There appears to be a trend these days towards the mundane. People are, apparently, actively seeking out boring experiences – intentionally dull podcasts, “ambient literature” in which nothing happens – and who can blame us? Everything is so laughably, cartoonishly fucked at the moment, what with climate change, a blithering orange womble in charge of the world’s most powerful nation, and ever-increasing prices for smashed avocado.
And it seems that one of the most popular sources of calm, soothing entertainment is a Japanese reality TV show called Terrace House.
It follows a simple premise that we’re all familiar with from the heady days of Big Brother: six young strangers, three girls and three boys, move into a house together where they’re filmed 24/7.
So far so standard, yeah? Well…
The point of difference is that all of these people are like… really nice to each other. There is no high drama. There are no stakes beyond their own relationships, because no money is up for grabs. Everyone is attractive, polite, courteous and almost conflict-free.
plus they do adorable shit like this
And people are absolutely nucken futs for it.
If you’re not watching Terrace House on Netflix yet, well, WHY NOT????
And who can blame them? There’s something almost meditative about watching a group of good-looking people interact reasonably with one another. You sink into a kind of flow state where every minute detail comes into hyper-focus, and a quiet conversation over a dinner table is suddenly way, way more engrossing than any tedious Boys’ Night scandal.
Terrace House: Boys & Girls In The City is on Netflix right now – all 46 episodes – for your binging pleasure. And when you’ve spiritually journeyed through all of that, you can look forward to Terrace House: Aloha State, which is set in Hawaii and due to drop Part 3 on June 13.
