Big in Oslo: A Reality Show About Celebrities Planning Their Funerals

Norwegian television has come up with yet another radical concept in reality TV: celebrity funerals. Kisten ("The Coffin"), a TV show from broadcaster NRK that’s currently screening in Oslo and other major media markets in Norway, asks celebrities to prepare their own burial for the benefit of the cameras. The stars don’t actually get buried, of course. The show acts instead as a dry run for the big day, giving its subjects a chance to decorate their own casket, pick a funeral playlist, and reflect on their lives and beliefs. The big names featured in the show won’t be familiar to an international audience, however—Kisten’s first star was a 50-year-old singer called Bjarne Brøndbo, whose folk rock hits with the band DDR include the song "My Butt."

If it sounds bizarre, well, it is—but following the country’s recent primetime smash featuring a 24/7 stream of a bird box, Norway currently seems to be having a competition with itself to create the world’s weirdest TV. The surprising thing about the potentially ghoulish Kisten, however, is that it’s actually quite affecting.