Jeroen van der Boom nowadays invariably has a box of tissues at the ready when he checks the ratings. The Saturday evening of SBS 6, filled by him, is a big flop. “I feel sorry.”
It is currently the biggest failure of SBS 6: the Hazes is de Basis program, in which Jeroen van der Boom and regular guest Rachel Hazes hear how well-known artists sing covers of André Hazes. Everyone agrees: it is especially the presence of Rachel that makes the viewer zap away.
pity
Hazes is de Basis scores so terribly badly that the subsequent broadcast of Hoge Bomen – also with Jeroen van der Boom – scores poorly. Last weekend, for example, 265 thousand and 416 thousand viewers watched both programs respectively. This makes Saturday evening the least viewed broadcast evening of SBS 6.
Marcus den Blanken, media journalist for the AD, sympathizes with Jeroen. “I do feel sorry for Jeroen van der Boom. In principle I think Hoge Bomen is the best program he has made and will make in his life. I assume there won’t be much more exciting after this,” he says in the AD Media podcast†
Bad luck
Hoge Bomen, however, is in a bit of a decline, according to Marcus. “He is a bit unlucky that the ‘high trees’ are gone. He had Frans Bauer in the beginning and that was a really good broadcast, but after that he already got Najib Amhali.”
The episode with Najib didn’t do well. “He was also first in all RTL programs, then in all SBS programs and only now in Hoge Bomen. We already know the story, so it won’t be very exciting anymore. So the ratings have collapsed.”
dropped out
Jeroen had the well-known football coach Ronald Koeman as a guest last weekend, in the third episode of Hoge Bomen. “It did have a nice story, but the viewer had already dropped out, partly because Jeroen is in front of it with another program where Rachel Hazes is with all the time.”
What does he think of Hazes is the Basis? “That is a nice program where people make really nice versions of André Hazes’ songs, but because Rachel Hazes is there, in every conversation, no dog is watching. I actually feel sorry for Jeroen, like: let that man make those programs himself.”
Not every season
What is the solution for Jeroen’s talk show? “High Trees may not have to come every season. Skip a season.”
Jeroen will have Sonja Bakker as a guest in his talk show this weekend. Colleague Angela de Jong: “That will be a bit of a litmus test, let’s be honest. Is he going to confront her with everything she’s done wrong lately or will it be something like: I was so pathetic and I couldn’t do anything for a while?”
Uncomfortable
What does Jeroen actually think of filling the entire Saturday evening of SBS 6? “I had to get used to it, haha. But the shows fit well together and with the musical feeling that we want to convey at SBS,” he says in TROS Kompas.
He said it was ‘not the intention’. “And it also feels a bit uncomfortable. But also fun! I am so happy with Hoge Bomen, which I have worked very hard on in recent years and had to fight to get it on the air. (…) It also feels like an honor that I can lead the Saturday evening at such a beautiful time.”