– This must be a historic low for Advent calendar television, says longtime advertiser and author Ingebrigt Steen Jensen (67) in Dagbladet.
NRK’s new Christmas calendar concept involves 24 TV faces competing against each other every day until Christmas. The tasks can be as numerous, and sometimes humbling, as decorating the prettiest gingerbread house or melting an ice cube with body heat.
Despite a failed roll of the dice from VG, who did not allow himself to be fascinated by the concept of celebrity, the program was well received by the public. The weekend episodes reached the top 10 most-watched programs on NRK.
“Has NRK TV ever broadcast anything more childish and meaningless than the ’24 Star Christmas Calendar’ that lasts ten minutes every night at the height of Advent?” Steen Jensen wrote in a post on his Facebook page.
start with a bang
The program exceeded all expectations, according to Mirja Minjares, project editor at NRK.
The first broadcast attracted a total audience of 821,000, a figure that subsequent episodes could not surpass.
– We believe this is fun content that has good prerequisites to achieve the goal of giving audiences a daily fun break from the Christmas streak, but so many viewers should think the same that we are really happy about it, she said.
