Arjen Lubach has been declared passé at the Shownieuws desk. His decreased viewing figures and impact were an item in the program last night. “The magic is just a bit gone.”
For years, Arjen Lubach was a determining factor in the public debate, but a lot has changed since his switch to RTL 4. He really didn’t play any role during the past election weeks; no one talked about him, and there isn’t a single item viral gone. What’s going on? That early Show news was discussed in an item yesterday.
No impulse
Victor Vlam is the TV critic who can indicate in the item ‘whether that switch is actually what everyone had hoped for’, as presenter Annemarie Brüning puts it. “The hope of RTL 4 was of course that Arjen Lubach would join us that late evening, that it would give a new impetus and that ultimately did not happen,” he says.
He continues: “The viewing figures are really not what they used to be. That is somewhat less than at the NPO. I must say that quite a lot of people are still watching with a delay. It is of course originally a VPRO program and that is something that comes across less well for the RTL 4 viewer. These are people who actually don’t care that much.”
‘Magic is gone’
Story boss Guido den Aantrekker then goes wild at the desk. “It is mainly his team that is very good at it. He is a kind of poster boy. (…) I am not a fan of him, because I think he was in a very good place at the VPRO. I do not think he is a crowd favorite for the large, general audience that RTL 4 has to serve.”
He continues: “It’s a bit of a canal belt star. I now think that you also notice that the magic has worn off a bit. You also see when the program Even Tot Hier starts, it immediately scores 1.8 million viewers. I don’t know, but somehow that appeals to a much larger audience.”
‘Very little!’
On the other side of the Shownieuws desk, Sandra Schuurhof is starting to act like a Lubach fangirl, but Guido is not impressed: “I think he has a very high irritation factor for a lot of people. Look how few people watch him, right? Prime time, right, on RTL.”
He continues: “His viewing figures are very disappointing. Everyone in Hilversum knows that. It’s prime time on RTL!”
Not funny
According to Sandra, the ‘joke density’ is high, but Guido thinks differently: “He needs a laugh track! He’s not even funny!”
Arjen is also consistently criticized on the same SBS 6 by Johan Derksen, the influential opinion maker of Today Inside. It is not clear until when the former VPRO star is under contract with RTL, but in the event of an extension he will undoubtedly have to hand in a salary due to the disappointing results.