Margriet van der Linden will stop with her talk show M, she informed her editors before the broadcast this evening. The last episode is already tomorrow. “Is Arjen Lubach moving to seven o’clock?”
After five seasons of the talk show M, Margriet van der Linden has decided ‘in close consultation’ with KRO-NCRV that the talk show will not be continued in the autumn of 2022. It’s no surprise: the ratings were dramatically bad. The last episode is already tomorrow, at 7 p.m. on NPO 1.
No new season
What does Margriet say in the official statement? “After five seasons of Talkshow M, I have decided not to prepare for another season. It was not a light decision because all that time we have made a beautiful, substantive talk show with a lot of fun, involvement and hard work.”
She continues: “For me personally, this is a suitable moment to look further, together with KRO-NCRV and NPO, at a different format that suits the wishes of the viewer and me personally. I’m really looking forward to that. The first ideas are there and as soon as they become concrete I will announce more about them.”
Arjen Lubach
After the weekend, the new season of Khalid & Sophie starts at the time of M, but America expert and TV insider Victor Vlam thinks this talk show will also end. He says in his podcast The Communicados to expect that De Avondshow with Arjen Lubach will become the new seven-hour talk show of NPO 1 after the summer.
Victor: “The reason for doing that is that M is a drama at the moment. It’s a drama. It usually only attracts around 600 thousand viewers, while De Wereld Draait Door in the winter, when these kinds of periods are best viewed, had 1.4 million viewers a few years ago at the same time on NPO 1. So there are 800 thousand viewers left.”
Charisma
Khalid & Sophie are not doing better at this time, he continues. “The point is: all those talk shows don’t score. (…) Then you can put a new person in its place, but who has the charisma to fill that period? There is probably no one in Hilversum who can do that. No one has a name big enough.”
Except Arjen Lubach, according to Victor. Then his current Evening Show must be a little longer. “Arjen Lubach’s program now lasts 25 minutes, which means that you need 20 minutes of new content. You can fill that in by adding one extra guest, which of course the latenight comedy show in America also has.”
Guaranteed hit
Victor points out that Arjen does not have to change the title of his talk show. “I don’t think they chose the name Lubach Laat (as the pilot was once called, ed.), because they think to themselves: we want to keep the option open to move it to seven o’clock, because then you can use the name De Evening show must be maintained.
Arjen as successor to M and Khalid & Sophie is a masterstroke, thinks Victor. “You almost have a guaranteed hit at seven o’clock.”