sure I saw Satan at costco the other day, wearing his mask pulled down and not physical distancing (Edmonton local here).
posted by piyushnz at 9:49 AM on November 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
Pretending that Netflix is inventing ambient television erases all cozy murder mystery programs, from Columbo and Murder She Wrote through Poirot and Midsummer Murders. Disposable one-off characters, little change in the protagonist, moments of revelation: there are slight structural tweaks and occasional radical experiments but 95% of the time you know the episode’s shape.
I'm never surprised when Patrick McGoohan or Robert Culp is the murderer.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:08 AM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm never surprised when Patrick McGoohan or Robert Culp is the murderer.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:08 AM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
I'm never going to be someone who enjoys "ambient TV". I don't just leave my TV on unless I'm watching it because I find it much too distracting when I'm trying to work either on housekeeping or professional stuff, and bland slow-paced shows where very little happens will never be my thing -- I don't want to give such shows any of my attention. If I need more stimulation when I'm working, I play music -- not audio books, which I find require TV-like levels of continuous attention. I do knit and do other types of hand needlework when watching TV because I can generally do those on autopilot, but nothing more active or engaging, and I'll hit pause whenever I reach a tricky bit of work.
I've actually gone in the other direction this year, by deciding I needed to begin watching higher-calibre TV and movies -- I did the same thing last year when I began a program of reading more challenging material in a more purposeful way. Rotten Tomatoes has "highest-rated 100" lists of movies by year or by genre, and I like to make use of those lists.
I'm working my way through the top 100 of 2019 list at present. I don't tend to watch animation, kids' movies, superhero movies, or fantasy, because I don't much like those genres, and I regret to say I don't watch many non-English language movies because it's too hard to read the subtitles when I'm simultaneously doing needlework, but otherwise I systematically watch all the movies on the list even if I don't think I'll enjoy them. I don't necessarily love all the movies I see from these top 100 lists, but at the very least I always find them worth watching, and on the whole I'm seeing a very diverse selection of fine movies, many of which I would never even have heard of if it were not for the list.
I am finding that the effort of disciplining myself to read and watch more challenging material has paid off. It's an education, and also better for my mental health. I have the kind of mind that seemingly must have something to chew on, and it's better for me to give it meat and vegetables than candy, or the old hash of well-worn favourites.
Not that I don't indulge in lighter fare. I'm working my way through Supernatural right now after having first seen the pilot a few months ago, but though I'm enjoying it, it's definitely in the "candy TV" category for me. So what I do is watch a substantive movie from the list and then, if I have time left before bedtime, I watch an episode of Supernatural.
posted by orange swan at 10:19 AM on November 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
I've actually gone in the other direction this year, by deciding I needed to begin watching higher-calibre TV and movies -- I did the same thing last year when I began a program of reading more challenging material in a more purposeful way. Rotten Tomatoes has "highest-rated 100" lists of movies by year or by genre, and I like to make use of those lists.
I'm working my way through the top 100 of 2019 list at present. I don't tend to watch animation, kids' movies, superhero movies, or fantasy, because I don't much like those genres, and I regret to say I don't watch many non-English language movies because it's too hard to read the subtitles when I'm simultaneously doing needlework, but otherwise I systematically watch all the movies on the list even if I don't think I'll enjoy them. I don't necessarily love all the movies I see from these top 100 lists, but at the very least I always find them worth watching, and on the whole I'm seeing a very diverse selection of fine movies, many of which I would never even have heard of if it were not for the list.
I am finding that the effort of disciplining myself to read and watch more challenging material has paid off. It's an education, and also better for my mental health. I have the kind of mind that seemingly must have something to chew on, and it's better for me to give it meat and vegetables than candy, or the old hash of well-worn favourites.
Not that I don't indulge in lighter fare. I'm working my way through Supernatural right now after having first seen the pilot a few months ago, but though I'm enjoying it, it's definitely in the "candy TV" category for me. So what I do is watch a substantive movie from the list and then, if I have time left before bedtime, I watch an episode of Supernatural.
posted by orange swan at 10:19 AM on November 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
Here's a recommendation if you would like to watch something on Netflix (last time I looked) in a setting much like Emily, but quite not as glib & dumbed-down, while still kinda breezy:
Call My Agent!/Dix Pour Cent is about an intern/starter in a French glamour industry dealing with office politics, kooky colleagues, fickle clients, and photo-shoots in fancy places. Also has some Larry-Sanders-esque actual French celebrities playing fictionalized versions of themselves.
(personally we are still on Emily (small doses) even though it's kinda banal. As mentioned by almost everyone, its flaws often morph into its features. Alternating with Can You Hear Me? which is brilliant but fairly sad at times.)
posted by ovvl at 10:31 AM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
Call My Agent!/Dix Pour Cent is about an intern/starter in a French glamour industry dealing with office politics, kooky colleagues, fickle clients, and photo-shoots in fancy places. Also has some Larry-Sanders-esque actual French celebrities playing fictionalized versions of themselves.
(personally we are still on Emily (small doses) even though it's kinda banal. As mentioned by almost everyone, its flaws often morph into its features. Alternating with Can You Hear Me? which is brilliant but fairly sad at times.)
posted by ovvl at 10:31 AM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
Thank you, everyone, for watching Emily In Paris so that I don't have to.
I think the worst TV of that ilk I attempted to watch recently was Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, which I can only describe as 'visit a whole bunch of places around the world for one hour each, and in that hour try to pack in as many tired xenophobic stereotypes for each place as you possibly can'.
In a close second, the reboot of Van Der Valk, in which a bunch of miserable Cockneys go to Amsterdam and try pretending to be Dutch by hanging around in cafes, smoking a lot of weed and boning each other, but they never fool anyone because they've still got Cockney accents; the normally excellent Marc Warren mugs his way through the title role like Steve Coogan playing Alan Partridge playing Michael Caine playing Barry Foster.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 11:07 AM on November 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
I think the worst TV of that ilk I attempted to watch recently was Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, which I can only describe as 'visit a whole bunch of places around the world for one hour each, and in that hour try to pack in as many tired xenophobic stereotypes for each place as you possibly can'.
In a close second, the reboot of Van Der Valk, in which a bunch of miserable Cockneys go to Amsterdam and try pretending to be Dutch by hanging around in cafes, smoking a lot of weed and boning each other, but they never fool anyone because they've still got Cockney accents; the normally excellent Marc Warren mugs his way through the title role like Steve Coogan playing Alan Partridge playing Michael Caine playing Barry Foster.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 11:07 AM on November 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
I don't TV but I youtube a lot, and I enjoy such ambient genres such as "walking though foreign cities" and "train cab views". No annoying plots or characters.
posted by bitslayer at 11:15 AM on November 26, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by bitslayer at 11:15 AM on November 26, 2020 [9 favorites]
I don’t want to crash the thread but I’ve just started rewatching Arrested Development. Time to actually laugh out loud again.
posted by njohnson23 at 11:42 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by njohnson23 at 11:42 AM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
My algorithm-driven story of dystopian hell* is that I was watching Escape to the Country on a site that rhymes with Pooh Toob, for escapist travel-adjacent fantasy purposes.
It's a bucolic show where a lucky couple, usually but not always about to retire, takes their medium to large pot of money/equity to purchase a rural retreat, sometimes with the idea of running a part-time holiday let business. The formula introduces you to a cute rural area of the UK and the couple goes around looking at houses and trying Local Activities.
However, Le Toob deduced that I was interested in British TV shows so it also started showing me Can't Pay We'll Take It Away which is a show about repossession and eviction, also in the UK, where these repo agents show up with really harsh orders and dismantle people's lives in a single day.
And predictably, the shades fell from my eyes and I noticed that basically all of the couples in the former were white couples (by necessity landowner class) and quite a number of the families being, you know, thrown out of their homes were...not.
Thus endeth the lesson in the algorithm as social justice educator, maybe for the first time?
Not dystopian viewing, I wish, but actual dystopian.
posted by warriorqueen at 11:48 AM on November 26, 2020 [8 favorites]
It's a bucolic show where a lucky couple, usually but not always about to retire, takes their medium to large pot of money/equity to purchase a rural retreat, sometimes with the idea of running a part-time holiday let business. The formula introduces you to a cute rural area of the UK and the couple goes around looking at houses and trying Local Activities.
However, Le Toob deduced that I was interested in British TV shows so it also started showing me Can't Pay We'll Take It Away which is a show about repossession and eviction, also in the UK, where these repo agents show up with really harsh orders and dismantle people's lives in a single day.
And predictably, the shades fell from my eyes and I noticed that basically all of the couples in the former were white couples (by necessity landowner class) and quite a number of the families being, you know, thrown out of their homes were...not.
Thus endeth the lesson in the algorithm as social justice educator, maybe for the first time?
Not dystopian viewing, I wish, but actual dystopian.
posted by warriorqueen at 11:48 AM on November 26, 2020 [8 favorites]
I am 100% convinced that all those "French people respond to Emily in Paris" articles that were popping up a while ago were actually advertorials. Anyway, I got a lot of tedious paperwork done with Younger playing in the background--no idea if it's a good show or not, but there were pretty shots of New York whenever I glanced at it.
posted by betweenthebars at 12:33 PM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by betweenthebars at 12:33 PM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
Rockford Files is on Peacock now
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:34 PM on November 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 1:34 PM on November 26, 2020 [4 favorites]
i like stating it the other way around: ready player one is emily in paris for the aging male gamer set.
Why the other way around? Didn't Ready Player One come out a decade ago?
posted by zardoz at 2:06 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Why the other way around? Didn't Ready Player One come out a decade ago?
posted by zardoz at 2:06 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
My wife insisted on watching Emily in Paris and I actually enjoyed watching the reincarnation of Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy have a European holiday without all the vampires.
posted by krisjohn at 2:19 PM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by krisjohn at 2:19 PM on November 26, 2020 [2 favorites]
Rockford files is amazing and slow paced by today’s standards, which makes me love it more. I’m not much of an ambient tv guy though. In our house everyone goes to the living room, lights out, no devices, pause if anyone has to pee. If I am multitasking it’s music or podcasts.
posted by freecellwizard at 2:25 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by freecellwizard at 2:25 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Second episode just after the "sad" phone call in the middle of a beautiful plaza, la protagoniste opens her window to a rainy exquisite street scene, takes out her very expensive camera for a social media statement of utter pathos (pathétique absolu), I re-winded the scene to check and yes she has a finger over the lens. Sums up the sensibility of "le auteurs"
(will continue tohatewatch sigh-watch; as it is really just beautiful)
(or that's actually not quite right... how would you translate "harrumph-watch" into colloquial french?)
Oh wait, this (scrolled back) ...personally we are still on Emily (small doses) even though it's kinda banal.. that's it, the show is about the banality of beauty.
posted by sammyo at 3:54 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
(will continue to
(or that's actually not quite right... how would you translate "harrumph-watch" into colloquial french?)
Oh wait, this (scrolled back) ...personally we are still on Emily (small doses) even though it's kinda banal.. that's it, the show is about the banality of beauty.
posted by sammyo at 3:54 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
> I wonder if these spin-offs will also follow the formula that Emily rhymes with Paris. Evelyn in Berlin? Yvonne in Milan? Um... Mildred in Madrid?... Sidney in Sydney... Never mind.
Shouldn't that be "Harris in Paris", then? "Malone in Köln"?
posted by ardgedee at 4:35 PM on November 26, 2020
Shouldn't that be "Harris in Paris", then? "Malone in Köln"?
posted by ardgedee at 4:35 PM on November 26, 2020
Sloane in Köln
Russell’s in Brussels!
Hortencia in Valencia
Zaha in Praha
Bob and Karen are: Newly Split in Split
Eva in Geneva
Siena in Vienna (McQueen in Wien)
Merlin in Berlin
Margot in Bordeaux
Bonzi in Swansea
Denholm in Stockholm
Gettin’ Slinky in Helsinki
Crystal in Bristol
Gino in Torino
Carrie in Bari
Ron in Bonn
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:53 PM on November 26, 2020 [9 favorites]
Russell’s in Brussels!
Hortencia in Valencia
Zaha in Praha
Bob and Karen are: Newly Split in Split
Eva in Geneva
Siena in Vienna (McQueen in Wien)
Merlin in Berlin
Margot in Bordeaux
Bonzi in Swansea
Denholm in Stockholm
Gettin’ Slinky in Helsinki
Crystal in Bristol
Gino in Torino
Carrie in Bari
Ron in Bonn
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:53 PM on November 26, 2020 [9 favorites]
This for me eliminates all news, all reality shows, all sitcoms, most dramas, most movies.
Counterpoint: Ted Lasso.
The diamond dogs have struck again.
posted by axiom at 6:11 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Counterpoint: Ted Lasso.
The diamond dogs have struck again.
posted by axiom at 6:11 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
All this is very familiar!
I confess I watch the Bourne and Mission Impossible movies mainly for the train stations, lux hotels, international streetscapes, etc
Also, on the other end of the action spectrum, Into Great Silence works great for this
posted by Caxton1476 at 7:42 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
I confess I watch the Bourne and Mission Impossible movies mainly for the train stations, lux hotels, international streetscapes, etc
Also, on the other end of the action spectrum, Into Great Silence works great for this
posted by Caxton1476 at 7:42 PM on November 26, 2020 [1 favorite]
Metafilter: greatly enhanced if you consider it part of a Road House Cinematic Universe.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:06 PM on November 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:06 PM on November 26, 2020 [5 favorites]
orange swan, the idea of watching Supernatural for the first time now is like voluntarily diving into a nest of hornets. I salute you.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 9:25 PM on November 26, 2020
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 9:25 PM on November 26, 2020
I don't have anything to say about the show, but I did not expect so many Edmonton locals in this thread about Paris. Sometimes I even miss the place; it was the big city I used to visit as a kid.
posted by ChrisR at 12:57 AM on November 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by ChrisR at 12:57 AM on November 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
I've been watching a lot of reruns of game shows in these difficult times on Buzzr
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:20 AM on November 27, 2020
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:20 AM on November 27, 2020
The most interesting part of this is how someone wrote a whole article about the kinds of TV they don't like to watch, with a weird excursion into Mormon TV. I kept thinking, "Why don't you just put down the remote and go outside?" But writers need to eat too.
I'm a TV-hater though, so what do I expect?
posted by sneebler at 7:52 AM on November 29, 2020
I'm a TV-hater though, so what do I expect?
posted by sneebler at 7:52 AM on November 29, 2020
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I have been living alone through Covid and have no social bubble, so the tv is my main source of human contact and I don't want that contact to be all negative and gross. For me, the best option is Great British Bakeoff and comparable shows. Or rewatching things I have anyway seen a zillion times.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:42 AM on November 26, 2020 [27 favorites]