After a long day of reading ugly Internet comments, asinine court decisions, and terrifying global warming articles, I often find myself wanting to come home to something pleasant. I don’t want to watch anyone fail, and I don’t want to watch anyone fight — I just want the reality-show equivalent of a gentle massage or a home-cooked meal, and to be reassured that not everything in the world is horrible, all of the time. Here, for any interested networks, are brief pitches for some kind-hearted reality shows that would meet this need and pander directly to me.
Your House Is Nice Just The Way It Is
A decorating crew shows up at a house to praise its already charming features.
People Who Agree
Two people who vehemently disagree on a subject at the beginning of the show have a long, thoughtful conversation in which they gradually and peacefully come to better understand one another, then shake hands and end as friends.
Baking With Your Mom
Contestants bake while their moms watch and gently heckle them. Everyone gets champagne cocktails.
Comforting Statistics
An authoritative, businesslike figure rattles off heartening numbers that show improvement in the world, and makes you feel silly for even being worried.
Top Chef: Team Version
You know, like Top Chef, but instead the whole cast works together to create huge, whimsically themed feasts they then all sit down and eat. There are no judges.
People Explain That Thing They Love
Average people spend five minutes apiece explaining the thing they love the most in the world.
Interesting Bookstores
In-depth profiles of small-town independent bookstores across the world, including interviews with the owners, patrons, and any cats-in-residence.
Redwall: Live!
A great actor reads aloud from Brian Jacques’ Redwall series in front of a crackling fire. (They do all the voices really well.)
The Real Housewives of Brunch
A bunch of women of different ages, backgrounds, and cultures all get together and share smart jokes, sincere affirmations, and their very best stories over an immaculately prepared brunch. None of them have to do the dishes.
Back In My Day
A famous actor heads to a retirement home and asks people to tell their favorite stories, then just listens and doesn’t say anything.
Celebrity Fish Tank
Shots of different sea creatures — octopi, starfish, electric eels, etc. — with celebrities occasionally popping in and feeding the fish.
America’s Word Games Champion
A panel of regular people — plus one surprise famous person — get together to try a different old-school parlor game every week (Dictionary, charades, GHOST, that one where you have something on your forehead and have to guess what it is). Scores don’t matter and every episode ends in laughter.
Something Twee With Miranda July Or Maybe Demetri Martin
Person-on-the-street interviews made up of fun, life-affirming questions, followed by a decoupage project.
Everybody Gets Prizes
Just a series of prizes for everyone.
Stores that Allow Dogs – a look at all of your local shops that allow canine patrons, with in-depth profiles of their most frequent visitors.
Um, yes to this.
You could have treat competitions: which type of treat is most appreciated by the doggy patrons.
For sweeps week they can have a crossover with the Bookstore show! Bookstores that allow dogs. Include lots of action shots of children reading to dogs and dogs catching treats in their mouths.
100% would watch.
I work at just such a shop, and I take pictures of all the dogs to send to my boyfriend. I love our canine patrons most of all.
Yes. I used to work at pet store that allowed pets. Here’s the best secret: the people who own wolf-hybrids would bring them in super early on week days when the store was pristine and empty. Glorious.
Can Sir Patrick Stewart and Dame Judi Dench take turns reading the Redwall series? I would keep it on loop.
Yes, all of this.
I’d be happy if Mark Oshiro added it to Mark Reads,but he’s booked way into the future.
This is the most wonderful idea.
Did you have the Redwall tapes back in the day? The one for Redwall was properly good and had voice actors and everything. I think my sister and I wore out two sets on our family vacations.
YES YES YES let’s do a Kickstarter. Add Neil Gaiman, too. Profits could go to charity or stuff.
Ok, but the book store one has to be an actual thing, right? Maybe on the travel channel?
If it is not, I feel like this is ripe for a book company (Scholastic? Random House?) to develop as an online video series and people would watch the hell out of it.
Except that working at bookstores is HELL ON EARTH. Oh, the stories I could tell you… but, alas. Let it rest.
These are all very good, A+.
My wife and I have been watching The Great British Bake-Off of Netflix these last few days, and every time everyone is so sad about how they have to send somebody home, and i don’t get how they haven’t figured out that you DON’T have to send everyone home! Just let them all keep baking! It’s fine, we don’t mind!
My sister and I think that everyone should stay on and get a total score at the end of each episode, and at the end the person with the highest score total wins. That way everyone stays on until the end.
Side note I would like to just watch Sue Perkins doing normal everyday things and commenting on them. I would watch that reality show all the time.
did you ever see the show where she and some guy eat all of the food from particular eras of history?
Supersizers Go!! I love that show!
Giles Coren being a total tosser outside of it managed to ruin it for me. 🙁
Supersizers Go! (and Supersizers Eat)
It is available on Hulu. Sue Perkins is a delight in every episode (but potentially the most charming and lovely in the Restoration episode….)
Yesss I just signed up for a free Hulu trial anyway, you have made my night.
Have you seen Giles and Sue Live the Good Life? Also wonderful.
This exists?!?!? You just made my day!
MINE TOO. This is my new plan for the evening.
Have you read her memoir, Spectacles? She just seems like the most interesting, thoughtful and hilarious person – well worth the read.
I love that book. I laughed a lot and cried and then laughed some more. 2 thumbs up!
Adding it to my amazon list right now
Yeah I would be fine with that. Maybe they would only have like six people total, instead of twelve? And then someone just gets the highest score at the end. That’s fine. Honestly, I don’t care at all about who wins, I just want to see people back weird things!
Me, too!
YES. I like the idea of so many reality shows, but the sending-people-home aspect just kills it for me.
It makes me so happy whenever they help each other. “Running late? Here, let me stir your ganache!” “Shall I steady your enormous cake while you lift it onto the stand?” “Here are some tips on how I’ve found it best to make puff pastry.” <3
<3 <3 <3
I’d watch all of these and “Regular Kids (Whose Parents Are Not Pushing Them To Become Stars) Make Up Stories and Tell Jokes, Then Go Back To Being Regular Kids.” Or even just half an hour of different people telling us funny things their kids said.
A bit like Kids Say The Darndest Things? I never saw it (before my time) but someone gave me a book that collected up all the things the kids said on the show.
I still call milk ‘jet-propelled muscle juice’ because of that book.
They tried to revive Kids Say the Darndest Things with Bill Cosby. The new version was awful, but the upside was seeing how hard it is to coax a genuinely funny answer from a kid you’ve never met.
Reading the book, I’d just assumed the children were naturally funny, but seeing the bad version of the show made me realize that Art Linkletter must have had amazing interpersonal skills.
I guess it just has to be spontaneous- you must be sitting with them and talking about whatever and they come out with something hilarious about an octopus or a rocket ship.
Wait, so From The Mouths of Babies had an American predecessor? Should have guessed… (Honestly, a bit sad about it – looks like none of Russian TV gameshows I ever liked were original. Wel, maybe those I didn’t like were. Not exactly a consolation, that.)
I read that book too! My fave section was where he asked the kids, “What did mom tell you not to say?”
I found that book on my parents’ bookshelf as a kid and read it approximately one-jillionty times. If I recall correctly, it was illustrated by Charles Schultz.
I don’t know if its streaming or online or anything, but Channel 4 in the UK has “Secret Life of Four Year Olds”(there’s also a Five and a Six) and it’s wonderful and very like this. Just a bunch of little kids doing their thing, with some child psychologists explaining in narration (“Jimmy is singing to help him process emotions better” as Jimmy repeats “frogs are pink, dogs are pink, frogs are frogs” while walking in circles)
I would totally watch that.
I WANT THIS.
A good spinoff would be “Teachers Who Love Their Jobs Tell Us About Their Wacky Students.” This is one of my FAVORITE games to play with my coworkers.
This is already every social event I attend. Pitfalls of being married to a teacher who loves her job!
Yesssssssss.
I don’t know if you can get it where you are but here in the UK, Channel 4 has done three series called ‘Educating [Insert Place Name Here]’ and they are really brilliant. It’s a fly-on-the-wall documentary set in 3 real schools in different parts of Brtain (each series focusses on a different school). There was one moment that made me ball, where this kid with a stammer called Musharaf, who had this incredible back story, was struggling to deliver his English oral and his teacher helped him out with something he’d seen in the King’s Speech and UGH IT JUST MADE ME FEEL ALL THE THINGS.
You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFXl27z5sIE
Rain..on my face…
WELP tears at my desk was totally something I should have expected.
oh man. his mates crying in the front row. my heart.
Have you ever seen any of the Kid History videos on youtube? A bunch of brothers record their kids retelling family stories and act them out with fantastic lip synching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yy7AP7Dh6w
These all sound really good.
See also Written By A Kid and Kid Snippets!
I saw one of them at the mall a couple of Christmases ago and was so confused. Just a normal looking guy, but so familiar, couldn’t think of how I knew him. It’s weird seeing people out of context
AND ALSO Actual Conversations with my [insert age here] Year Old
Kid Snippets is one of my favorite YouTube channels of all time
Thank you for reminding me that this channel exists. I used to watch it all the time and I haven’t watched any in like a year!
Isn’t that basically Facebook, though?
Mine mostly has a very high photo-to-funny-remark ratio. (And I’m kind of conflicted about the photos: it’s fun to see my friends’ kids grow up and see my friends in their faces, but I worry about creepers and the loss of the children’s privacy, especially for the people with their profiles set to “public.”)
They’re not usually word games, but I think you need to watch Tabletop:
http://geekandsundry.com/shows/tabletop/
Friends play board games with Wil Wheaton!
The Rhett and Link episode is great! (When they play Concept, they are so precious I can’t.)
I love it so much! We have bought so many games as a result–a double win!
This is exactly what I want in my leisure time television.
Animals for Whom Everything Turned Out OK
A show about kittens with colds, or dogs with broken legs, or horses with small-to-medium sized cuts, where a bunch of competent professionals asses and treat the problem and the animal improves rapidly and regains full health.
I think the one about the women out for brunch made me tear up a little! It would just be so nice!
Dogs who are worried that their people are leaving to go to work for the day but then it turns out that it is Saturday and they are really getting ready to take the dogs to the park.
Animals For Whom Everything Turned Out OK is basically my favorite show, Too Cute! on Animal Planet. Although those animals don’t always even have anything wrong with them aside from excessive cuteness.
OMG, I love when the narrator is David Attenborough-esque, narrating Fluffy’s first expedition from the blanket basket to the bookshelf, and being brought back exhausted by Mom.
Behold: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2197519/?ref_=fn_al_t…
Is it ever coming back? The clip of the Persian kittens getting their first bath in the first kitten episode is perfection. I was so sad when they cut it to half-an-hour, but they did give us behind-the-scenes clips to make up for it.
The closest I’ve seen to the brunch one is Check please!
I love Check Please! My boss was on an episode of the Chicago-based version one time, and my coworkers and I watched it obsessively and laughed our darn heads off.
Despite the negative title, My Cat From Hell is basically this. Spoiler alert: At the end of every episode, the cat’s behavior has improved, the humans have learned to be better pet guardians and are getting along well with each other, and anyone who claims not to like cats very much will have learned to appreciate their partner’s pet.
Plus, you get lots of shots of a large, bearded, tattooed man playing gently with cats, and it’s fabulous.
And crying! He always cries!
He’s such a sweet, thoughtful guy, and you can tell how much he loves animals. Plus, for people who have cats themselves, he actually has some pretty good tips.
We have legit learned so many good things from that show.
My sister and I have threatened for years to do “The Ridiculous Pajama Show” on YouTube, in which we wear ridiculous PJs and talk about stuff we like.
But these ideas are better.
I would back that kickstarter (and also suggest the zebra onesie I have with the zebra head feets)
Yeah you should probably do this.
I would subscribe to your channel. I would watch it in my penguin onesie.
I don’t think you used threaten correctly. You threaten people with bad things. Your thing sounds delightful. You should make this happen.
The BBC is doing the Lord’s work in soothing TV where the stakes are low but you’re engaged because such nice people are involved. Bake Off, for sure, but I’m also highly addicted to Escape to the Country. Nice realtor shows nice people three nice homes! Everyone is pleasant even if it’s not quite what they want! Usually the mystery house astounds and delights! There are little vignettes about local history and activities!
Escape to the Country sounds AMAZING and I am going to try very hard to find a way to watch it!!
There are a millionty episodes on YouTube, go forth and bask in period details and regional stonework.
Similarly, Victorian Farm (which is all free on YouTube), in which three people try to run a farm with Victorian technology. Mostly it’s just watching people plow things, chase sheep, and do laundry. And then they have a Christmas feast!
Yup. Life Laundry was another of those. A personor family overwhelmed with STUFF gets all their stuff pulled out of the house and arranged for them to go through, help sorting through it, help selling some of it for money at a boot sale, and while they’re doing that, the house is spruced up and the stuff they’re keeping is put back in. They’re congratulated on how much they sold, donated, and threw away, and no artificial limits or contests like in the obnoxious US counterpart, clean sweep.
These are all my new favorite shows. Please network people, make them happen.
James Franco and Edna 4 EVA
why do I feel like James Franco would be 100% game for this project
This one legit made me cry, because I wish I’d done this with my grandmothers!
Pets Accidentally Falling Off Things But Then Also They’re Fine and Get a Treat and Take a Nap with Someone on a Couch in Front of a Fire.
Kittens Kneading Fuzzy Blankies While Purring.
Having gone through and watched the entirety of GBBO twice, I needed a new “gentle reality-ish show” fix for mind-calming. Lo, I discovered the BBC historical farm series: Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm, Tudor Monastery Farm, Tales from the Green Valley. Super low-key, mellow little programs in which some nerdy British historians go live on a farm for a year reenacting how to run a farm for a chosen era. They’re incredibly dorky little programs, but good for when the most excitement you need is a lady being entirely too pleased about cheese making or two dudes trying their best to chase sheep around a field.
You have made my day. I am also suffering from GBBO withdrawal.
Also, how is it possible to be too pleased about making cheese?
Well, it’s adorable because Ruth’s all “YAY CURDS!” and her teenage daughter who is visiting to help out is like “mum, it smells SO BAD!”
I love those types of shows, as well as the “_______ House” series when they take a few families that know pretty much nothing about the past and they have to reenact what life was like back then for several months.
Oh, I used to be obsessed with those when they ran on PBS! (I dunno if they still do them, but I’m talking back when they were called things like “Manor House” and “Colonial House”) I always enjoyed the people being horrified by just how not quaint and lovely everything is. I still remember the time the Colonial House people discovering aquavit and (none of them knowing what it was) proceeded to get totally ripped on it.
Colonial House was the best! (Ranch House was unfortunately dreadful and they never made any more after that)
My most favorite was 1900 house on BBC, right around 1999, and they were vegetarian, with four kids, the twins in the middle were delighted, the little boy was bored and hated all the food and the teenage daughter and the mom bonded well over how restricted their lives were and they had a 3rd generation char lady coming in for a while. Also the stove was HORRIFYING. Yes.
That was the one where the mother became a suffragette and started printing pamphlets, yes?
Did anyone watch the one about living in the iron age maybe? I seem to remember that one everyone kept getting sick from the diet; so they had to cut the project short. I’m assuming it’s Surviving the Iron Age, but I’m not finding anything online about whether or not my memory is right about the way the show ended.
I love that one. They got sick from animal feces. They didn’t cut it short, but they let them have shoes while decontaminating. They refused to give the shoes back! The family with the small children had to leave though, because the little girl almost died.
Eww! I was thinking they got food poisoning from eating undercooked meat. Maybe they had all of those things. I think I remember they had trouble catching and killing the meat (chicken? rabbit?), and also trouble making the fire properly, so it was dark by the time they were actually cooking and they couldn’t see to tell if it was done or not. It seemed so unfair and unhistorical, because in those days there obviously would have been knowledgeable people to help them! And more likely, they would have grown up doing that stuff all their lives. Poor participants! I’m glad they kept the shoes. Ugh.
Do you know where you can watch these nowadays?
Most of them I’ve watched on DVD, my local library had several. Both BBC and PBS have done a lot of them; and then I think there were a few done in Canada and Australia (one of the Canadian ones, Klondike Quest for Gold, I think is/was on hulu). There’s a list of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Historical…
Hulu definitely has Quest for the Bay (Canadian portaging!) and Outback House (Australian sheep farming!) and… wait I found a Reddit thread all about this tv genre: https://www.reddit.com/r/homestead/comments/2opu0…
I found another list, this one has some additional ones, mostly European https://www.facebook.com/notes/604528026273439/
I have a multi-region DVD player, and ordered a pretty cheap box set from Amazon.uk.
The BBC Wales “Coal House” series is great, and also made me extremely thankful for my running hot water and ability to take baths.
I was _obsessed_ with those to the point of trying to make my parents apply for Frontier House. They refused, which broke my heart.
You’d probably also enjoy the older series “It’s Not Easy Being Green“.
You might enjoy the Great British Sewing Bee – similarly British and no-conflict, but with sewing.
YOU HAVE DISCOVERED MY KRYPTONITE.
This is real right? You’re not just kidding? RIGHT?
It starts here – all three seaons are on youtube.
I know it would take longer, but I kind of wish there were a knitting/crocheting version.
Just a bunch of people sitting around making things with yarn, telling stories with various regional British accents.
Norway’s got ya: https://tv.nrk.no/serie/nasjonal-strikkekveld/dvn…
There’s also a painting one and a new pottery one!
And for when you’ve finished that, The Great Pottery Throw Down
Are you me? This is my exact comfort watching the past few weeks/months, except I haven’t seen all the historical farms yet but am already feeling ready for my third round of bake-off.
I adore the cheesemaking as well, except I wish we’d seen her finished cheeses in either series, but especially the cheddar. (Also, did her daughter change names from Kathy to Eve between the Victorian / Victorian Christmas series or is my name memory just rubbish?)
She has two daughters. Eve is in some things, Cathy is in others.
Oh, I was so frustrated about the cheese, too! In one episode she’s showing how the lovely rind is just starting to form on the cheese and then we never get a follow-up! The editors are grossly underestimating my investment in these things.
Exactly! I get that it’s not purely a historical food programme, but those cheeses would be SO INTERESTING to see. (I’m ignoring the inner sceptic that says maybe they just didn’t turn out very nice)
Oh, I see! Eve and Cathy look amazingly similar then. I like how they’re super game to try their mum’s historical reenactment stuff but also a lot less hyper.
I adore all of the “___ Farm” series! Ruth Goodman is my historian hero. Also check out Secrets of the Castle: Ruth, Peter, and Tom work on Guédelon castle in France.
Me toooo <3
I need to order her books!
I got “How to be a Victorian” for Christmas a few years ago and it’s so good! I want to force everyone who talks about how they’d love to live in the past to read it. Seriously people, the Victorian era was pretty crap to live in if you were female, or not fabulously wealthy.
Can we anonymously mail a million copies to that insufferable corset lady?
She’s too busy reading period material on her historically correct Kindle.
Helpfully devoid of any scholarly context, because that would be cheating.
I don’t know why she makes flames erupt on the side of my face any more than any of the other people who annoy me (and considering how many times I’ve muttered “fuck off” today, that’s a lot of people) but she is just a chalkboard screech in human form, and that’s before Gaaaaaaabriel is factored in.
I don’t know why she *doesn’t* make flames erupt on the side of my face. Possibly because I don’t let myself think about her for very long at one time. My brain protects me by just noping out at the first opportunity.
Oh please!
Oooh can someone provide a link, I’m in the mood for a good hate read.
This should get you started.
oh wow
wwwwoooowwwwww
Right?
This is one of those rare instances when I don’t fall in step with the feelings of The Wider LadyBlog Internet.
It seems like the overall response to this woman has been one of anger/disgust/scorn, and I am really flummoxed by it. Chrisman is just a person living an unconventional life: why are people so upset about that? It’s obviously not a choice everyone can or would make, but from what I’ve read, she’s not being prescriptive about her lifestyle. If she were being holier-than-thou about it, I would get all the hate, but from what I can see, she’s not.
I don’t care if she wants to live an unconventional life: I know a lot of commune hippies and other nontraditional sorts. It’s the regressive politics (I don’t need my lady vote!), the constant comparisons of her situation to racism (nope!), the downright creepy relationship dynamics, and the random inconsistencies (Internet & Skype & reading historical books on her Kindle are fine, not sleeping in her corsetry even in the hospital is not). She’s just a really privileged and clueless person with that dash of holier than thou that tends to make my slapping hand itchy. Or possibly I am just a mean girl. But I’ll stand by it.
Oh man. I just read this interview in its entirety, and now I get it.
They have some good things to say, but HOLY MACKERAL, their refusal to engage with the questions about the lack of rights for women and people of color are mind-boggling. I can’t believe that their response to the question about issues affecting women was basically: “Well actually it wasn’t that bad. Divorce was easy [wtf?] and women could just get abortions [wtf?] and women are beaten by their husbands today so let’s not even talk about the problem it posed back then”. Oh, and then there’s the man’s sniping at “some feminists” and how they aren’t concentrating on the right things. Ugh, that’s terrible.
I’d only ever read the articles where she as just describing her way of life, and I really didn’t see why people would hate on that as much as they did. But delving a little deeper into their views on race and gender is leaving me pretty speechless. Why can’t they appreciate the Victorian era without also admitting its faults?
I don’t know, I just wish they would find a period clue.
I’m planning on getting my mom the Victorian one for her upcoming birthday. Mostly so I can read it too.
A time-honored practice. I just stole back the book I got for my mom for Mothers’ Day (Oliver Sacks’ “On the Road”).
I’ve been meaning to watch that one next! I still haven’t found the last episode of Victorian Bakers, either.
Anyone know why Alex was replaced with Tom in the latter farm series? I missed the Alex-and-Peter(Fonz) former college buddies banter. Tom just doesn’t have the same energy.
I don’t know, but I also mix Alex. I went back and rewatched “Tales from the Green Valley” a few months ago and Alex and Peter look so young!
I actually watched that one after watching the others so I was completely thrown by how young the boys seemed. Also, that Peter was still going by “Fonz” at that point.
The Fonz thing bugged me. I’d be watching, watching, everything was good, then someone would say Fonz and it was like my brain would come to a screeching halt.
I feel like it gives a perfect mental image as to what those two dorks were like in college. It also says a lot that he dropped it and changed to “Peter” pretty quickly.
I watched Green Valley ages after the others and it was just so confusing. But as soon as I actually remembered who Fonz was it was generally a case of ‘yeah. your nickname would be that.’
Central conflict: truculent sheep.
Truly a scourge that transcends time and borders.
Thank you for telling us about this, this is just the most wonderful thing I’ve heard all day.
WHAT! Now I know what I’m watching while knitting tonight. That ticks, like, all my dorky boxes.
Thank god someone else mentioned these first. Those shows are my happy place.
There’s something about watching other people do exhausting manual labor that’s *really* relaxing!
A low-key program I enjoy is A Taste of History on PBS. The host has an amusing European accent of some kind, and the show focuses on colonial food, so basically every episode is a giant turkey or chicken being roasted followed by some root vegetables being slathered in beschamel sauce.
Historical facts are also peppered in throughout the episode.
http://www.atasteofhistory.org/
A friend swears by Time Team, a BBC production she says she can watch on Youtube – three days of digging, sometimes a rescue or emergency archaeological dig, sometimes something more leisurely. I haven’t tried it yet, but she recommends good stuff!
That sounds brilliant! I need to hunt this down.
Also try the other Bake Off format shows on the BBC – Sewing Bee, Painting Challenge, Pottery Throwdown (the male judge weeps from the beauty of it all), Interior Design Challenge.
There used to be another British reality show called “Rough Science,” where they drop a bunch of scientists on a deserted island and then challenge them to make things. There aren’t any points, no one gets voted off, it’s just a bunch of nerdy PhDs working together to make a camera or a working radio or what have you. Chemists! Botanists! Physicists! Team work!
I was at my friends’ house last weekend and they had Animal Planet on and it was showing “Dogs 101”, which was basically just “here are different kinds of dogs you might like, and why they are great”. They did do a pro/con thing about possible health problems or “this dog needs a lot of activity”, but mostly it was just “here are some dogs doing their thing” and it made me kinda miss having cable for a bit.
There used to be an Animal Planet show called “Underdog to Wonderdog” in which families would petition the show for a dog (they had to prove they could and would take care of one for life), then the “wonder team” would select a dog from a shelter, train for a while and groom, and teach the family how to keep up with the training.
It was really cute and I loved seeing the dogs’ health and personalities improve!
“Dogs With Jobs” (which is on Netflix) is my standard post-work, I-can’t-deal-with-the-cruel-world viewing. Just great dogs, doing great jobs!
(Sometimes they do have sad back stories, but it’s All Okay in the End).
DOGS WITH JOBS IS FUCKING AMAZING. It’s so old, like from the 90s, and the graphics are generally terrible but the dogs are amazing and all the humans are so earnest. Ugh I love it so much.
“Border collies are not suited to small apartments. Here’s some footage of border collies gamboling in the countryside.”
I love those! They are on YouTube. They were the very first videos I let my sheltered first born watch. So many cute doggies!
My dad was obsessed with both Dogs 101 and Cats 101 there for a while, so I’ve watched so many episodes. Truly excellent tv, getting to see all the wonderful doggies and kitties.
Oh gosh I used to drop everything to watch that show. It’s amazing.
I loooooove Dogs 101. I caught the last 15 minutes of an episode on Saturday and it seriously made my whole day. It’s so relaxing, and for every breed there’s some history and some people talking about how much they love that breed of dog. Cats 101 is equally great.
In non dog-related programming, Animal Planet also has Treehouse Masters which is peaceful and non-competitive 100% of the time, and includes bonus rad treehouses. They make some really impressive stuff and their whole team is a bunch of lovable goofballs.
I watched that before my sinus surgery the other month! It made me so happy.
People Adopting Animals and Gently Introducing Them to Their Forever Home and Family
There is a show in Canada called Pick A Puppy (I think it is/was on their Country Music channel?). It basically follows a family to meet three different puppies and then they pick one. It is great.
I think Cesar Milan did a show like that! Families would compete to take home a dog that Cesar had rehabilitated. It was so nice!
my dog chose me by laying her chin on my knee and gazing up at me with what I later found out (thanks, Toasties!) are called the Eyes of Looking
if that was a TV show I’d watch nothing else for the rest of my life
My cat, now gone where good cats go, chose me by walking out of the woods and sitting in my lap. We had 15 wonderful years together.
My dog stole my heart on YouTube.
This reminds me of that Miranda piece where she’s doing a Man on the Street that’s just:
“Hi! that’s a nice top. Do you feel good in it? Is it comfortable? Alright, wear that then”
My mother said if I ever get on a reality show I have to say “I’m literally only here to make friends. I’m just here to get emails and Facebooks.”
Also
Always down for Demetri Martin. Such a crush on him.
I would watch a whole reality show called “I’m Here to Make Friends,” where people can get eliminated for being mean and selfish, but if everyone is nice and personable, nobody gets eliminated and you just watch them all getting to know each other over time.
Miranda!!!! The best show in existence. The episode where she says she’s going to Thaliand and instead books a hotel room to watch movies, take baths, order room service, and press her trousers? Pure soothing comedy gold
In college, I always wanted to produce a show for our TV station called “The Happy Half-Hour” with only good news. The end credits would be people around the world (just me and my friends on painted backdrops) laughing for 3-5 minutes.
I really truly want Comforting Statistics. There really are a lot of ways in which now is the best time to be alive! That would be so nice.
It’s a magazine, not a TV show, but I have all my comforting statistics from Positive News <a href=”http://(http://www.positive.news)” target=”_blank”>(http://www.positive.news). Highly recommend checking in with them when things get to be a bit much in the middle of the afternoon.
Thanks for the recommendation!
I’m pretty sure Stephen Pinker would love to host this show, we should propose it to him
A real show that I thought was great but never really got a following in the US is Million Dollar Mind Game. There’s only one team, and everyone is working together to solve logic puzzles. It’s based off the original Russian version, which is ridiculously popular among Russian ex pats around the world.
Also not shows, but documentaries (so sort of reality shows) worth checking out: Sandwiches You Will Like, where a guy just goes around the US eating local sandwiches and telling the story of the history of the sandwich style, and Young @ Heart, about a group of senior citizens that sing pop songs covers.
I wish they did Sandwiches You Will Like as an ongoing show. I would tune in every week.
“Sandwiches You Will Like”
OH MY GOD I need to see this
The people who made “Sandwiches You Will Like” also made “A Hot Dog Program” and “An Ice Cream Show” which are made in the same vein as “Sandwiches” but (obviously) about hot dogs and ice cream, respectively.
Sometimes my PBS station will show all three in succession, and it is great.
Oh! I’ve seen the one about hot dogs and the one about ice cream but never the one about sandwiches, I’ll keep an eye out for them!
Oh, yes, these sound wonderful. I think the Food Network has some like this sometimes.
*checks the Google machine*
Yes, there’s “Best Thing I Ever Ate” and “Guilty Pleasures”. Chefs and celebrities and the like just reminisce about their favorite foods.
Young @ Heart made me bawl like a baby. An elderly gentleman singing Fix You? I’m done.
take my money and make all of these
Laid-Back Weddings, where the couple maintains reasonable expectations and deals with any disappointment like adults. They and their guests and wedding party members all stay within their budgets, and everyone treats everyone else with respect.
I really miss TLC’s A Wedding Story, it was basically always like that. Just lovely. Also, A Baby Story.
Crisis! the bride and groom have vastly different cake preferences, and both of them want their cake choice represented.
Solution! they have the caterer make a cake that is demarcated into two cakes, each side labeled with a clear yet whimsical design.
With a wee bridge spanning the two, and their little figurines on it!
Oh goodness, how sweet! It would have to be a very wee bridge, since my imagined cake is shaped like a normal wedding cake, but it’s half one cake and half another, covered with icing to make it one cake.
I’m making a wedding cake for two picky eaters this summer and you just solved a HUGE dilemma and made it a super cute design instead! Please, will you both consent to be my People Of The Week?
I will consent to this accolade.
Hooray for solutions! 🙂
Kinda similar – there’s a show called Curvy Brides, which is a bit like Say Yes to the Dress, but they don’t look down on people with a budget of less than $3000. They’re just a little store run by two sisters, who are just lovely, and then it goes into a bit about their business decisions.
The UK Don’t Tell The Bride was accidentally like this for a while – the narration would be something like “And will she flip out when she see’s Groom’s *crazy* ideas?” while the bride goes, “Oh how cute, I wouldn’t have thought of that.”
I also dream of a short-lived reality tv show where the narrator and showrunners kept trying to introduce drama, but the contestants stymied them every time.
Most of the time the production team go out of their way to stir up conflict (why get the bride-to-be to go and tour a venue or try on a wedding dress that are nothing like what the groom will go for?); my partner refuses to watch it because he finds it so distressing.
Project Runway except instead of the judging where Heidi Klum tells people they did a bad job it’s just Tim Gunn being calm and appreciative and helps everyone improve their designs. Also there’s a lot of hugging.
[I may have started watching Project Runway for the first time this weekend while working on a sewing project and I want Tim Gunn to be my friend.]
I want Tim Gunn to be my kind, calm, encouraging mentor for all things in life. He could just swoop in when I’m having a mental breakdown and help me see that I have the power to make it work.
(yes, I have elaborate Tim Gunn mentoring fantasies)
i just want him to hold me
Project Runway Junior gets close to this. All the kids are super talented and really like each other and the judges are very kind and encouraging with them. Unfortunately, they do eliminate someone each week, but Tim Gunn is there being gentle and helpful throughout. There is a lot of hugging.
There’s a Project Runway Junior?!?! BRB FOREVER
I recently watched the last four or so episodes of the just-finished season of Masterchef Junior, and it was lovely. The kids are super cute and say nice things about each other. Gordon Ramsay is very helpful, encouraging, and kind to them. I want all of them to come hang out and cook with me.
Gordon Ramsay is a big ball of goo around the little chefs and is basically the best teacher ever.
Oooooh did you start from season one? Or the Lifetime era? I LOVE Project Runway so much and am always happy to get to talk about it.
The Lifetime ones, because they are the ones on Hulu! I have watched the first… 11 episodes of season six over the past two days?
Ohhhhh it’s so good. The Bravo years were even better. Have you seen an unconventional materials challenge yet? They’re my absolute favorite.
There is a reason I have a picture of Tim Gunn on the corkboard over my office desk.
Tim Gunn: Life Coach. Each week, Tim Gunn helps a different person with kind encouragement.
Tim Gunn did a Reddit AmA once and he gave the most wonderful, helpful, encouraging answers. I still have his list of the most essential items for a woman’s wardrobe saved on my computer and aspire to one day be put together enough to have nice versions of everything on it.
“Your House Is Nice Just The Way It Is” reminds me of a show conceived by a friend and me called “Sausagedog and Sausagefriend Love Your Wedding.” We attend your wedding with a camera crew and assure you that your venue choice is fantastic and not at all tacky, that your vows and music choices are beautiful extensions of you as a person, and that the catering tastes delicious and definitely like something we’d spend $200/head on at a regular restaurant given the opportunity. And we give you a great wedding present.
That sounds wonderful. I don’t think you even need to use your real name for it. The idea of the bride exclaiming, “Oh! Sausagedog’s arrived!” tickles me so.
I am having a weepy Monday, but now I am going to day-dream about being on Baking with Your Mom to make me feel better. Thanks!
I’m also having a weepy Monday, and this + the Heaven Schedule Storify from this morning’s link roundup are really pushing me over the edge, in a good way! I can’t wait to get home and snuggle my dog and think about Baking with Your Mom and figure out my heaven game-plan.
Does anyone watch Masterchef Junior? I held off for awhile because I was apprehensive about the prospect of seeing Gordon Ramsay yell at children, but he does NO YELLING at any point. The kids are all genuinely supportive of each other (and impressively good cooks). (One episode a contestant actually stopped cooking during a challenge to run over and help another kid who was floundering.) The judging is usually gentle and constructive, there is a lot of telling people they did a good job, and every time someone has to go home there is a lot of hugging and sniffling.
He’s so good with kids it’s amazing to watch.
Yes, I also like this show. It’s super cute and it makes me like Ramsay even more that I already did (which was quite a lot to begin with, actually).
Gordon’s U.S. shows are usually nothing but yelling so I was amazed at how calm and even-tempered he was with the kids. He’s really great at encouraging them and jumping in right before a little freak out turns into a full-blown meltdown.
I feel this way about Chopped Junior! Some of the kids are so wee that they call over “Mr. Ted” to help them get down a food processor or open a jar or something and Ted Allen obliges.
If you’re feeling Chopped but not the potential for douche contestants, I also love Chopped After Hours, in which the judges are given one of the baskets and have to make their own dish. Everyone is fun and high fives and jokes and it is so, so cute.
I enjoy both of those too! The After Hours ones are great because there is so little pressure. No one ever has a meltdown and they just snark at each other in a companionable way, and then the judging is basically just “oh my god WHAT A COOL IDEA this dish is amazing.”
And Alex Guarnaschelli actually smiles and her face doesn’t crack.
LOVE Masterchef Jr. Did you see the episode where all the kids had to make dinner for a room full of grandmas? Just, like, real-life old ladies were the judges. And it’s also great when the regular judges bring their family members (especially Gordon’s kids) to be guest judges.
I am perplexed by the insistence on dumping huge quantities of random sticky substances on the judges at the beginning of almost every episode though. I guess it’s fun for the kids?
My theory is that it is filling the gap left in children’s reality programming that occurred after the end of all those Nickelodeon shows where they constantly poured green slime on people.
That is exactly my theory! I don’t know if the the kids are aware of all the slime that happened in 90s and early 00s Nickelodeon, but I loved the Nickelodeon sliming back then (and may still love it after my reaction to the Goldbergs’ Double Dare episode, and the amount of time I spent on YouTube afterwards) and kids don’t change.
I totally wrote basically this comment before I read the other comments. Master Chef Junior is one of my very favorite shows and I don’t like kids usually. It’s just so damned positive!
The Chouffe household is hopelessly devoted to MasterChef Junior. EVERYONE IS SO NICE. THEY ALL LEND EACH OTHER INGREDIENTS AND ARE SAD WHEN THEIR FRIENDS HAVE TO GO HOME.
YES.
So good. They are actually there to make friends! All these crazy nerdy kids who love cooking! I love it when they help each other and encourage each other. I also love when the kids are like “look, I’m 9, I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m just gonna give it my best shot”. And it is also educational in the critiques! “This is why your cake did not work out”
Yes! It’s the gentlest and friendliest reality show I’ve ever seen and I love it.
Buzzfeed had a video called like “Girls Do Each Others Makeup” or something like that and the focus was very much “wow everybody uses different makeup, and giving makeovers is fun and we look amazing!” which was cute but it made me want a whole web series of videos like that where close friends do each others makeup/give makeovers and have Deep Life Chats at the same time about how cool friendship is. I would watch it all.
I like the Buzzfeed Try Guys. They support each other so much, but then also they tease each other and are silly. I have watched them do many, many things together. I especially like when they try on women’s underwear or sexy halloween costumes.
Sort of like “Top Chef: Team Version” is the variety of programs with Heston Blumenthal, mostly on Channel 4, like “Heston’s Feasts”.
He talks through his recipe design process, his research, how he cooks the eventual dish, and then serves it to celebrity guests who marvel at how clever he is. The show does create pretend drama on a regular basis— he can’t find an ingredient, something is period accurate but tastes terrible, etc etc– and some of these problems are clearly just in there so he has something to triumph over and he wouldn’t have even bothered trying it if it wasn’t for the tv cameras following him around, but… uh… yeah. It’s fun!!
Also, Raymond Blanc has moved away from the competition type stuff (ie- The Restaurant, which I loved, but was a competition) and has moved more into “Raymond’s Christmas Feasts” or whatever they actually call it, where he will do things like show you seasonal recipes or whatever and then bring his son in to cook and eat with him etc etc.
Actually, if someone is looking for more gentle British food related competition after finishing all seasons of GBBO, The Restaurant was pretty lovely as well. Sarah Willingham is amaaaaaaazing as one of the judges.
I really enjoyed The Restaurant! For a competition, it was much less shout-y than most other TV offerings. (And it seemed like a pretty realistic view of actually working in the business).
My first book signing was when I was probably 12 years old and saw Brian Jacques. He did all the voices and it was perfect.
Was it in Rhode Island? Brian Jacques was my first book signing too. I was around 12/13 at the time and I prepared for it like I was getting ready to meet the president. He complimented me on my bracelet. It was magical.
Uuggggh pre-teen me is so jealous. I recently found the fanmail I wrote him once and apparently never sent. I suggested he make a cookbook. I would still buy the hell out of that cookbook. Deeper ‘n Ever Turnip ‘n Tater pie?! Yes please.
That cookbook exists.
I feel like there needs to be a kind-hearted, fat-positive alternative to all those awful exploitative fat-hating reality shows like The Biggest Loser and My 600 Lb. Life. The best I can come up with is a show where self-identified fat people just talk about all the stuff that’s going really well in their lives, without ever being judged for their size or lifestyle choices.
The Biggest Loser and My 600 Lb Life make me so sad. They’re so exploitative and gross.
I would like a nice show with fat people just doing, like, movement and exercise things with a ‘look, I can do this, bodies are awesome’ tone. No weirdly condescending or patronizing nonsense, just fat people moving around because they like to.
We can also have one with people just talking about good stuff, as I would also like that.
I haven’t actually watched it, but “My Big Fat Fabulous Life” on TLC might fit the bill?
It does! And the woman who is the focus of the show is awesome. She’s genuine and her message is all about body positivity. Her family is also really cute.
Long ago, someone tried to make an actual TV channel that was just 100% TV-quality puppy videos. No commercials even, just conveniently placed dog food bags and such. It was to be called The Puppy Channel. It was everything I ever dreamed of, but it never became a reality. They made a YouTube channel instead, but it’s just a compilation of people’s home videos and not the same at all.
There’s a great This American Life about that. I once got lost driving through Arizona and ended up listening to it while I wandered around.
Yes! And it had that great theme song: “Puppies puppies puppies puppies puppies puppies puppies puppies PUPPIES!”
I would watch all of these. And possibly even buy DVDs of previous seasons of them just to have and watch whenever I wanted.
Celebrity Fish Tank is literally my dream show.
Until that gets made, I’ll keep watching FishCenter Live.
There’s some kind of how-it’s-made type show where they show how they build giant tanks like the one in the … Marlins? stadium? Is that baseball? Anyway very interesting, equal parts construction and fish content.
ily
I’m getting so much feelings from all these (including in the comments) that I’m tearing up. They’re so nice and so not what we have now. Humans totally should have these shows. Thank youuu.
Personally Celebrity Fish Tank would be an ideal after-work show for me. As long as the celebrities were just focusing on the fish creatures. Perfect.
I’m so grateful to this piece for reminding me to look up YouTube videos of “Dulces Tentaciones,” which Idle Words described as the best Argentine cooking show: “They all pale in the face of the program called ‘Dulces Tentaciones’, starring the Swiss radical nun Sister Bernarda. This fantasy grandmother shows you how to make tarts, tortes, and other old world desserts, carefully cleaning her work area in between recipes while classical guitar or flute plays in the background. It is the most relaxing television program ever created, better than any drug, better than any steak.” Basically it’s Bob Ross for desserts, and it is marvelous.
My Pretty Cool Sweet 16: friends and relatives take turns telling the young lady of the episode how proud they are of her growth as a person, and her older relatives offer her the benefit of their years and experience, but without patronizing her or implying that her current choices are inadequate. The episode also focuses on something at which Our Heroine excels, from sweet skateboarding jumps to math to being a supportive and compassionate friend.
Oh my goodness, that sounds wonderful.
There are a lot of high-fives.
Can we do one for 13-year-olds?
I really liked Cake Boss when I watched it back in college. They didn’t focus on interpersonal conflict or anything; the show was just, “Here are a bunch of very competent bakers, and here they are working together to make awesome cakes!” The driving “conflict”, as it were, was figuring out the best way to solve a design problem, so there wasn’t really any fighting or anything. Just amazing looking cakes.
That sounds similar to Ace of Cakes, which I loved… and now Duff is on a show where every week a LITTLE KID has to be sent away, it is brutal and awful.
Oh wait, no you’re right – I mixed up Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss. Ace of Cakes is what I watched! And I loved it.
I loved it too.
And I would love the kids baking championship unreservedly if they would simply NOT SEND AWAY A KID EVERY WEEK.
Why can’t they just have all the kids stay the whole time? They could accumulate points and eventually declare a winner without sending away all the other kids. They’re such cute, talented, sweet children.
Ace of Cakes is the show that inspired me to start decorating cakes more often and with fondant (I find marshmallow fondant super fun to make), so it holds a special place in my heart.
Ace of Cakes was great! Everyone seemed very chill (and some degree of stoned, which didn’t hurt) and the cakes looked awesome. Cake Boss is not nearly as enjoyable for me.
There’s that cat show with that guy who opens his guitar case and it’s full of toys. He teaches people how to understand and take better care of their cats–like the dog whisperer, only with no alpha males and more slow blinking.
There also used to be Treetop Cat Rescue but it only lasted a few episodes because it had a limited dramatic arc, but it was sweet.
Yes! My Cat from Hell *dramatic music*
Jackson Galaxy seems genuinely awesome. I refuse to research his background thoroughly because if it turns out that he isn’t in every conceivable way the perfect tattooed, bearded, nerd/punk, cat-therapist man of my dreams I will be crushed. CRUSHED
I remember the Treetop Cat Rescue show! I enjoyed the few episodes there were.
Treetop Cat Rescue was way too stressful for me!! They always save the cats but it gets TENSE and I would always weep a little at the end.
I want a monthly version of that “Where the Hell is Matt?” video where he just goes around the world and does goofy dances with people. Weekly would probably be too much. But every month, he goes somewhere new, meets people, and does goofy dances with them. Like a version of “No Reservations” but instead of Anthony Bourdain drinking heavily and eating in “very authentic” basements, it’s a nice guy asking people to dance with him.
To go with Baking With Your Mom, may I suggest Making A Mess In The Garage With Your Dad? Contestants and their dads finally decide to replace that one rotting wooden step by the side door, and leisurely measure and cut a plank of wood that’s painted the wrong color, but who cares, it’s the step being safe that’s the important thing.
I too want televised versions of every Dad Magazine article ever. Yes.
Oh man, I really need to plan some good woodworking projects with my dad, it’s been too long.
On Channel 31 (which is an Australian community television network) they have a show called Woodworking Masterclass, which is basically a friendly middle-aged gent in his shed, chatting direct to camera as he shows you how to make dovetail joints or whatever. It’s the most delightful, soothing piece of television I’ve ever had the pleasure of stumbling across while channel flicking.
I think I remember some British show that was a DIY dad intervention thing, for dads who do really terrible DIY work. Some pros would come in and give him some new, better tools and he would attend a fun class. It was like a makeover show. (They may have done non-dads as well, but I think I only saw dads.)
My mom isn’t great at baking or heckling — can I sub in other relatives and friends for my episode of Baking With Your Mom? I will bring my grandma and my uncle, for their baking knowledge, and possibly toastfriend RoseCamelia, whose baking interests I don’t know but who I think would be good at the “gentle heckling” part.
I need all of these. The world needs all of these.
I love all of these. Shows like these are more like what I want to watch these days on the rare occasions where I pry myself away from a video game to actually watch TV. Lots of Food Network and such, like Good Eats. And things like science documentaries where nothing happens, you just learn cool things. *scampers off to re-watch Bill Nye The Science Guy*
GOING DEEP WITH DAVID REES! It is like Bill Nye and like the how-is-that-made segments of Mister Rogers and it’s funny and informative and I love it so much. At one point in the just-concluded season David Rees met a man who knows all about every toaster ever invented, and talking to this man made him so happy I think he cried a little bit. There’s also an episode in season 1 where he meets a paper airplane expert and they hang out in a hangar folding paper airplanes and singing made-up songs about them.
Can we combine the Redwall show with one of the cooking shows, in which celebrities read the feast scenes while the cooks make the food from the books and then they all eat it and someone finds a small child to fall into the trifle?
The Great Redwall-Feast Bake Off. A++++, would watch/fund the Kickstarter for.
I can supply some small children to fall into various dishes.
Perfection
Please. I don’t think anything in my life has ever tasted as good as I imagine a Redwall feast tastes.
I always wanted to buy the Redwall Cookbook and basically try every recipe in it, like the ladies from the A Game of Thrones food blog. We could turn it into a YouTube channel if somebody lends me their kitchen.
OH MY GOD THIS EXISTS?!
Amazing. AMAZING. I was just above recalling how I recently found fanmail i wrote and never sent as a 10-12 year old in the late 90’s. I suggested he make a cookbook.
LO AND BEHOLD he got my message telepathically. Bless this man and this forum.
Your House Is Nice Just the Way It Is could be followed by What You’re Wearing Is Perfectly Fine, a show where people’s individual fashion choices are praised for their creativity, practicality, or comfort and the guest is then given $5,000 that they can spend on clothing or on anything else they might prefer.
What about something that’s halfway between that and WNTW, where the person doesn’t have to dump their whole wardrobe and it’s more of a collaborative process between the hosts and the guest? Instead of the false choice between “self-sabotage by clothing” and “taking my place in the straight-leg jean, kitten heel, and waist-length jacket army”, the hosts could help the guest find a style of their own?
oh god why all the kitten heels all the time? why? they are not universally flattering.
There used to be a show (on TLC too?) where people would recreate runway outfits from shopping in stores in the mall, and I don’t remember it being shame-y or anything! I was sad that it died but WNTW lived on. I can’t seem to find the name anywhere online though. It was early/mid 2000’s.
I remember that! It was so much fun!
The Look For Less? I remember a show like what you’re talking about, and I was REALLY proud of my unfashionable self because the host had the same blouse as me, from Gap!
YES, oh my god, thank you!!!
I love it when that happens. It’s like when you’re watching Parks and Rec and you have the same thing April’s wearing <3
There’s a singing reality TV show in NZ called Homai Te Pakipaki (clap your hands) and it’s fantastic. There are no judges (it’s text voting only), they don’t dress the contestants or do anything fancy. Just people getting up to have a sing. The hosts introduce each person, say something nice, the contestant sings, the host says how nice that was, and then on to the next person. It’s just a supportive show, where one person from each week goes on to the ‘semis’ but there’s no negative things. I love it!
Edit: Don’t know if people outside NZ can watch this, but here’s the link to the last final.
RuPaul’s Best Friend Race, in which a dozen drag queens get together to socialize, learn tricks of the trade, get lots of those “I now love and support you, my formerly-estranged child” scenes, and swap stories under free drinks.
Yes, but they also lip sync for their lives multiple times an episode, but nobody gets eliminated and they all do a great job.
This is basically why I watch Master Chef Junior. “Here is Gordon Ramsay being nice and supportive to some children who can cook better than I can, who are all friends with each other and are sad when each other go home and whom they eliminate in pairs so that no one feels singled out.”
Yup. See also Top Chef Masters, where they are all already extremely successful and are only winning the prize money for charity.
Breaking Bread with Father Dominic was a great show on PBS from 1999 – 2001. Fr Dom just made bread, and chatted, and was really very pleasant company. Unfortunately I don’t see any full-length program videos on YouTube.
I used to watch Father Dominic followed by those two Texan Italian guys and it just made my Saturdays sooooo much better
That buzzfeed video where a bunch of women get really drunk and are handed puppies, except half an hour long and weekly. All the puppies could be from shelters! Special episodes would include 3-legged puppies and elderly puppies and there would be a sister show with kittens.
I don’t even like dogs and I’d watch that. I am also of the opinion that for coverage of sports games, the promo shots of players that they show during the line-ups should be them holding an adoptable animal and smiling instead of crossing their arms and making their most menacing glare.
I have watched that buzzfeed video so many times. The one who cries is my favorite.
A couple of years ago Penny Arcade did a webseries called Strip Search about web cartoonists that I really enjoyed because the contestants just liked each other so much and fervently resisted all attempts to manufacture drama among them. It seemed like the intent at some points was to make the show more like a conventional personal conflict-filled reality show but really, everyone just seemed to be so happy to meet other people who liked to draw and make comics that it was delightful to watch. https://www.penny-arcade.com/strip-search/
haha, real talk, my sister was on that show!
Oh, I hope she’s doing well! They were all so good!
Strip Search was basically a gift from god to me in the wasteland of reality competition shows. The only thing I kind of wish would go was destroying the eliminated artist’s comic, although I think all the comics they did this with were digital so nothing was really lost forever. As I recall, basically everybody on the show ran a successful kickstarter afterward and had a chance at living their dream too, which is about the best outcome I could think of.
This is reminding me how much I miss Face Off now that we are cable-less. Everyone is so nice and supportive of each other, and willing to help out, and sad to see people go. Why did they have to remove the episodes from Hulu?!?
Came here to recommend Face Off – so little interpersonal conflict! So many contestants happy to drop everything and help their competitor pry open a mold!
I would probably watch many of these, but the Redwall Live! one really caught my eye because I am literally rereading ALL of the Redwall books as we speak. I’m currently on the fourth one.
SUCH a good idea. I’m going to add them to my reread-children’s-fantasy list. Thank you.
Just be aware that parts of them will not strike you the same way that they did when you were ten or whatever. I was actually really taken aback by all the problems I found in the original Redwall (so much so that I wrote an epic blog post about it that no one read). Fortunately I found far fewer issues with the sequels, so part of it may likely have been related to the fact that it was his first novel.
That’s a good warning – I will try to minimize my starry-eyed-ness for protection. Also, if you linked to that blog post I would click on it and read it.
Please enjoy my rantings, Stranger On The Internet: http://wendanyon.livejournal.com/2015/12/11/
I would like to host the Word Games one. Please let me know when auditions are being held.
Failing that, I’d still watch the crap out of it. I need to go find some people to play GHOST with.
What is GHOST? Thx.
Time Team. Incredibly gung-ho archaeologists spend a weekend wreaking havoc on a field in the middle of nowhere or someone’s back yard, while Tony Robinson stands in asking man-in-the-street questions about what the hell they’re doing. Incredibly soothing and binge-able.
I love this show. Everyone’s so passionate and geeky about history. And I adore “ooo, I just dug up this priceless Viking artifact in my back garden and thought I’d better call Time Team”
Even my cat likes Time Team (or else thinks I should be looking at her instead of the tv):
These are just *wonderful*! I suggest “Hanging out with the cousins you always liked the best.”
Animal Planet used to have a show called “Must Love Cats” (I think? Maybe it was Pets?) hosted by a guy who also played guitar and thus sang the theme song (“Oh you must love cats! You muust looove caaats!”). I remember one episode involved visiting Japan’s Cat Island. I think he just traveled around meeting notable cats. Unknown notable cats! Not like Bub and Grumpy.
I also used to watch Too Cute, which was a faux-documentary about the first weeks in the life of several litters of kittens or puppies (I think three households with new arrivals, all dogs or all cats, per episode). The narration was too overbearing and the naughtiness was too obviously contrived, but the first steps of the little wobbly darlings! And the romping! Each episode went through the point where the new owners would come pick up their little darlings, and there would be a little epilogue with updates photos, like “Daisy stayed at the ranch with her mom! But her brother Earl is living it up with her new human siblings!”
Baking With Your Mom reminds me of Grandma’s Ravioli with Mo Rocca, where he goes and visits other people grandparents and makes their best recipe with them, gets them to tell stories, and everyone has a good time
This show is the best! I wish it was on every day.
THIS EXISTS???? OMG.
My Grandmother’s Ravioli fits into this theme. Mo Rocca visits grandparents, they cook meals together and the grandparents talk about their lives. Then their kids and grandkids come over to eat!
This sounds like something I need to be watching.
I can’t believe I didn’t know this existed.
I’m really feeling this article right now! The last couple of days I’ve been trying to find all-around-gentle movies/shows to watch with someone who is currently finding it triggering to watch any kind of violence, meanness or troubling power dynamics. I’m mostly coming up blank! What are your Toastie suggestions for entirely kind-hearted things to watch?
Jane the Virgin! This may or may not fit your bill, as there is definitely some violence (very campy/satirical of telenovelas, though – not realistic), but almost all of the characters are intensely good-hearted and the whole thing is done with a light touch (again, satirical of telenovelas). I’m not in a mood for watching nastiness and violence these days either, and that show has been great.
Gonna suggest the obvious: Parks & Rec (dependent on how you feel about the treatment of Jerry, but the final season is very kind to him), Broad City.
Parks and Rec is obviously my go-to for warm fuzzies. Almost all the characters really LIKE each other, and most of the time when there’s any interpersonal conflict it’s born out of good intentions and/or misunderstanding.
Blackish. The characters have such love for each other.
Disclaimer: I’ve only seen a couple of episodes, but am assuming they were representative of the show.
Thanks everyone! I will definitely try these.
If everything else fails, Bob Ross (YouTube, complete). There’s nothing as soothing as happy little trees.
Dorky old musicals feed my soul when I’m feeling like that.
My first thought was the film “Enchanted April,” where a bunch of post-WWI British ladies rent a villa in Italy for the month of April to escape from men and humdrum or stressful rainy gray English lives. They make friends with each other and have a lovely time, and also end up finding or rekindling love with their menfolk. The whole movie is quiet and soothing like a cup of tea.
Small children select what they would most like to dress up as, and extremely skilled artists help them construct their dream costumes out of readily available materials.
I’m not even all that fond of children, and I would watch that all day.
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This is, and I do not say this lightly, perhaps the nicest thing the Toast has ever published.
I want to give this post a hug. Thank you.
Has anyone seen Tanked?
I always assumed it was basically Celebrity Fish Tank, but never actually watched it.
The actual tank-creating/fish-choosing parts of Tanked are fun, but they have way too much of that reality show “look how quirky our squabbling family/company is!” nonsense in between. It’s only okay, in my opinion.
I recently discovered Cooking with Nick Stellino where Nick, the charismatic Sicilian chef, cooks and tells stories. He is so passionate about food and loves to tell stories about cooking and his wife Nancy (and her epic lobster mac and cheese.) He ends many of the demos with “and this is for you, my friend!”
I want a show called ‘Dreamcast’ in which contestants are encouraged to share their dream casting for a production based on a book they loved, and then the actors all actually show up and perform, with the help of a really talented director.
Ahh, I would indeed watch all of these. Also, I am going to need to go back through all of the comments on this one with a notepad and pencil in hand, because there are many shows about history and animals and BBCness that I’ve never heard of and really need to track down and watch.
The rest of my winter will be EPIC, you guys. Epically gentle and amusing.
YOU. Are you from Bloomington, Indiana, Edward Lear fandom notwithstanding?
No, I’m from California (grew up NorCal, now in SoCal) but have a good friend who went to grad school in Bloomington
Fifty percent of these potential shows just sound like elements of the Bake-Off and QI.
Oh man…BBC! Find a way to get Stephen Fry onto the Bake-off! Think of it! The baking! The facts about baking and baked goods and history and science! Probably a card trick or some sleight-of-hand! Stephen and Mary offering each other sweets and going through the dance of polite refusal and acceptance and thanks in the most British of tones! Sue Perkins, as herself, unaltered from her being in either context! MAKE THIS HAPPEN PLEASE.
My family once ate at the same restaurant as Mary Berry. She apparently is exactly as gracious and appreciative of food as her Bake Off persona would suggest, which delights me to no end.
Imagine the possibilities! Stephen Fry cutting two pieces of cake and insisting Mary Berry has the larger! Pouring each other cups of tea, made exactly how the other likes it!
Get on it BBC.
Reading this post and all of the comments made me feel so calm and happy and good about life. I love this.
Shows I would like:
“Get Your Goat!” A TV show about goats around the world, narrated by a calm British woman. Every episode has a substantial section dedicated to baby goats playing and various goat milk products available in their quaint towns. (Note: I may or may not have had a strong bond with a goat as a teenager and I <3 them forever)
“Let’s Make Art!” Friendly, nice artists and craftspeople are interviewed and they explain what they like about making things. Each episode has a demonstration of a basic but awesome technique that is shown at just the right pace to be engaging and mellow. This is eventually turned into “America’s Next Top Collaborative Team of Nice People” who teach art classes for free around the country. Nobody is ever eliminated.
“Small town diner.” Like “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives” without Guy Fieri, obnoxiously fast-pace, weird camera angles, and/or overloaded sandwiches that are impossible for human people to eat without an entire container of Tums. “Small Town Diner” would just visit a quiet, cozy diner and the nice waitresses would fill up cups of coffee and people would talk about their days. Everyone on the wait staff would be paid a living wage.
You know, Fieri is a pain in the butt, but everywhere I’ve eaten that has been on that show has been spectacular.
I would watch Your House Is Nice Just The Way It Is so hard! Could it start in my house? I mean, it is pretty nice just the way it is.
FIRST DATES FIRST DATES FIRST DATES. I hereby declare that this corner of the thread is dedicated to rapturous and possibly slightly tearful* discussion of the most beautiful, meaningful and hilariful programme on British TV right now. I need somewhere to gather and process because my love for this programme is beginning to leak out in inappropriate venues (work appraisals, AA meetings) and I find it almost impossible to discuss it in my indoor voice. I love First Dates so much, you guys. Who are your favourite couple of all time? Favourite dater? Mine are Velociraptor Man and the woman who referred to her breasts as her ‘Barrys’ , and the best single dater was OBVIOUSLY the lady who went to a fancy dress party as Exeter Cathedral because WHO ELSE.
*almost definitely very tearful
I have no idea what this show is, but your enthusiasm for it fills me with a lot of vicarious happiness.
My husband adores this YouTube show called Road Kill. I’m not a gear head like he is, but it’s pretty charming. Two editors from Hot Rod magazine mess around with cars, usually beat up ones they buy for cheap off Craigslist. It’s not heavy on boring details about engine installations. It’s basically “how much fun can we have wringing out this particular car and where can we go to do it?” The two hosts have a charming friendship and sometimes they take a dog along. It’s supremely comforting. They never fight. And they always have fun. One of them usually exclaims “best day at work ever!”
Mr. Delperro would love this, thanks!
This was sheer joy to read – I want all of these so badly in my life. It would make tv and media feel smaller and lovely.
The public access station in my college town used to show the non-celebrity version of Fish Tank. It was very soothing. Depending on what substances you may have imbibed, it was completely mezmerizing.
I worked with an animal rescue group who had a room at the local PetSmart where we boarded the cats that were ready for adoption. The wall with the door into the room was made of glass (so you could see the adoptables even if the room did not have a volunteer in it). One time we had a litter of Hemingway kittens (the ones with the bonus toes). My co-volunteer and I would lock the door and let the kittens out and have a play session throwing toys and waving feather-sticks while the kittens lept acrobatically. And we would get a crowd 6-deep at the other side of the glass wall. There is an audience just waiting for the kitten play-time show.
There could be a makeover show for different animal rescue centers! I can just see them building walkways and tunnels for cageless cats, and comfy seating for their human visitors to interact with them. And lots of segments of kitten playtime throughout.
For the horsey Toasties among us, perhaps a show called “Your Horse (or other equid) is Awesome.”
The horse owner would tell us about why he or she picked his or her horse. We would watch the horse peaceably grazing -or hopefully galloping around doing the buck and fart- with his or her pasture buddies. The horse owner would also show us all of his or her saddles and tack, then tell us why he or she chose his or her saddle. This show would be very similar to the “Behind the Stall Door” articles on Chronicle of the Horse.
I would also watch any show about donkeys or mules.
I want to live in the world where these exist.
Old Friends: a show where they reunite folks who – despite the existence of Facebook and the internet in general – haven’t reconnected since childhood (or whenever). Everyone I know has someone they would like to find and thank for being such a good friend. Facebook just isn’t the medium for that.
Yes! It took me years and years of looking before I was able to be internet-reunited with my favorite 3rd grade teacher to tell her how much I appreciated her and how she influenced me. If we were on a TV show, they could fly me to Japan to meet all her new rescue cats and enjoy some of her new vegan cooking, and I could show her my portfolio of being a grownup.
Something for the German speakers: Gernstl unterwegs. It’s just a charming reporter, a camera guy and a mike guy, in a VW bus, travelling through the German countryside. They’re looking for interesting places and interview normal and eccentric people. Occasionally the bus breaks down. They turn up amazing stories and personalities. Usually they concentrate on a certain route, like, along the German/Polish border, or up the river Rhine. They’ve been doing that format for nearly twenty years now, got prestigious awards and even a 90-minute movie with highlights and still nobody here seems to know it!
As an American who has spent far too much time in the German countryside, I have to find this. Thanks!!
I’ll hope you’ll like it! As above, dialect warning though. Those might get a bit tricky. I just started watching last weekend, and found myself wondering how well a non-native speaker would understand everything.
When I’m feeling like this I watch the Frank Capra film – You Can’t Take It With You. I cannot recommend it enough as a movie that feels like a being cuddled in down comforter.
Its positive and silly and thoroughly entertaining.
Oh, I love that one! That scene right at the beginning, where Poppins heads down to the basement workshop, is one of the better portrayals I’ve seen of how it feels when you finally find your people.
I was in that play! So much fun. I played the snobbish mother of the young romantic man, and I became such good friends with the guy playing my snobbish husband. Also we had snakes in the play, and I loved them.
Also a doorknob fell off backstage and a character couldn’t enter to give his line, and the other mother and I managed to ad-lib a whole little conversation about orchids while waiting for someone on stage to figure it out and open the door for him. We were pretty proud of ourselves.
Bobby Flay Comes to your House to Cook
Self explanatory, also, I volunteer as tribute.
I feel that the various Huell Howser shows “California’s Gold” “California’s Golden Parks” “California’s Golden Fairs” etc… fill this niche for me right now. But I still want more. Note: some people find his voice incredibly annoying. Very YMMV.
QI
QI
Any fellow Fixer Upper fans here? I love Chip and Joanna’s relationship, and they’re helping people find homes in places they love but need some help to afford.
Oh, I love the way they take such pleasure in rescuing old miserable houses and making them into beautiful livable homes!
I am HERE for People Who Agree. I would watch it, I would be on it, I would give it my money.
This article and these comments have made me feel very happy and reassured about the world.
I currently get my soothing-watching fix from ASMR videos on YouTube, where you can find delights such as: people slowly and appreciatively sample candies from other parts of the world, someone gives you guidance and recommendations for visiting the New York World’s Fair, and an increasingly sinister yet very gentle monologue delivered in the persona of Queen Frostine from the CandyLand game.
My very favorite Food Network show is The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Basically celebrity chefs talk about the best ice cream or burger or chocolate they ever had. And then they go eat it and it looks amazing. It’s 100% positive love for food.
Ladies Room At A Bar At Midnight: Just a candid camera pointed at the mirror capturing all the genuinely kind people you meet in ladies’ rooms when everyone is the perfect level of drunk and you all become instant, single-serving best friends and walk out feeling reinvigorated about womanhood.
People who like the idea of America’s Word Games Champion may also be interested in the public radio program Says You, which only recently became available as a podcast as well! They play word games like, name which one of this group of words is the odd one out, or, one person on this team has the real definition for this word and the rest make one up, and the other team has to guess which one is real. The host gives hints for most games to help contestants out, and sometimes admits that he didn’t make the puzzles or hints very well, and people go off on entertaining tangents just because it would be interesting and the others appreciate this, and points are assigned but don’t seem to matter very much. http://saysyou.net/
The bookstore one reminded me of a favorite secondhand bookshop from when I was a young teenage girl. The owner was a very nice older man, and he too would invite me into the rare book room upstairs, because he could see my love of old books. Sometimes if I didn’t have enough money for a particular treasure I wanted, he would let me pay a bit less or would hold it for me until I could afford it. He appreciated that a young person was so fond of old books, and I liked being appreciated!
Later that lovely bookshop closed when he got in trouble for messing around with young girls. 🙁 I think he ran off to Vietnam to marry a 14 year old or something. Nooooo!
We’ll leave him out of the TV show.
Critical Roll is kind of in this line – some friends, all of whom seem to be maybe married to each other (?), get together and play D&D. They’re all voice actors, but otherwise it’s totally just real time. They eat pizza, roll initiative, and have a pretty good story together. Honestly does feel kinda like playing a tabletop RPG why friends does.
i dont know if this counts for kind-hearted reality shows, but watching the hairy bikers do anything is calming and lovely and the best for me. they go round countries finding food and making food and being lovely northern lads!! they came to my town once for our oysters!!
Just any old hairy bikers? Or are “the hairy bikers” a specific group of northern lads? (Northern where?)
Whoops, I really shoulve clarified there! They’re two northern English lads called Si and Dave!! Sorry I’m too used to them just being called the Hairy Bikers whoops. You can find lots of their episodes on youtube, though quite a few of the videos have altered voice pitches which makes it less enjoyable in my mind, as for me their voices are an essential part of it being so calming!
This is delightful!
For real life suggestions I second The Hairy Bikers and It’s not Easy being Green, and would also like to put in BBC’s Countryfile: A group of nice presenters (Including Matt Baker, most genuinely charming person in the world) in fluffy jumpers show us how life at their farms are getting on in-between visiting quaint, interesting places around the British countryside and chatting to people who know about them. Every year they make a big deal out of making a calendar out of all the best photos sent in by viewers and it gets sold to raise money for charity. It’s been going for almost 25 years 🙂
NHK was one of the few tv channels I got when I lived in Germany, and your description is completely accurate. I love their cooking shows. However, I've never been able to replicate any of their recipes, despite being an fairly accomplished home cook with access to all sorts of Japanese ingredients.
I love Begin Japanology, which I think is one of the shows off there. Awesome stuff about various artefacts of Japanese culture, and always proving that Japanese (food, craftsmanship, transport) is the BEST.*
And Peter Barakan, with his awkwardness and soothing middle-class London accent, is very relaxing to look at.
(* I find the gentle hint of chauvinism in the shows is endearing in its own way.)
Thank you for this, most reality shows make me want to cry. I don’t find gladiator games relaxing. I love the Art History Nun, and in Paris there is a daytime show where intelligent people sit hot hours and talk about books. And the Arab world has a poetry show that’s awesome. I’d rather watch the Yule Log than real housewives of anywhere.
“People Who Agree” sounds a lot like the most civilised and respectful debate I ever attended, between classical historian Mary Beard and fairytale scholar Marina Warner. Although their views often differed, the way they interacted was so polite, and so thoughtful, expanding on each other’s ideas and thanking audience members for contributing interesting questions. This was back in 2009, but I still remember it fondly: http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4354203.Mary_Beard…