for background noise, we usually put on a series that we've seen before and don't really have to pay attention to if we are doing something else
(Friends, Law & Order, Psych, How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds, Bob's Burgers, etc, etc).
On the ps3/4 this works great because the next episode auto-plays. On the TV (smart tv) it doesn't autoplay which gets annoying when you're using it for background noise.