For years it was a tradition at the end of the year: 5 Years Later, the program in which prominent figures are interviewed to look back on it five years later. “Bring this back to television!”
The then NPO boss Frans Klein killed a tradition in 2017: he took presenter Jeroen Pauw’s annual end-of-year series 5 Years Later off the air, despite the good viewing figures. In the program he always interviewed a prominent guest whom he had already spoken to in secret five years ago. How have the past five years been?
Back 5 Years Later?
Beau van Erven Dorens was allowed to take over the program, but RTL 4 was not satisfied with the viewing figures. The episode with Linda de Mol scored sky-high, with 1.4 million viewers, but most episodes did not exceed 400,000 viewers. The one with Jesse Klaver (264 thousand) in particular scored poorly at the time.
Yet TV authority Tina Nijkamp thinks the time is ripe for a return, she writes analysis channel. She misses retrospective interviews on television and points out that the current end-of-year series of NPO 1, De Geur van Succes with egomaniac celebrities such as Bas Smit and Sylvie Meis, is an outright drama.
Poor television
The Smell of Success is really poor television, Tina thinks. “What I think is the big mistake with this format is that success here is mainly confused with wealth: becoming and being rich. And that is of course something completely different. Anyway, the viewer doesn’t like it either: 260 thousand viewers for episode two. Comparable score with episode one.”
According to her, 5 Years Later was nice television. “Tip for NPO 1, SBS 6 or RTL 4 for the coming years: take 5 Years Later out of the mothballs this Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”
‘Fits much better!’
According to Tina, the TV viewer is really waiting for this. “Fits much better in this retrospective period than a series about success. A series about success fits better at the beginning of the year, just like good intentions.”
She concludes: “Jeroen Pauw or Tim de Wit could present for NPO 1, Humberto Tan or Renze Klamer for RTL 4 and Wilfred Genee or Hélène Hendriks for SBS 6.”
Well, Renze loses weight. Of course, he is no longer with RTL 4 five years later.