> I get that the author may just not like the format. They'd be bored by Jiro, they'd sleep during Helvetica, and they'd probably die watching Herzog movies. But they should acknowledge their biases rather than pretend they stumbled upon some shift in tv.

I think you're trying a bit too hard to dunk on the author. A lot of your conjecture here is somewhat unknowable, but I would assume the author of a book on minimalism would find something worthwhile in a documentary focusing on a typeface so closely associated with minimalist design.

Yeah... Maybe I got too irked without enough details. But I still think the "rise of ambient" is super misguided and the author should know better.

I recently watched _Smiley's People_, a British miniseries from the early 1990s with Alec Guinness. It's excellent, but what stuck me was how incredibly slow the pacing is compared to modern TV. The characters spend a lot of time just doing stuff: driving, walking, sitting on the bus, drinking tea and thinking. It has long scenes that are little masterpieces of drama and rising and falling tension. I find it much more enjoyable than the frenetic pace of a modern TV. Watching the main character wandering about in the woods looking for a clue or a 15-minute dialogue scene was more engaging than anything modern I've watched recently.

Then there's factual programmes that spend the first 2 minutes showing you what you're about to see + frequently remind you what's coming up lest you get bored and switch channel.

The pacing is a big part of why I love some current dramas like Better Call Saul and avoid a great deal of the rest of television programming.

There is this weird phenomenon of computer games so boring (grindy) that players play while watching Netflix. Which requires Netflix shows dumb enough that you can follow them while playing a computer game. They are somehow interdependent, and it works. Even though you could be spending time watching shows or playing games that capture your full attention.

I think I am immune to the appeal of grindy computer games. I never gotten why people replay for achievements or stats, and I get bored by online games that focus on leveling. Even multiplayer based on competition and community are not really my thing. My favorite games are story based, and I hate the recent trend of RPGs to have free world grinding and base building for no reason other than stats and achievements. I was one of those people angry at the online Fallout game, for example.

And that being said, I DO also watch stupid TV. Recently, my wife and me have been watching Gilmore Girls, which is an objectively "bad" late 90's soap. I haven't watched Emily in Paris yet, but I might!

So I think there are people who require these shows as because they need background noise, however I also think that sometimes some shallow soap is exactly what you might want to watch.

In any case, kudos to op for implicating the author's dislike of Emily in Paris with the inability to enjoy Jim Jamush movies. A masterful troll move.

> with the inability to enjoy Jim Jamush movies.

I don't believe I did. Only mentioned them as something I like and think of as prime example of "slow movies" where you could potentially switch off. The article goes well beyond the Emily in Paris itself.