Norway's big new reality show has celebrities plan their own funerals
JEFF J. MITCHELL/Getty Images

You may have never heard of the Norwegian television network NRK, but you may be familiar with some of the channel's wacky programs, one of which is National Knitting Evening, a nine-hour show that simply shows people sewing. (It was one of the channel's highest-rated shows last year.) So, capitalizing on the niche popularity of its offbeat programming, NRK execs produced an equally strange reality show called The Coffin, in which celebrities plan their own funerals.
The show's producer describes The Coffin as a "feel-good program about death," since nothing is happier than watching a dramatization of your own funeral. Celebrities lined up to appear on the show include Norwegian rocker Bjarne Brøndbo, who is seen decorating his coffin in the first episode. "It is very strange to see the coffin here," he remarks. "At the age of almost 50 years, you do start to think a little that life has an end."
Sounds... uplifting?
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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.
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